A REPORT from the health watchdog has found an East Cornwall care home to be failing in a number of areas after a surprise inspection in response to concerns that standards were not being met.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) issued the report on St Theresa's Care Centre in Callington after an unannounced inspection at the end of November, following concerns that one or more of the essential standards of quality and safety were not being met.

During the inspection, the CQC looked at the personal care or treatment records of people who used the service, observed how people were being cared for and talked with people who used the service. Inspectors also talked with carers, family members and staff.

The CQC found the care centre to be failing in two areas — respecting and involving people who use the services and supporting workers to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard.

The health watchdog said: 'New providers took over the running of St Theresa's nursing home on October 28, 2013. Since then we have had a number of concerns raised to us, including poor staffing levels and the care and welfare of the people using the service.

'We carried out an unannounced responsive inspection to look at the areas of concern raised. We found some of the issues brought to our attention had been resolved and some concerns were substantiated.'

St Theresa's Care Centre, run by Morleigh Limited, provides care and support to a maximum of 45 people. There were 36 people using the service at the time of the inspection. Inspectors spoke with 12 people who used the service and two visitors.

The report stated that the standard of respecting and involving people who use the services was not being met.

The report said: 'People's choices, privacy, dignity and independence were not always respected. We have judged that this has a minor impact on people who use the service and have told the provider to take action.'

The inspectors found that not everybody had access to a call bell as they were sat on the opposite side of the room to the call point. Inspectors were told that while sometimes the call bell response was within ten minutes, at other times it could be up to 90 minutes. One person questioned whether their call bell worked all the time.

The report said: 'Following the inspection, the deputy manager confirmed that the staff had checked all rooms and where necessary an extension lead had been put in place and, in one case where this was not possible, a hand bell had been given to the person.

'The provider said that the call bell system was due to be upgraded as currently there was no way of showing how long a person had been waiting once they had pressed their bell.'

The standard of supporting workers was also not met. The report stated: 'People were cared for by staff who were not always supported to deliver care and treatment safely and to an appropriate standard.

'The deputy manager told us supervision sessions had fallen behind and she was planning to start booking some supervision sessions in the near future.

'The change of provider had left the staff feeling unsupported and concerned about their future and the welfare of the people who used the service.

The deputy manager was aware of the concerns and, in the absence of the registered manager, was trying to implement support systems for the staff group.'

The CQC did find the care home to be meeting all other standards, including care and welfare of people who use the service, cleanliness and infection control and staffing.

Cornwall councillor for Callington, Andrew Long, had been calling for the urgent publication of the report,

He said: 'Having read the report in detail, I am concerned by the two areas for which action is needed and have asked for clarification from Cornwall Council's adult care and wellbeing directorate on what the next stage would be.'

The report said the CQC asked the provider of the care home to send a report setting out the action it will take to meet the standards. The CQC will then check to make sure the action is taken.

The operations manager at St Teresa's was unavailable for comment as the Times went to press.