Bosses at a Chigwell care home are ‘delighted’ at improvements to the safety and leadership of the home following a damning report a year ago.

Belmont Lodge Care Centre was rated ‘inadequate’ overall by the national watchdog for care provision in a report published in January of last year.

However, following a recent inspection the home has been upgraded to ‘requires improvement’ overall after two of the inspection criteria, safety and leadership, were rated ‘good’ in a report published earlier this month.

The Fencepiece Road care home, which provides care for up to 46 older people some who have dementia, was praised by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors for making massive strides of improvement.

In 2019, a spotlight had been placed on the home after residents reported feeling unsafe after several staff had assaulted by an individual. At the time the care home was criticised for failing to develop a proper plan to stop similar incidents occurring.

However, on return CQC inspectors said they found care was delivered in way that ensured people’s safety and welfare.

They wrote: “People were cared for safely by staff who had been recruited and employed after appropriate checks had been completed. Staff had received appropriate training. There were systems in place to minimise the risk of infection and to learn lessons from accidents and incidents. Medication was dispensed by staff who had received training to do so.”

One person told CQC inspector: "I feel safe here, I have been here a few years and if I didn't feel safe, I would walk out the door."

A relative said: "The staff are very good they are absolutely brilliant. They [staff] know [person name] really well."

A spokesperson for the care home said: “We’re delighted that in the two critical areas that CQC examined in detail – safety and leadership – the work of the team has been recognised as good by the inspectors. We are looking forward to the other areas being assessed in the near future, and are confident that these will be similarly upgraded in the next report.

The support of residents and their families in recent months has been outstanding, when we -like every other care home – have been coping with the most challenging of times. In spite of the ongoing pandemic, we’re facing 2021 with a positive outlook.