A CARE home for elderly and disabled residents and dementia sufferers has been ordered to make improvements to protect the safety and welfare of people living there.

The Care Quality Commission has rated Riverside Court in Boroughbridge, as inadequate, placed the home overlooking the River Ure into special measures and said it was considering taking enforcement action following an inspection in November.

The commission has told the privately-owned home's owners they had not made sufficient improvements in the areas of consent and good governance since an inspection last May, when it was rated as requiring overall improvement.

Inspectors said they remained concerned the home, which charges up to 25 residents at least £375 a week, was not working in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act, which meant they could not be certain the care people received was in line with their wishes.

It said the home's care records were poorly detailed and its polices out of date, while its operator was not operating robust systems to monitor the quality of the service.

Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the North, said: “It is unacceptable the provider has not made the required improvements to ensure people receive safe, high quality care they deserve and has allowed the home to deteriorate further.

"We have made it clear to the provider that the care we found at Riverside Court was falling a long way short of what we expect.

“People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care and we have told the provider that they must take action as a priority.

“We have been working with North Yorkshire County Council to ensure that people living at the home are not at undue risk. We will continue to monitor this care home."

A spokesman for the home said the commission's rating solely related to "book work" and declined to comment further.