A SECOND Wormley care home owned by CHD Living “requires improvement” overall, according to Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors.

In its latest report, Surrey Hills was graded as requiring improvement in the two categories for providing a safe service and for being well-led, and was rated good in the three categories for providing a service that was effective, caring and responsive.

The care home is next door to Surrey Heights, which was also recently judged by CQC to require improvements both overall and for providing a safe service and for being well-led.

Surrey Hills is registered to provide nursing care for up to 45 residents living with dementia and complex needs, and also provides end of life care.

CQC reported residents were “at risk” because there were no effective systems and arrangements to protect them from the spread of infection.

Inspectors also found the appropriate standards of cleanliness were not being maintained and staff were not following the provider’s infection control policies and procedures.

They also found “urine soaked flooring, mattress and bed linen”.

Staff had signed when tasks had been completed but there were gaps in the daily schedule where toilets had not been cleaned, and “a smell of urine” coming from a storage cupboard for wheelchairs and slings, suggesting these were not being effectively cleaned.

They rated the effectiveness of the service provided “good” and found staff “kind and caring”.

There were positive examples of staff knowing about and responding to residents’ needs, noting the manager brought a piano in for one resident who missed playing it, and that residents were allowed to have their pets living with them.

Responding to the critical report, a spokesman for CHD Living said conditions at the home had been improved considerably since a new manager had been appointed nearly a year ago.

The spokesman told The Herald: “The CQC report into Surrey Hills has many positives and both Surrey County Council and Guildford and Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group continue place residents with us.

“Our home manager, has been with us since April 2015 and has received many plaudits for the improvements she has made to the service – she had already addressed the isolated issue of cleanliness raised by the inspectors before the publication of this report from an inspection in November of last year.

“We look forward to the CQC revisiting the home soon to report on the progress we have made.”

• In February, former care assistant Paul Balea, who pleaded guilty to ill-treating three dementia patients at the Surrey Heights home, was handed an 18-month community order and ordered to undertake 200 hours unpaid work.

In addition Balea received a three-month curfew and was told to pay £250 to each of his three victims plus a £60 victim surcharge at Guildford Crown Court.