A CARE home that cares for dementia suffers in Northwich has been investigated for abuse, it has been revealed.

Daneside Mews, next to the former Co-op, has been told it must make improvements to its safety and management, following an inspection from the Care Quality Commission over two days in February.

The inspection report, which has recently been published, also revealed an incident of abuse.

It stated: “In October 2016 the local authority’s safeguarding team had asked the registered provider to complete an internal investigation and provide them with a report into an allegation of abuse. Despite multiple requests this was not received by the local authority until March 2017.

“In addition, it was identified that there had been a delay of four days in reporting a safeguarding concern to the local authority. This demonstrated a failure to learn from previous issues.”

Cheshire West and Chester Council has confirmed that an investigation was carried out and that action has been taken, but refused to go into any further detail.

A spokesman for CWAC said: “The council worked with Daneside Mews through the recent issues referred to in the report and continue to work with Daneside Mews in conjunction with health partners to ensure that improvements continue to be made.

“Actions were agreed between the provider and the local authority following an internal investigation.”

Cheshire Police also confirmed that they ‘are aware of some safeguarding issues raised by the local authority.’ Daneside Mews has now been given a ‘requires improvement’ rating from the CQC, with safety and management highlighted as the areas that need improving.

Other areas such as effectiveness, responsiveness and quality of care, were rated ‘good’.

HC-One, the company that owns Daneside Mews, says it has taken the feedback ‘very seriously’.

A spokesman for HC-One said: “Our absolute priority is to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of the people we support.

“We were pleased with the positive feedback about the standard of care provided by our staff but disappointed with the CQC’s findings on areas requiring improvement.

“We take feedback from the regulator very seriously, and since the inspection we have recruited a new manager and we are pleased with the progress the team has made to address the concerns which have been raised.

“We will continue to work closely with the CQC and look forward to demonstrating that all actions have been quickly and effectively implemented when the home is next inspected in the near future.

“We worked closely with healthcare partners to carry out a thorough investigation into the concerns raised in October 2016, and have subsequently agreed and implemented actions to address them.”