THE owners of a care home which has been downgraded over safety concerns say they have taken action to improve their service.

The Lawns Care Home, in Darlington, was rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), following an inspection in February.

Last week, the CQC placed the home in Ridsdale Road in special measures.

Burlington Care, which was contacted by the Northern Echo last week for comment, has now responded.

Read more: The Lawns Care Home in Darlington downgraded by CQC

A spokesperson for The Lawns Care Home said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of our residents is our number one priority, so we have taken all feedback from the CQC inspection seriously.

The Northern Echo:

“As noted in the CQC’s report, we have already taken action and learned lessons from this inspection, including revisiting our protocols, medication management procedures and providing enhanced internal support. We are continuing to work closely with our local authority partners to ensure that we are sustaining the improvements and providing the best possible care.”

“Our mission is to deliver high quality, kind care and we will always take steps to resolve any and all issues which may arise. We are fulfilling each requirement noted in the Inspection report and there has been no disruption to the service or quality of care we provide since then.

“We are determined to continue getting care right for all our residents. We are eagerly awaiting a reinspection to be able to demonstrate the improvements made.”

Following the inspection Burlington Care implemented an action plan to address the concerns around medicines, the environment, risk assessments and people’s nutrition and hydration needs.

The CQC had reported the home was not clean and said staffing issues were affecting the quality of care.

The watchdog also said there were issues with leadership and culture at the home, while care records were no always up to date and there was mixed feedback about the atmosphere within the home.

The home, which was previously rated as good, was downgraded to “inadequate”.

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