A HEALTH watchdog has criticised a Redditch care home after a resident was unlawfully deprived of their freedom.

Saltways Care Home, in Church Road, Webheath, has been rated as "requiring improvement" following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

Inspectors, who visited the care home in January, found it to be insufficient in its effectiveness and leadership.

They also found there was a risk that people would potentially be unlawfully "deprived of their liberty" as staff were unclear about their role and responsibilities with regards to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Mental Capacity Act (MCA) training, and their principles had not been consistently applied.

On one occasion, a resident for whom a restriction was in place, had not had the appropriate meetings and assessments therefore the person had been unlawfully deprived of their freedom.

A report said the service was not consistently well-led, and that although the management team had systems in place to check and improve the quality of the service provided, actions had not been taken to enhance the areas identified.

The report did say recent changes had been positive but more time was needed to embed them and ensure improvements are sustained.

The previous Saltways manager was also responsible for another care home, and a staff member said Saltways had lacked "consistent management" as a result.

A new full time manager, Shirley Campbell, had been appointed two weeks prior to the inspection and staff told inspectors improvements had already been put in place.

But, at the time of inspection, the manager had not yet registered with the CQC.

The care home, which had 20 people on its roll at the time of inspection, was judged as good for its safety, care and responsiveness.

A spokesman from Leonard Cheshire Disability said it always aims to provide the "best possible support" to people at Saltways.

"Their safety and well-being is our absolute priority," she said.

“The issues highlighted by The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had been identified by our team and a comprehensive action plan had already been prepared. We are now putting this into practice.

"We are looking at ways to improve communication with families, recruit volunteer drivers so residents can enjoy more outings and we are reviewing other ways we can increase community access."