An unannounced inspection of a Maidstone care home has found it "requires improvement."

A team of four inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited the Maidstone Care Centre in Boxley Road at the end of May and their report has just been published.

They found the home, which was looking after 57 people, was lacking in four of the five areas of inspection.

Only when looking at the quality of care itself was the home rated as Good. Each of the areas of safety, effectiveness, responsiveness, and leadership required improvement.

The inspectors interviewed 12 residents, spoke to 10 relatives and quizzed 13 members of staff as well as reviewing care records and medicine administration logs.

The home's residents include people with diabetes, some with complex nursing needs and some with dementia.

The CQC found that people's risks were not always managed safely and care plans were not always accurate.

Residents were not engaged in activities as much as they would like and medicines were not managed safely. The inspectors concluded that lessons had not always been learned after previous incidents.

Quality monitoring processes, such as audits, were in place, but were not effective in identifying concerns. Action plans had not been implemented or monitored to drive improvements.

However, the service was clean and the home well decorated and infection control was safely managed.

People and their relatives said the staff were kind and caring.

The full report can be found here.

'Some improvement, but not enough'

The home had been last inspected in October last year when it was also rated "requires improvement."

The team said there had been some improvement since then, but not enough.

RCH Care Homes which runs the facility was contacted for comment, but no-one was available to speak.