A NURSING home has been told to improve by inspectors who found it was not safe after a wardrobe fell on and injured an elderly resident.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the Brooklands Nursing Home, in Lambeth Road, Eastwood, which is home to 41 people, where a number of concerns were raised.

This included staff’s poor response times to residents.

And, one week prior to the inspection, a free-standing wardrobe had fallen and injured someone resulting in “extensive bruising and skin tears to both arms”.

Inspectors also found management had not fully acted on previous guidance from the CQC about the risks the wardrobes posed and at the time of their visit 12 wardrobes were still unsecure.

Residents raised concerns to inspectors about the length of time they had to wait after activating their call alarms, particularly early in the morning and in the evening.

One resident told inspectors: “You can wait for quite a while during the night.

“The other night a carer came in with a blanket wrapped round their shoulder – it suggested they were sleeping while on duty.”

Relatives of the residents also told inspectors they did not always feel there was enough staff on duty.

Records at the home showed that for the month of May, there were 47 occasions where it took staff between six and 29 minutes to respond and help people using the alarm service.

While it had been identified as a concern by the management team, there was no evidence to suggest any action had been taken to address this.

Inspectors also rated the nursing home’s effectiveness as requiring improvement after they found residents were being brought to lunch 20 to 25 minutes before it was served which caused some residents to become agitated.

The report, published this month after the June inspection, also found some members of staff did not speak to residents when caring for them.

The report stated: “On one occasions, a member of staff, while providing support to one person over a 15-minute period, did not speak to the person. The person’s meal was pureed separately but the staff member mixed all the food items together.” When asked for comment, the registered manager Ambhichand Dumur said: “We are working with the council and the CQC on this.”