A WHITEHAVEN care home has said 'lessons will be learned' following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection which suggested that it requires improvement.

The Gables in Whitehaven was rated as needing improvement by the care home watchdog in November last year, after being open for less than two years.

Inspectors found that although residents and their families felt safe within the home, and staff were effective at responding to emergencies immediately, the lack of consistent record-keeping by staff at the home had meant that 'people were at risk'.

The CQC report said: "People were at risk due to a lack of consistent record-keeping and oversight by the registered manager and provider.

"The provider’s quality assurance checks had not been sufficiently robust to identify issues we found on inspection.

"This included assessments and care plans not always being in place.

"The provider gave assurances lessons would be learnt following the inspection.

"Despite the shortfalls we found with health and safety and risk record-keeping, people and their relatives told us they felt safe at the service.

"Staff knew how to respond to any safeguarding concerns and acted immediately in response to any emergencies.

"Medicines were managed and administered when needed. Appropriate measures were in place to support infection prevention and control to keep people safe."

Staff at the home had been consistently praised by residents family and friends, the report said: "People and their relatives consistently praised the caring approach by care staff, which made people feel at home at the service and part of The Gables family.

"Care staff made time to support people’s emotional wellbeing. People’s privacy and dignity were respected."

The report acknowledged that staff at the Whitehaven care home were willing to learn lessons from the report and had already started to make changes.

It said: "The registered manager showed us examples of the improvements they had started to make to records."

The Gables Residential Home is owned by Cumbria County Council, after a number of care homes in Copeland merged nine months before the pandemic.

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: "We acknowledge there are areas of improvement following the Gables first inspection and we are working through an action plan to address these.

"We also take into account the home opened 9 months ahead of the Covid 19 pandemic and has operated through a very challenging 23 months."