A South Woodford care home has been warned to improve aspects of its service after receiving a downgraded rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Churchfield Nursing Home is now a Requires Improvement facility, having fallen from its Good rating granted in August 2019.

The accommodation, which houses 31 people, has been given a series of recommendations following an unannounced visit by the regulatory body on November 30 last year.

In its latest inspection report, CQC declared three areas in need of improvement: whether the home was safe, responsive and well-led.

The latter two metrics have deteriorated from Good since the last inspection.

Two criteria were rated as Good - whether the service was effective and caring.

Though the inspection found "no evidence that people had been harmed", it was concluded that people may be so exposed due to "a lack of risk assessments in place to ensure people were safe at all times".

Issues identified included a lack of "robust" risk assessments for people with current and previous medical conditions such as breathing difficulties and hypertension.

Records were not always kept up to date, while pre-admission and reviews needed to be "more robust to ensure risks associated with people's health conditions and dementia were captured".

The inspection also found that some complaints "had not been managed in a timely manner" and the "tone of language used when responding to some complaints would require a more courteous approach".

However, the report found that systems were in place to safeguard residents against the risk of abuse.

The CQC said it was also "assured that the provider was preventing visitors from catching and spreading infections".

Inspectors observed relationships between staff and people to be "friendly and positive", with the former speaking to residents in a "kind manner".

When approached for comment on the downgraded rating, a spokesperson for the nursing home said the home is "extremely proud of the standard of care we provide and the relationships we have built with our residents and their families".

They claimed to have requested 48 "wording changes" to the draft report after reading its findings, but these were not granted.

In response to this claim, a CQC spokesperson confirmed providers have a 10-day period to check the report before publication, during which they are able to "respond or take legal action if they feel it's necessary".

They said this did not happen on this occasion.