A YORK care home has been hailed as “good” by a watchdog, less than a year after it criticised standards of care.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said action had been taken to address shortfalls at Holgate House and rated it as “good” in all five key areas: is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

They said residents at the home in Holgate Road, which provides accommodation and care for up to 30 older people and younger adults with needs including learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder and/or mental health problems, said they were happy living there and felt staff cared about them.

Residents’ comments included: “Staff really care about me. They are very caring,” and: “The staff are alright. I get on fine with them. They’ll help you with anything you need.” Another resident said a particular member of staff was “an angel”.

The report said staff were trained in safeguarding adults from abuse and understood their responsibilities in protecting them from risk of harm. Medicines were stored, recorded and administered safely, and staff said they were well supported by senior managers.

The CQC said after a previous inspection in February last year that the home was ‘inadequate’ - the lowest possible rating - and after another inspection last October that improvements had been achieved but more were still required.

Milewood Healthcare Ltd, which had only just taken over the home at the time, said then it was confident of turning it around.

Commercial director Sarah Baker said last week that the “considerable” improvements had been achieved by “co-production” with residents and “the hard work and dedication of the staff team”, in addition to a close working relationship with the CQC and council.