Cleveland care home "inadequate".

A Cleveland care home has been told by The Care Quality Commission (CQC) that it must make improvements or face further enforcement action.

During an unannounced inspection to Dinsdale Lodge Care Home, Hartlepool, in December 2014, inspectors found that the registered provider was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, responsive or well led.

Under CQC’s new programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Dinsdale Lodge Care Home was rated Inadequate.

Several areas where improvements are needed were identified including that Inspectors found that residents were not kept safe due to poor medicines management; staff checks as part of the home’s recruitment had not always been fully completed prior to their employment; residents were deprived of their liberty without appropriate authorisation and staff had limited understanding about the Mental Capacity Act.

Other concerns were that staff training was not always up to date and records showed that basic training required to provide safe, appropriate care had not been completed. The Inspectors also found that although care plans were updated regularly, they did not always include sufficient detail and were often repetitive.

The CQC said that although the provider had introduced a system of checks and audits to assess the quality of care following its last inspection in September 2014, these had only just been implemented and it was too early to assess their effectiveness.

CQC deputy chief inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, Debbie Westhead, said: "While we are pleased that the provider has made some improvements since the last inspection and received some positive feedback from residents and relatives, further work is needed to address some areas of concern. Staff training, recruitment procedures and medicines management are all priority areas and we have made it clear to the provider where they must take action.

"We will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made. If not, we will take further action to make sure that people living there receive care which is safe, effective, caring and responsive to their needs."