A BROMSGROVE care home has been praised for its efforts to improve by an industry watchdog – but has been warned there are still improvements that need to be made.

Meadows Nursing Home, on Birmingham Road, Spring Pools, has been told it still ‘requires improvement’ to fully satisfy the Care Quality Commission.

A previous CQC inspection in 2017, when the home was run by a different manager, identified that it needed to improve in all five assessment categories – safety, effectiveness, care, responsiveness and leadership.

The most recent inspection – undertaken in January of this year – praised the home’s effectiveness and care as ‘good’ now but says improvement is still required in the other three categories.

A spokesperson for Aster Health Care, the company that owns the Meadows, said its staff had been working tirelessly to ensure the home flourishes.

They stated: “The recent CQC report highlighted a range of significant improvements to the service since the last inspection in 2017.

“The overwhelming content of the report evidenced how staff and management have worked hard to provide a good quality of effective and person-centred care to the residents who live in the home.

“We are pleased that this is recognised and reflected in the report.

“The remaining issues highlighted in the report were addressed at the time of the inspection and we are always looking to try to improve the service we offer to our residents.

“We look forward to CQC inspecting us again in the near future to be able to demonstrate that the Meadows continues to provide a high standard of care for those residents who live there.”

The Meadows accommodates up to 36 people and is split into three units, two for nursing care and one for people living with dementia.

The CQC report said: “At this inspection we found some areas continued to require improvement.

“Since our previous inspection, improvements have taken place in areas such as medicine, staffing, staff knowledge and governance.

“The registered manager showed a passion to make further improvements at the home.”

The visit identified ‘shortfalls’ in how medicines were managed and the issue of resident safety has been highlighted as a key area for improvement by the CQC.

Their report added: “The service was not consistently safe. Medicine management was not consistently robust to ensure risks were mitigated.

“People’s needs and risk associated with their care were not always recorded to ensure they were met and risks were not always cross referenced.

“Staff did not always record the care given to evidence how needs were met.”

However, the report praised the general level of care given to residents – stating they had a range of ‘fun and interesting things to do’ including ‘outings to interesting places’.

It added: “People were supported to have maximum choice about their lives. People were cared for by caring, kind and compassionate staff.

“Staff spent time with people talking about important things in their life and had developed a caring relationship.

“People’s privacy and dignity was respected. The home was clean and tidy and staff had an awareness of infection control.”