A Worcester care home has been told it requires improvement following an inspection by Government inspectors.

The Willows Care Home did not consistently identify health and wellbeing risks and these were not always managed safely.

The home did not always have a sufficient mix of staff on duty, according to the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors visited the care home in Tower Road, Barbourne, on March 7 after hearing concerns about staffing and training - and published their report on April 26.

They found the care provider did not have checks in place to monitor the quality of service provision and that staff didn’t always get the most up-to-date information for people’s care and social needs.

“People told us they felt safe and supported by the staff who worked in the home,” says the report. “However, potential risks to people’s health and wellbeing had not consistently been identified and were not always managed safely.

“There was not always a sufficient mix of staff on duty. It was recognised that staff should prioritise care to people, however the provider had been unable to recruit staff into the vacant positions and this had continued for some time.

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“This had impacted on other aspects of the running of the home, such as support to maintain people’s interests and hobbies, managerial work and record keeping.”

Inspectors also found the safe storage of medicines needed improving.

“Safe practice was not consistently carried out to reduce the risk of infection,” they said.

Risks had not always been robustly assessed

The inspection was the second carried out at the care home by the CQC in the past 12 months. A previous inspection in June 2021 also found it requires improvement.

In the latest report, inspectors focussed on two key questions - is the service safe and is it well-led?

“Information about people’s individual risks had not always been robustly assessed, to ensure potential risk of harm to people had been mitigated as far as reasonably practicable,” the report says.

“Our inspection found the risks were broad in their range, such as management of falls, support for people who enjoy walks outside of the home and aspects of people’s specific health conditions.”

The Willows Care Home declined to comment.