A REST home where inspectors found residents are at risk of harm has been told to improve.

The Care Quality Commission carried out an inspection of Pinewood Rest Home on May 27 to 31 this year.

The service on Telegraph Road, in West End, has dropped from a good rating to requires improvement.

Two out of five categories - safe and well-led - were given the requires improvement rating.

READ MORE: 'Unsafe' Southampton care service slammed in damning report

Inspectors found that suitable checks were not always made to ensure the building was safe.

They noted that weekly and monthly fire checks were not always carried out to "ensure people were kept safe".

The last weekly fire tests were completed on December 21 in 2021, which included emergency lighting.

During the inspection, the manager could not locate the fire policy and inspectors found that fire evacuations had not taken place recently and not all staff had completed fire training.

READ MORE: Southampton care home praised by watchdogs after recent inspection

Prior to the inspection, the CQC had received a call regarding "concerns about the lack of falls and emergency equipment".

During the inspection, the emergency alarm system had just been upgraded and more falls equipment had been ordered to keep people safe.

Inspectors said that they "could not be assured the service were following safe recruitment practices".

The report said: "Two staff files we looked at did not contain complete application forms.

READ MORE: Poor CQC inspection for hospital trust blamed on staffing shortages

"This meant the service could not be ensured of a full employment history as required by schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

"We were also not assured that suitable employment references had been obtained to ensure staff are safe to work with vulnerable people."

The manager "immediately followed up on" the concerns.

One person told inspectors: "I don't think there's enough staff here."

And another person said: "The staff are great here, but they need to employ more, sometimes there's just three of them here."

It was also highlighted that there had been "a lack of positive leadership and guidance in the home through the number of managers that had come and gone".

At the time of inspection, there was no registered manager in place and the service had been without a registered manager since November 2021.

The Daily Echo has contacted Pinewood Rest Home for a comment and is waiting for a response.

Inspectors said the home was effective, caring and responsive - all three areas were rated as good.

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