A care home has been ordered to work harder at keeping its facilities clean and safe for residents.

The Care Quality Commission says Chalkney House, which is based in Colchester Road, White Colne, requires improvement following a visit by officers back in September.

A report states the safety of residents remains a key concern and the home has failed to identify and manage potential risks.

Staff were found to have a lack of understanding of how to keep residents safe, and the homes’ procedure for head injuries was also found to be insufficient.

Inspectors found issues with cleanliness, with particular concerns about hygiene levels in residents’ rooms, as well as bedding not being replaced when dirty.

The report adds: “At this inspection, although we saw some improvement, we continued to find areas of the service that were unclean. People’s rooms had food waste on the floor and unpleasant odours were identified in parts of the service.

“Floors, beds and bedding in people’s rooms were not being cleaned to an acceptable standard.”

There were no domestic staff working at the time of the inspection, which is thought to be a reason why the cleanliness was not up to standards.

Despite the overall instruction to make improvements, the home was rated good in three of five areas, including the efficiency and responsiveness of the service.

Previous concerns over end of life care, which were raised after an inspection in February have been lifted.

There was further praise for the management of medicines and level of staffing.

Sohal Healthcare, which runs the service at Chalkney House, says it will continue to work on an agreed action plan to help it deliver improvements.

A spokesman added: “We are feeling positive that we are going in the right direction and are pleased there has been a considerable improvement since the last inspection. We acknowledge the report and accept the CQC’s findings. We are working on hard on the action plan and with with the help of the CQC, will make sure the necessary improvements will have been made by the time of the next visit.”