A care home condemned earlier this year for its ‘inadequate’ level of care has been praised for transforming itself in a matter of months.

Management at Four Oaks Nursing Home in Wood Lane, Partington were galvanised by their ‘inadequate’ rating after inspectors visited the home without notice in December last year.

A report, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March, revealed visiting inspectors had been concerned with a number of breaches in health and social care regulations, which they claimed had placed residents at serious risk of harm.

But less than six months later, the care home has undergone a transformation in its care service.

Inspectors re-visited the care provider in early August, without prior notice, and credited Four Oaks with making significant improvements across-the-board.

The latest report, published on September 21, noted that inspectors found the service to be good overall and good in four out of five categories - judging it to be caring, safe, responsive and well-led.

The positive outcome represents a swift and heartening turnaround for the service which was rated ‘inadequate’ and placed in special measures following the CQC inspection last December.

Home manager Diane Thomas said: “We are passionate about providing outstanding care at Four Oaks Nursing Home and are thrilled to receive such a good report.

“Thanks to the hard work of my team, we quickly put right all the issues raised by the CQC on their last visit. Our goal now is to work towards an outstanding rating next time.”

Inspectors received positive feedback on staff, with one resident saying: “They treat me very well, I love most of them. They are very kind, very nice.”

Residents told inspectors that staff listened to them and acted on what they said.

They also said their privacy and dignity was always maintained, with staff knocking on doors and ensuring curtains were closed when delivering personal care.

The report notes: “We saw that staff had more time to spend with people to chat or take them to the garden or sun lounge for some quality time.”

Inspectors were satisfied that Four Oaks was now a caring, safe, responsive and well-led care provider, and no longer subject to special measures.