A CARE home received a critical report from inspectors amid concerns about residents' safety and staff training. 

Stonecross Care Centre in Kendal, which provides residential care for up to 32 people needing personal care, has been told it 'requires improvement' following the latest Care Quality Commission report.

The inspection took place on July 18 and 20, with the report published on October 31. 

For safety, the home was rated 'requires improvement', the service being well-led was rated 'requires improvement', and for effective, caring and responsive, the service was rated as 'good'.

During the inspection, the inspectors spoke with four people who used the service, with five relatives about their experience, with members of staff including the manager and deputy manager, two provider representatives, a cook and four care workers.

They also obtained feedback from two healthcare professionals who regularly visit the service.

Some of the key findings of the report stated that people were 'not always safe.'

The report stated: "Some risks to people were not handled appropriately. For example, there was a lack of oversight of weight monitoring, accidents and incidents, falls risks and poor recording of people's food and fluid intake. There were poor records of action being taken to mitigate risks.

"Since the last inspection, a programme of fire safety improvements had been implemented. This work had been completed following action by Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service.

"However, that had led to instructions to a specialist fire engineer who had visited the service and provided a report that was received by the service 7 weeks before this CQC inspection. The report made a number of recommendations, some of which required action within 1 month. None of this had been actioned and the provider did not have an action plan in place."

The inspectors also disclosed that the provider 'did not always follow safe recruitment procedures.'

"They were not properly assessing staff members' fitness to work with vulnerable people," said the report.

"Checks with previous employers in health and social care and other important checks had not been completed in most of the recruitment files we considered.

"People received their medicines as prescribed by healthcare professionals. However, records around the application of essential creams were inconsistent with good practice.

"Some staff members informed us they did not have confidence concerns they escalated to the provider would be addressed. One staff member gave us an example of a safety concern that had been escalated but not addressed by the provider."

During the inspection visit, inspectors saw 'positive and caring interactions between staff and people who lived at the home.'

It said: "People told us they were happy with the care and confirmed they received person-centred care. Relatives confirmed they were happy with the care provided to their family members."

Stonecross Care Home has been approached to comment.