A CARE home has been ordered to improve after inspectors found it had put the safety of vulnerable residents at risk.

Westvale House in Old Hall has been told to improve by the Care Quality Commission following an unannounced inspection in April.

The Old Hall Road home, which provides personal and nursing care for up to 61 people including some with dementia, was found to have committed two breaches of health and social care regulations.

Inspectors found that residents who were at high risk of developing pressure sores had not had repositioning charts completed.

Charts did not specify that required frequency of turns for residents, while records were not always completed to show that service users had been repositioned in order to prevent pressure sores.

Two residents had subsequently acquired ulcers - one in the home, which was built in the late 1980s, and one in the community.

The CQC said that this had the potential to 'place the health and safety of vulnerable people at risk', while Westvale House had also been unable to show it had taken steps to prevent wounds and manage care.

Meanwhile, the findings of some audits had not been acted upon while others were behind target.

In total, Westvale House was in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in two areas.

However, inspectors found that interactions between residents and staff were 'warm and relaxed' while service users were 'treated with dignity and respect'.

The CQC found that Westvale House, which had 45 people living in it at the time of the inspection, was a 'homely, comfortable and relaxed environment' for residents.

A spokesman for Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited, which runs Westvale House, said: “We take the findings of the Care Quality Commission very seriously and we have developed a comprehensive plan to ensure that improvements in the service are achieved.

“We were pleased to note that the CQC found the service to be good in several areas and found Westvale House to be a homely, comfortable and relaxed environment for people to live in.

“The health and wellbeing of our residents is at the forefront of everything we do at Westvale House and this, as always, will be our focus moving forward."