A care home has been told to improve after the health watchdog said residents were at risk of falling and people’s safety was “compromised”.

Fairlight Manor, in Telscombe Cliffs, Peacehaven, was rated "requires improvement" after an inspection from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The home, in Fairlight Avenue, cares for older people, people living with dementia and other mental health conditions.

Inspectors said “some people were not always kept safe” and there were concerns about a missing safety gate.

“There were hazards with the environment that were not mitigated,” the report said.

“There were stair gates in other areas of the service, however the first floor had a stair gate missing at the top of a staircase. This meant people's safety was compromised living on that floor were at risk of falling should they have attempted to use the stairs if they were unsupervised or if they were not able to use the lift.

“This was addressed on the day of inspection.

“Risk assessments were not always robust. Staff were not provided with full guidance with how to support people with different health needs and how to respond if health needs changed.

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“Quality assurance systems were in place to monitor the service people received. However, they had not identified the shortfalls we found at this inspection with regards to risk assessments for people and the environment.

“The registered manager did not notify the CQC of incidents in a timely fashion in accordance with their regulatory responsibilities.”

However, inspectors praised the care given by staff.

“People and their relatives told us they were happy with staffing levels,” the report said.

“Staff were recruited safely and were suitably skilled and trained to support people.

“Relatives told us they were confident in the care provided to people. People were supported to have choice and control of their day-to-day lives.

“Staff supported people in the least restrictive way and in their best interests. Staff, people and relatives were supported to engage with the service. People and relatives told us the management team were approachable and accessible.

“Staff told us they felt well supported, empowered to develop and that Fairlight had a positive culture to work within.”

A spokesman from Fairlight Manor said: "We take the CQC findings extremely seriously and have taken robust and positive steps to strengthen our risk management and governance systems to ensure our residents continue to receive quality, safe and compassionate care at all times.

"We continue to work pro-actively with our regulators and have developed a detailed action plan which has been implemented to ensure sustainable improvements to the home.

"Our residents and families continue to remain positive about staff who care for them and their day to day experience at the home. Staff feedback have been complementary about the management team who continue to have a hands on approach on a day to day basis."