Bosses of a Felixstowe care home have lauded their staff for snapping quickly into action and heeding advice from the health watchdog after it was told it must make urgent improvements.

Ipswich Star: Staff at St Mary's Nursing Home in Felixstowe celebrate their new 'good' rating from the Care Quality Commission. Picture: GREGG BROWNStaff at St Mary's Nursing Home in Felixstowe celebrate their new 'good' rating from the Care Quality Commission. Picture: GREGG BROWN

In 2015, St Mary’s Nursing Home, based in Undercliff Road East, was rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after inspectors found breaches of legal requirements in infection control, staffing levels, staff training and support.

The centre was lifted to ‘requires improvements’ last year. Since then, manager Harald Beck has sent monthly improvement updates to the CQC.

Following the most recent inspection in August, the CQC has now determined that St Mary’s is a ‘good’ nursing home. It is the second highest rating, behind ‘outstanding’.

The report said: “People were treated with care and their independence, privacy and dignity was promoted and respected. Systems were in place to minimise the risks to people and to keep them safe. This included risk assessments to identify how assessed risks were minimised and processes designed to keep people safe from abuse.

“There was a system in place to assess how many staff were needed to meet people’s assessed and changing needs.”

It added: “People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.”

The nursing home, which looks after frail people over the age of 55, scored ‘good’ in all areas reviewed by the CQC: safety, effectiveness, care, responsiveness, and management.

The report noted a more “person centred” approach adopted by the home, with better social activities held for residents to reduce isolation.

Bosses have also taken steps to make the centre cleaner, the CQC found, while residents’ medicinal and dietary needs are being met.

Mr Beck said: “I think it’s really a testament to the hard work the staff have put in since the previous report.

“It meant so much to them when we announced it. People were just so pleased and it showed how much hard work they have done.”

Sheila Jay, also a spokeswoman for the care home, said: “Eighteen months of consistent and improved hard work has paid dividends. It’s all down to our fantastic staff who are at the core of everything we do.”