A CARE home in Kendal has been told to improve in key areas after a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report gave an overall 'requires improvement' ranking. 

The inspectors visited Gilling Reane Care Home at the end of November.

The home provides personal and nursing care and accommodation to 30 older people and operates under national care provider Pearlcare. 

CQC reports provide an overall rating and answer key questions regarding safety and leadership. 

The 'is the service safe?' question was downgraded from good to requires improvement. 

The report states: "Some aspects of the service were not always safe and there was limited assurance about safety. There was an increased risk that people could be harmed."

It raised factors such as safe recruitment procedures not always being followed and failure to identify whether staff members are fit to carry out the roles. The report stressed there was no evidence anyone had been harmed and that the manager implemented further measures when they were informed. 

The report said that staff were trained to administer drugs safely and the residents felt safe. 

In the 'is the service well-led?' section of the report, the inspector provided further detail of how 'employment and disciplinary systems were not overseen, followed or robust enough to demonstrate the service was effectively managed.' 

The report acknowledged that staff understood their individual responsibilities and contributions to service delivery. The CQC inspectors told the care home to improve its recruitment and employment systems. 

A Pearlcare spokesperson said: "We accept the CQC report, and have worked collaboratively with the lead inspector. We have produced a mini action plan on the area of noncompliance, and we are working towards signing off fully with lessons learnt by early 2024.

"The overall content of the report is balanced and very positive, the service was rated highly in all other domains inspected.

"We observed good practices and interactions between staff, management, and people during the inspection. Staff supported people to have access to healthcare professionals and specialist support and the service worked with external specialists."