A CARE home run by a charity has been told it must improve after a recent inspection by the watchdog.

Roman House care home, in Winklebury Way, was visited in August in an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with the home rated as ‘inadequate’ in the safety category and ‘requires improvement’ in the effective, caring, responsive and well-led categories.

This gave an overall ‘requires improvement’ rating for the home, run by disability charity Scope, which cares for disabled adults with a range of impairments and learning difficulties.

In the section of the report which rates safety, inspectors said: “The service was not safe.

“People were not supported by sufficient numbers of staff to meet their needs in a timely fashion. People receiving individualised care from staff did not always receive this, placing them and other people at risk of harm.”

In the effectiveness category, the CQC report said that consent had not been obtained from people with all aspects of their care which included consent to receive care and for senior staff to manage people’s finances.

The service was said to be ‘not always caring’ and ‘people did not always receive care which was respectful to their privacy and maintained their dignity’.

However, it was reported staff were kind and caring and supported clients in a sensitive manner and residents had developed companionable and friendly relationships with staff.

The care home was described as ‘not always responsive’ and though there were processes in place to enable people to raise issues and concerns, inspectors felt client’s care plans were not reviewed on a regular basiss.

The CQC report also said at the time of the inspection the home did not have a registered manager and therefore the service was not always well-led.

The CQC report concluded: “People using the service told us they felt safe. The provider was unable to show they regularly reviewed staffing levels to ensure sufficient staff were deployed to meet people’s changing needs.

“People were supported in the least restrictive way, we saw that people had friendly and relaxed relationships with staff. However, we did not see that people’s privacy and dignity was always respected and promoted by staff.”

Carrie Irvine, Scope executive director for services operation, said: “We set high standards for all our services and take any shortfall very seriously.

“We have taken immediate action, including reviewing our processes and support plans, improving how we include residents in decision-making, addressing recruitment and staffing levels, and upgrading our training.

“We are working closely with everyone connected with Roman House, and are keeping Hampshire County Council updated about our progress.

“We will do everything possible to ensure that improvements are made in the quickest possible time.”