A WARRINGTON care home has been told that it needs to improve by inspectors.

Representatives of the Care Quality Commission visited Westvale House in Old Hall in November for an unannounced inspection.

A recently published inspection report has confirmed that the site, which is owned and run by Barchester Homes Limited, is now rated ‘requires improvement’.

It is also graded as requiring improvement in the safe and and well-led inspection areas, but ‘good’ in terms of the hospital being caring, effective, and responsive.

However the care home has taken 'immediate steps' to address any issues raised.

The care home provides personal and nursing care for up to 61 people in one purpose-built building.

At the time of the inspection, there were 36 people living at the home.

In their report, inspectors said: “Good practice regarding the safe administration of medicine was not always being followed.

“The oversight of medicine was not robust enough to ensure people were safely given their medicines.

“The deployment of staff within the home was not always appropriate, we observed people being left for long periods of time without their assessed level of support.

“Governance processes were not always effective in the monitoring of the service. Auditing tools were in place however, they had failed to identify some of the concerns we found during this inspection.

“There were systems in place to record and analyse incidents. However, they were not always effectively investigated.”

However, inspectors did note that the provider has recently recruited new members of staff and that there has been a change in roles for some existing members which ‘appears to be having a positive impact on the home’.

The report reads: “Staff and people living at the service commented management were being supportive and things improving.

“The management sought people's feedback through meetings to gain a better understanding of what people wanted.

“We observed positive interactions between staff and people who lived at the service. Staff knew the people they supported well.

“The registered manager was receptive to feedback during the inspection and took some immediate steps to address some of the concerns raised.”

Responding to the report, a spokesperson for Barchester Homes Limited: “The home was rated Good in three categories recognising that Westvale House care home effectively provides a caring environment with a responsive team.

“However, we take the findings of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) very seriously and we recognise that changes need to be made in the areas that require improvement, as identified in the report.

“We have taken immediate steps to ensure these are addressed and will be implementing a full action plan.

“The inspection took place in early November 2023 and significant progress has been made since to make positive permanent changes for the improvement of the service.

“Delivering high quality care is of the utmost importance to us.”