TWO Wellington care homes have been told to improve during their latest inspections.

The Wheelhouse, run by Covenant Care, and Wellington and Longforth House, have both received ‘requires improvement’ ratings after inspections by the Care Quality Commission.

The Wheelhouse received ‘requires improvement’ for all five categories, including being safe, caring, responsive and well-led.

The inspectors found residents were not always protected from harm, and risks were not always fully managed.

Three breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 were highlighted in the report.

The report added: “We saw example’s where people’s care was responsive to their needs and preferences and some areas where it was not.

“Relatives commented positively about the staff team and support their family members received, they said they could visit anytime and were always made to feel welcome.

“The provider listened to the feedback provided during the inspection and responded by taking immediate action and providing us with reassurances they would make improvements where required.”

Glen Gillespie, CEO, said: “To achieve the very high standards that we have set ourselves going forward, we have invested significantly in our senior leadership team. We have appointed a highly experienced service manager to oversee both our residential and supported living services, a new highly experienced registered manager of the Wheelhouse Residential Care Home and a new deputy manager.

“To ensure that our desired standards are met and maintained, we have increased the frequency and improved our processes for internal auditing and monitoring - and we have created a new full-time position of quality and development lead to ensure that all of our services are regularly inspected.

“We have kept in close contact with CQC and Somerset County Council to provide regular progress reports and updates and we are delighted to have received some very positive feedback on our progress.”

Elsewhere in the town, Wellington and Longforth House has also been implementing changes after being rated ‘requires improvement’ in being effective, responsive, and well-led.

However, the home received a ‘good’ rating for being caring and safe.

Part of the report stated: “The mealtime experience was not always good across the home. Action was taken during the inspection to address the breakfast routine with further actions planned for the other mealtimes.

“People had access to activities but not all were encouraged and supported to continue to pursue their hobbies and interests.

“Each person who lived at the home had a care plan, which gave clear guidance to help staff to effectively support people. These were regularly reviewed but it was not always clear that people and their relatives had been involved.”

The home says it is ‘disappointed’ to have received the negative ratings in three sections, but immediate improvements have been made.

Eddy Pyatt, director, said: “Our main goal is to provide a safe and caring environment for all our residents.

"The ratings for safe and caring categories continues to remain 'good'.

"We are naturally very disappointed with rating outcomes in the other sections of the report.

“We have taken on board all the CQC feedback from the inspection, made immediate improvements where practical, and completed an initial action plan.

“We are taking this opportunity to review and improve our service and systems as a preventive measure.”

To read full inspection reports from the governing body, search for the care homes on the CQC website.