A BRADFORD care home catering for people with dementia has been branded "inadequate" following a surprise visit by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Managers at Southfield Care Home, on Belton Close, Great Horton, have been told they need to make urgent improvements or face further enforcement action.

During the inspection, which took place on October 30 last year, CQC staff identified safety concerns for residents staying in the 54-bed home, prompting a warning notice to be issued.

The inspection noted that staff had failed to notify the CQC of safeguarding incidents at the home, including two occasions when the police had been called due to the "escalation in behaviours" of one resident.

In another unreported incident, one resident had allegedly gone into another person's room and grabbed them by the neck, with the pair having a further altercation later the same day which resulted in them both sustaining injuries.

Inspectors also found that people living in the home had their safety compromised due to the poor management of medicines, with seven medicines found in an administration trolley that were not recorded on people's patient records.

Certain parts of the home were found to be in disrepair, leading to potential hazards for residents as they moved around the building, such as raised and worn carpets, cracked floors, and a damaged window.

When the CQC previously visited Southfield in October 2013, only eight out of 33 staff had received training in safeguarding adults, and the report stated there was no evidence that the remaining staff had received the training since then.

Inspectors also noted there was a lack of staff knowledge on how to identify or respond to the risk of abuse, and said although there was a complaints procedure in place, records did not always demonstrate that appropriate action had been taken to resolve the issues raised.

Leadership at the home was deemed to be "inadequate", but the report noted a "good" level of care for residents, with staff showing respect and an awareness of maintaining people's privacy and dignity.

Debbie Westhead, the CQC's deputy chief inspector of Adult Social Care in the North, said: "We found that the care provided at Southfield Care Home fell a long way short of what we expect services to provide.

"We have told them they must take action to resolve the issues we identified.

"While we did see some caring interactions between staff and people living in the home, the safety issues we identified needed urgent attention.

"We have made it clear that we will return to the home to check that the necessary improvements have been made."

A spokesman for Southfield Health Care Ltd, which owns the privately-run home, said: "We have taken on board everything the CQC has said, and we are working towards meeting all their requirements.

"We are pleased that the care side of the report was identified as good, but we have to be mature enough to accept that failings have been found in other areas, and we are working to address them."