A BARNSLEY care home which had been plunged into special measures by the Care Quality Commission after inspectors found a plethora of issues has been inspected again.

Orchard Views Residential Homes, based on Gawber Road, provides accommodation and personal care for older people.

They were inspected by the CQC in November and then December and inspectors subsequently placed the home into special measures to ‘protect people’.

Barnsley Council withdrew their funding in December and the CQC found breaches of regulation in how well they were managing medicines, assessing and managing risks, and care planning.

The issues ranged from residents in dirty clothes to staff not being recruited ‘safely’.

Warning notices were sent to the care home - which cared for 25 people at the time of the first inspection and 13 during the second - and a recent inspection has found that the facility has slightly improved.

It has now been rated ‘requires improvement’ - the second-lowest of the CQC’s grades.

Only six people were using the service at the time of the inspection last month.

A report states: “The service is a residential care at home service providing support to older people, some of whom were living with dementia.

“The service can support up to 40 people, at the time of our assessment six people were living at the service.

“This service has been in special measures since November 6 2024.

“Since our last assessment the local authority was no longer contracting with Orchard Views.

“The provider demonstrated improvements have been made.

“The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions.

“Therefore, this service is no longer in special measures.”

A number of changes have been made at the care home and, although concerns have been raised by inspectors, it seems the facility is improving.

The report added: “At our last assessment we found breaches in regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and governance.

“We were previously concerned about the management of risks, management of medicines, care planning and quality management.

“While we found some improvements had been made, there were ongoing concerns in relation to governance and managing risks posed to people.

“The provider remained in breach of these regulations.

“The service is now rated requires improvement.

“Since our last assessment the provider had recruited a new manager, and we received positive feedback about them.

“The new manager had plans in place to implement new systems and processes, these required embedding into practice.

“Staff told us the culture and communication had improved.

“We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.”

Despite the slight improvement, inspectors did raise a number of concerns regarding care.

“While people expressed general satisfaction with their care and treatment, our assessment found care did not meet the expected standards,” the report added.

“There was a lack of stimulation and meaningful activities for people.

“People’s care records did not always contain accurate and up to date information, meaning risks posed to people were not always mitigated.

“The environment did not always promote safety, and we found some staff did not always promote safe infection control practices.

“People were supported by enough staff and people told us staff were kind and caring.”