A care home where there were "high levels" of residents falling has been told to improve by the health watchdog.

Walberton Place Care Home in Arundel was rated requires improvement following an inspection from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April.

The service in Yapton Lane, which at the time of the CQC’s visit was caring for 62 people, required improvement in the safe and well-led assessment categories and rated good in the effective, caring and responsive inspection criteria.

The home has been rated requires improvement for the last two consecutive inspections and the latest visit was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing and risk management.

April’s inspection focused on the key questions of safe, effective and well-led only.

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Inspectors said: “Risks to people were not consistently assessed and managed. Some people who were living with dementia needed support when expressing feelings of distress or agitation. Staff did not have clear guidance about the level of risk and strategies to provide care safely. This had a negative impact on the safety and quality of life for some people who were living with dementia. The provider's systems for monitoring quality had not identified shortfalls in risk management.

“Systems for monitoring incidents and accidents had identified high levels of unwitnessed falls. The provider's analysis indicated that staffing levels and deployment of staff may have been a factor.”

However, inspectors praised staff for the level of care provided to residents and said those living at the home were “happy”.

The report said: “People were supported by kind and caring staff who knew them well. People told us they were happy living at the home. A person commented, ‘It's very good. I've got no complaints at all. I would certainly recommend it here’.

“People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Staff were recruited safely and there were effective systems in place to provide staff with the training and support they needed.

“People were supported to have enough to eat and drink and staff worked effectively with other services to ensure people's health needs were met.”