Inspectors who arrived at a Fenland care home unannounced have said it ‘requires improvement’ in its latest findings.

Keneydon House in Whittlesey, which has received an improved rating once in the last five years, was assessed by the Care Quality Commission after an inspection was confirmed from the care home car park.

“This was to establish the personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for our visit and to ensure we were aware of any person living at the service who may be shielding, enabling us to respond accordingly,” inspectors said.

The inspection report stated the care home, which recorded no Covid-19 cases between November 26 and December 8, the time of inspection, was not deemed safe and that there was an increased risk of harm to people.

It also found medicines were not always managed safely.

“We found that there were 24 tablets missing or unaccounted for between two people. Following the inspection, the manager confirmed that the missing medicines were found within the trolley,” the inspection report said.

Inspectors said that records of administering medicines were inaccurate, daily room temperatures were not taken and medicine audits by the care home manager had not identified issues found during their visit.

Although care home staff had received training on how to wear and take off PPE, inspectors said lessons in documentation and registration need to be learned.

Inspectors also said Keneydon House cannot be rated above ‘requires improvement’ in leadership as there was no registered manager at the time of inspection, as well as improving medicine audits.

“Medicine room temperature checks are required to be taken and documented daily but were not always completed. There were only three occasions during October 2020 when recordings for room and fridge temperatures were documented,” inspectors said.

Inspectors found that oxygen checks were in place, but not held at the care home.

“The manager was supported by the provider to review audits. However, they had not identified the issues we found in relation to the medicine audit,” they said.

“The service has made some improvements since the last two inspections and are continuing to do so.”

The only area to improve its rating was effectiveness of service, rising from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’.

Keneydon House, a residential dementia care home for up to 21 people aged 65 and over, is one of two care homes owned by ADR Care Homes Ltd, who run another facility in Huntingdon.