MORE Bradford care homes have been told to improve following visits from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Sherrington House Nursing Home, Heaton, and Fern House, Bingley, both received the ‘requires improvement’ rating. It was Fern House’s first inspection, while Sherrington House received the same rating as in May 2017.

Inspectors visited Sherrington House, Heaton Road, on two dates in August.

While the home was rated ‘good’ in the ‘is the service effective?’ and ‘is the service caring?’ questions, it was judged as ‘requires improvement’ in markers relating to safety, responsiveness and leadership.

The report said that when the home was inspected in January 2017, it was in breach of a regulation relating to good governance.

“This was because although the audit and quality assurance systems in place had identified shortfalls in the service they had failed to drive improvement,” said the report.

Inspectors said they found a “very similar situation” on this visit and concluded the home was still in breach of the regulation.

However, they said that while the registered manager had been in post for a short time, they had a “good oversight” of the service and recognised areas which needed improving.

“We concluded the service was being well managed and that improvements were being made to the governance and audit systems,” said the report.

“However, whilst it was clear the service was on a journey of improvement the

new processes in place had not yet been fully embedded into the day to day running of the service.”

Staff were said to be kind and caring, treating people with dignity and respect.

In response to the report, the home’s owner said: “The inspection was in August and our new Registered Manager had only been in post a short time. The inspection team acknowledged this and where happy with the progress she had made and this has continued. We hope that the next inspection will reflect the hard work and dedication she has and is putting into Sherrington House.”

Fern House, on Fernbank Drive, which opened last year, was also judged as good in the questions on how caring and effective services are, but requires improvement in those looking at safety, responsiveness and leadership.

Two breaches of legislation were identified by inspectors and the provider must send a report detailing what action they will take on the following: “The registered provider did not have suitable arrangements in place to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed”, “accurate and complete records were not always maintained in respect of each person who used the service” and "systems and processes to ensure compliance with the Health and Safety Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 were not always operated effectively".

The planning, design and layout of the home was praised by inspectors and staff were said to speak to people with “understanding, warmth and respect”.

A spokesperson for Abbeyfield The Dales, which runs the home said it works "closely and collaboratively" with the CQC and whilst it was disappointed with the rating, noted that inspectors saw "good care was being delivered, and residents are happy and well cared for".

"Prior to the inspection, we had had identified a number of service issues, and already begun addressing them; there is a robust action plan to improve these issues, and a few other areas highlighted in the report, to further improve and strengthen our procedures, and we are monitoring progress closely to ensure the improvement happens in the shortest period of time," said the spokesperson.