AN ISLAND'S only care home is set to close after inspectors launched legal proceedings over a series of safety failings which they said were putting elderly residents at "high risk" of harm.

Lawyers for the Care Inspectorate will appear at Greenock Sheriff Court on Monday to ask that privately-run Craigard care home, near Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, is shut down.

It is only the second time in the watchdog's history that it has gone to court in a bid to close a premises it deems substandard.

The home's owner, Ann Williams, disputes inspectors' findings but a spokeswoman said she had already chosen to close the facility voluntarily in the face of the Care Inspectorate's legal action. She said it would close in mid-January.

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It leaves the home's 12 frail residents facing the prospect of having to move to a care home on the mainland, potentially separating them from their families on Bute.

Problems were first identified at Craigard during unannounced inspections in July and December 2015, but the alarm was raised when inspectors made a third unannounced inspection on September 28 this year during which they "became aware of two incidents that should have been reported to the local area social work".

The inspection report added: "The potential for the non-reporting of incidents and the possibility that significant issues will be missed indicates a high level of risk for residents' safety and protection".

Although inspectors found staff were "caring and kind" to residents and described the overall ethos as "welcoming and friendly", they raised concerns about "numerous gaps" in record-keeping around resident's medication and that drugs used to relieve stress and distress were being administered "on a regular basis" which "could be viewed as restraining".

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The report also criticised the home over "malodorous" furnishings, shared bedrooms, and found that residents "spent extended periods of time in the sitting room with little to occupy them".

Inspectors said many of the staff had "no or limited experience working as care workers with older people", had been hired on the basis of "inadequate employment checks", and the acting manager was not properly qualified. The report added that a "lack of consistent management and leadership at the service had resulted in residents receiving an unsatisfactory quality of care".

A spokeswoman for Mrs Williams said the home had appointed a fully qualified manager to run the home earlier this month, but said this "wasn't taken into account" by the Care Inspectorate. She added: "It didn't make any difference, and they didn't give any time for anything else to be sorted."

A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate said its inspection in September had raised "serious concerns" about residents' wellbeing.

He added: “We served an Improvement Notice on the care home, clearly laying out the areas which required immediate improvement in order to protect residents and ensure their care reached a standard they have a right to expect.

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“Despite our extensive efforts to ensure improvement at Craigard, the care provided at this home is unacceptable and our view is that residents will be at serious risk if the home remains open."

A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of the residents at Craigard and we will continue to work closely with the Care Inspectorate and the private provider. We have also put plans in place to ensure that, whatever the outcome, care and support will continue to be available for the residents.”