THE owner of a care home, whose services have been branded "inadequate", has set himself a deadline of the end of February to bring it up to standard.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission found Anley Hall Nursing Home in Skipton Road, Settle, failed to provide care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive or well-led.

It was also criticised because failings exposed at a previous inspection, had not been remedied.

Proprietor Malcolm Haigh said he was distressed by the findings which had blighted a 25-year unblemished record.

"The nursing home was run by a temporary management company for two years due to my ill health. I am back now, have recruited my own staff and intend turning it round by the end of February," he pledged.

When the inspectors arrived at the home, on November 3, last year, there were 12 people living in the home, four visitors, eight members of staff and a visiting doctor.

The inspectors found that despite some positive comments from the people being cared for, the service was not effective.

Their report said: "Although people told us they felt safe in the home we found the service was not providing consistent safe care."

People were found to be losing weight and in some examples, no action had been taken to address the situation.

They were not regularly supported when they were at risk of developing pressure ulcers and not everyone was being supported to eat and drink.

"We found the home was in need of some maintenance and there were malodours in some areas," inspectors said.

"There were no clear lines of accountability and the home did not have an effective quality assurance system in place and there was no audit schedule. We found this put people at risk of potentially unsafe or inappropriate care."

They found there was a reliance on agency staff to cover staff absence and staff vacancies, that care records lacked detail, were inaccurate at times and that people's nutritional and hydration needs were not consistently being met.