RESIDENTS and staff at an Oxford care home are celebrating after a raft of improvements saw it leap from the second lowest quality rating to the very highest.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) criticised Cumnor Hill House during their last visit in April 2017, raising concerns including medicine management.

They concluded that the home was in breach of the Health and Social Care Act.

Rating the service as ‘requires improvement’, the CQC also said the home’s systems for monitoring and improving its service were themselves in need of improvement.

However, following an unannounced visit in May this year, inspectors said all concerns had been addressed.

The commission has now praised management and staff saying there was ‘overwhelming’ evidence’ of significant improvements in a number of areas, resulting in an overall rating of ‘outstanding’.

The report states: “Significant improvements of people’s experiences were achieved because of excellent leadership provided by the provider and service’s management.”

Out of the five areas inspected, Cumnor Hill House was rated ‘good’ in the safe and effective measures, while the caring, responsive and well-led measures were all rated ‘outstanding’.

In their report, published in July, inspectors said: “There was overwhelming evidence available that demonstrated further improvements to outstanding in caring and responsive domains.

“The significant improvements of people’s experiences were achieved because of excellent leadership provided.

"We therefore also rated the well-led domain as outstanding and the service was rated outstanding overall.”

The home had recently undergone a change in leadership with new manager Louise Axtell and deputy manager Marta Wcislo joining a week after the damning CQC inspection in April 2017.

Responding to the home’s new rating Ms Axtell said: “I really feel that it’s an outstanding team and well-deserved.

“Everyone in the team works really hard, and they all go above and beyond to enrich the lives of the residents we care for.”

The home’s new leadership team was particularly praised by the inspectors who stated: “The provider’s ethos was to ensure a happy environment for people living at the service while recognising the value of the care profession and valuing their staff.”

The CQC report said the service was ‘exceptionally’ responsive to people’s needs and commended the home’s ‘positive culture’ and ‘committed’ staff.

Cumnor Hill House, in Breeches End, is a 72-bed home registered for older people, some of whom may be living with dementia.