A RESIDENTIAL home in Rodbourne Cheney has already started to make improvements following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The Coate Water Care Company Limited Four Seasons Residential Home, in Church Walk South, provides care and accommodation for older people including those with a diagnosis of dementia.

However, a recent inspection by the CQC raised some concerns over people’s privacy and dignity, the quality of support provided and the cleanliness and condition of people’s environments.

Chris Smith, registered manager at residential home, said that they responded to the CQC within a week of receiving the draft report, stating that they had already implemented changes. However he said these have not been mentioned in the final report.

The biggest concern included in the report revolved around respecting and involving people who use services.

The report said: “People benefit from some arrangements that are in place to promote their involvement and rights within the home. However, the outcomes for people vary and people’s privacy and dignity are not always being well protected.”

Mr Smith responded saying: “We are registered for fifteen residents in twelve rooms.

“The concern of CQC is the residents in the three shared rooms. We assessed the situation with regard to the privacy and dignity in shared rooms, and since the inspection it has been decided that we will no longer operate shared rooms at Four Seasons, all residents will now be in single rooms.”

As part of the report, inspectors had not intended on looking in to cleanliness and infection control and overall, they said the accommodation looked clean although they found that some improvements were needed in specific areas.

The report said: “There was an offensive odour in one of the bedrooms that we looked at.”

Mr Smith said that the home was kept clean and odour free in all areas but one, where a residents is incontinent.

“It is impossible to change carpets weekly, so regular cleaning or replacement of the carpet with a non- slip vinyl is the only alternative,” he said.

“Commodes are emptied regularly, but residents do go to their room and use commodes without the knowledge of the staff, and this would only be discovered when room checks are carried out throughout the day.”

Despite the concerns, the inspectors said that staff members were described as ‘pleasant’ and ‘very caring’ by service users and one person commented that the best thing about the home was ‘being looked after’.