TWO more care homes in Bradford have been told to improve by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Knowles Court Care Home, Holme Wood, and Shakespeare Court Care Home, Barkerend, were visited by inspectors last year.

Both received the overall rating of 'requires improvement'. They are run by different providers.

A report on Shakespeare Court Care Home said that an inspection in January 2017 revealed it to be in breach of three regulations.

Following the latest visit, inspectors said some improvements had been made but the provider remained in breach of regulations.

They said the service was "not consistently safe", with learning from incidents not always put in practice to improve the service.

The report says: "There were enough staff deployed but difficulties recruiting

nurses meant the home used a lot of agency nursing staff. This sometimes meant there was reduced leadership on the nursing units."

The home was also criticised for not always ensuring that representatives of residents had the proper authority to make decisions on their behalf.

Inspectors said systems to check the quality and safety of the service were in place, but not always working effectively.

However, the home was said to be clean and safe, adaptations had been made to support people with dementia and most residents said staff were caring and treated them with kindness.

A spokesman for the home said: "In November 2017, a requires improvement was a fair reflection of where we were in our improvement plan to ensure sustained and embedded best practice.

"Writing now, at the end of February 2018, the home has come on leaps and bounds since then and will continue to do so as we continually try and innovate.

"Should anyone be interested in seeing the improvements for themselves, they are welcome to come and see Shakespeare Court in person by appointment, which can be made via telephone."

The spokesman added that the home has filled positions that led to the use of agency staff.

Knowles Court Care Home was judged to be 'good' in markers relating to how caring, effective and safe it is, but was given the 'requires improvement' rating in the leadership and responsiveness categories.

Inspectors said care plans did not always provide accurate and up to date information and more could be done to provide people with a stimulating environment on the dementia care and learning disability units.

The report outlined there were processes in place to ensure people were protected from the risk of abuse, that staff were aware of safeguarding procedures and residents said staff were kind and caring.

General Manager Louisa Hermann said the home is addressing issues the report has identified, taking action with immediate effect.

She said the home is confident it will achieve compliance in those areas in the near future.