A BILLERICAY care home has been told to improve after inspectors found the service’s lack of staff left residents “at risk of harm” and waiting for care.

The Belfry Residential Home was rated ‘requires improvement’ – the second lowest of four grades – by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following inspections in November and December.

In a report published this week, the care home, in Dowsetts Lane, Ramsden Heath, was found to be failing residents and understaffed.

The care home, which at time of the inspection cared for 11 people aged 65 and over, was found to, at times, only have two members of staff working, which CQC deemed too few.

“The provider did not have a robust system in place to calculate staffing levels in the service. A number of people living in the service required two members of staff to support them with their care. However, at certain times of the day only two members of staff were on duty,” the report said.

CQC inspectors reported witnessing residents waiting up to twenty minutes for support to go to the bathroom as the two members of staff on duty were preoccupied with another resident’s care.

“We found no evidence people had been harmed. However, we could not be assured there were enough suitably qualified, competent and experienced staff to support people's needs,” inspectors noted.

Despite understaffing, residents’ relatives spoke positively to inspectors about the staff that were employed.

One relative told inspectors: "I feel very positive about the care [person] receives and I would definitely recommend the service to others."

Following the inspection, care home managers told the CQC they were implementing a new system for calculating staffing levels and planned to increase staffing at certain times of the day.

The home was further criticised for failing to safely manage medicines, with some bottles inaccurately labelled.

Inspectors said the provider had received a number of compliments from relatives and health professionals regarding the care people had received, and these had been shared with staff.

Belfry Residential Care Home has been contacted for comment.