Bosses at a nursing home have been told that they have to take immediate action to make urgent improvements to standards of care or face further action.

Hillside Nursing Home in Northhill Drive, Romford has been issued with a formal warning and three warning notices by The Care Quality Commission (CQC) afer an unannounced inspection of the home in November.

Deputy Director of CQC, Mathew Trainer said: “Provider have a duty to make surre that the care they deliver meets the government’s essential standards.

“This warning sends a clear message that the issues at Hillside Nursing Home need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”

When inspectors visited the home, which is run by GCH (Hillside Limited) they found that there was a lack of staff.

People living there were left unsupervised for long periods of time, and lack of time for staff to provide effective and safe personalised care was a recurring theme.

Inspectors also found that proper steps had not been taken to ensure that the individual needs of people living in the home were being taken into account and met.

The Care Quality Commission found no evidence to demonstrate that suitable arrangements had been made to ensure people were safeguarding against the risk of abuse.

Safeguarding alerts had not always been made when appriopriate and action had not always been taken to ensure the safety and welfare of people living at the home.

Mathew said: “Our inspectors will return in the near future to carry out another unannounced inspection.

“If we find that the home is not making the required progress we won’t hesitate to use our legal powers to protect the people who live there.”

Group Manager of Gold Care Nursing Homes, Sheila King said: “Gold Care Homes has already made progress and is continuing to work with the London Borough of Havering and the Care Quality Commission to ensure improvements are made and maintained in line with the expectations of the Care Quality Commission.”

Leader of Havering Council, Cllr Michael White said: “We are working with the providers of Hillside Nursing Home to ensure that the improvements required by the Care Quality Commission are made as quickly as possible.”