A care home has been removed from special measures after making "significant progress" since its last inspection.

The Maltings Care Home, in Fakenham, was rated 'inadequate' after staff were found not wearing PPE in August 2020 - when strict Covid measures were in place.

There were also a number of other serious concerns, including residents not been given their medicines.

But now, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has decided the Norwich Road home 'requires improvement' following visits in May.

It has therefore been removed from special measures, despite remaining in breach of one regulation relating to leadership.

A spokesman for The Maltings' owners, Four Seasons Health Care, said, “We are pleased the inspector recognised the improvements made in the home.

"Since the inspection, we have continued to take steps to address the remaining areas highlighted in the report, including by appointing a new home manager who will work closely with our regional support manager.

"The safety and wellbeing of our residents remains our first priority.”

In its 2020 report, the CQC wrote that safe systems were not in place at The Maltings to mitigate the "risk and spread of infection", including Covid.

Medicines were "not well managed" and a lack of effective monitoring meant unsafe practice was not identified.

However, the latest report said the service had improved in almost all areas

Staff were praised for being “kind and caring". People were "treated with respect" and "involved in decisions about their care."

On the other hand, some flaws in "basic oversight" were detected.

The report added: "Food and fluid charts, repositioning charts and records monitoring people's continence were not effectively monitored.

"One person's medicines had not been accurately entered onto the system following their discharge from hospital.

“This poor recording represented a failure of systems which have the potential to harm people and meant there was a continued breach of regulation relating to the monitoring and mitigating of risk."

The Maltings has been instructed to ensure processes are in place to ensure safety, and that resident records are up to date.

Note: The Maltings care home has no affiliation with The Maltings day service, also in Fakenham, run by FitzRoy Norfolk.