A BRADFORD care home with too few qualified staff and where those on duty did "not always treat people with dignity and respect" has been given a deadline to improve.

Care Quality Commission inspectors made an unannounced visit to the Shakespeare Court home, operated by a firm called Handsale Ltd, in Butler Street East in August.

They found the home ranked "inadequate" in four out of five categories, with a "requires improvement" to the category "Is this service caring?", with an overall rating of inadequate.

They said the home was failing to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well led.

As a result the CQC has imposed three formal warnings on the provider, setting a deadline for improvements.

Its report identified a catalogue of concerns, which include a finding that people were not protected from the risk of infection "because they were not cared for in a clean, hygienic environment".

The home was deemed to have too few qualified, skilled and experienced staff "to fully meet people's needs or ensure their safety".

According to inspectors, care and treatment was not planned and delivered in a way that ensured the safety and welfare of residents, stating: "People’s care needs were not always assessed and care plans were not being updated to reflect people’s changing needs."

Those who needed help to eat and drink at mealtimes were "not sufficiently supported by staff", adding "inspectors found that appropriate action was not always taken following identification of the risk of malnutrition.

The report also said: "Most people said staff treated them with dignity and respect. However, we saw staff did not always treat

people with dignity and respect or respect their privacy."

In addition the CQC found the home was not effectively monitoring the quality of service and that accidents and incidents were not thoroughly analysed to identify trends, or actions put in place to prevent reoccurrence.

There was also evidence that some safeguarding incidents, which should be notified to the CQC as a legal requirement had not been.

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said: “We have told Shakespeare Court Care Home that they must take action to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people who live there.

“Although our inspectors saw some caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, the substandard infection control practices, insufficient staffing levels and poor care delivery need urgent attention.

“We have made it clear that 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.”

The CQC is giving a rating to all adult social care services to help people choose their care in future.

No comment was available from Handsale Ltd.