A BRADFORD nursing home has been told to improve by inspectors from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A planned inspection of Greystones Nursing Home, on Parsons Road, Heaton, took place in early April. It was rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall and in every area apart from the caring category, for which it was given the ‘good’ rating.

Four breaches of regulation were identified and the home must send the CQC a report outlining the action it will take.

A report from the visit highlighted how some areas were not properly maintained, with inspectors saying they saw excrement smeared across a tiled wall in a communal bathroom. However, inspectors said a member of staff attended to the area quickly.

They also raised concerns that staff were not recruited safely.

“Appropriate checks to protect people from the employment of unsuitable staff were not always completed prior to staff starting an induction,” the report said.

It says adaptations had not been made to the ground floor to be dementia friendly.

“Words, colours and picture signage were not in place to navigate around all areas of the home,” said the report.

It also raised concerns that some people were not being offered enough social stimulation throughout the day. When individual records were looked at for social and leisure activities, inspectors saw they had not always been completed daily and some days were blank.

“The provider told us staff carried out one to one activity daily but sometimes forgot to complete the paperwork,” the report said.

“The home manager told us of their current plans to increase the number of dedicated weekly activity hours.”

In looking at leadership, the report said: “At this inspection we identified breaches in the regulations related with recruitment, premises and equipment and person-centred care.”

New audit processes had been introduced, but the effectiveness could not be measured at the time of inspection.

The report said: “We found the provider was in breach of regulations in relation to good governance because there were systematic and widespread failings in the oversight, monitoring and management of the service, which meant people did not always receive safe care.”

Despite the rating of requires improvement, the report says people felt safe in the home, that relatives felt staff were kind and caring, treating residents with dignity and respect.

The report said: “We saw staff were caring and took a genuine interest in the people they supported.

“All staff we spoke with were extremely knowledgeable of people’s likes and dislikes and it was clear staff knew people well. There was a laughter and friendliness observed between staff and people throughout the inspection.

“Staff had developed positive relationships with people and displayed affection towards them.

"Where people were unable to communicate their needs and choices, staff understood their way of communicating.”

Matthew Adebayo, from Greystones Nursing Home, said there was no comment to make on the report at the moment, but a meeting with the CQC had been planned for the coming weeks.