A nursing home which was dependent on agency staff to deliver its care failed an unannounced inspection by the health and social care watchdog.

Warrengate Nursing Home, in The Warren, Kingswood, was rated as "requires improvement" overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when it inspected the home unannounced on two days in February.

In a report published last week, the CQC said the home - which cares for 40 elderly residents, some of whom have dementia - was not always safe, completely effective, caring, responsive or well-led.

Last August, the Epsom Guardian reported how an elderly woman was found wandering in the street after a door at Warrengate was accidentally left unlocked.

Immediately afterwards the care home said external doors would always be closed by staff in future.

Last year: Nursing home resident with dementia found wandering in street in Kingswood

In 2011, it was found to be failing in 12 key areas including care and welfare, nutrition, and how medicines were managed.

But no areas of concern were identified by the CQC in an inspection in January 2014.

Mehboob Rajan, who owns the nursing home, said the report was not representative of the current situation at Warrengate.

He said: "The report has come out four months after the inspection so it’s not particularly relevant.

"The required improvements were made by the end of February."

Issues identified at the home by the CQC included:

A reliance on a number of agency staff

Residents finding it hard to communicate with staff members whose first language was not English

Residents not always being protected in the event of an emergency as evacuation plans had not been completed for everyone

Checks not being done to ensure people received a good quality of care

Documents enabling staff to support people and record the care given to them were not always complete Residents’ complaints not being dealt with effectively

The effectiveness of staff checks to make sure residents were getting the correct medicine Staff not fully supporting all those who needed it

Staff not always recognising when people were upset or responding in an appropriate manner

Inconsistent support being given to people to help them to eat and drink

There was a mixed response about the staff from residents and their relatives.

Residents at the home said there had been a lot of staff changes, although the majority of those interviewed said things had been improving.

The CQC noted there were some good interactions seen between residents and staff, who were regarded as friendly, caring and supportive.

But there were concerns about the number of agency staff being used.

Last year: Care Quality Commission boss on watchdog's past failings and more "robust" approach to tackle danger care homes

Mr Rajan said the delay in the CQC publishing its reports was not helpful to the public as the report and the current situation in the home were "two different animals".

He said he believes reports should be published three to four weeks after inspections.

"It’s supposed to help the public," he said.

"Publishing reports four to five months later is not very helpful.

"If you walked in [to the care home] today you would come along and find a totally different situation. Do you think that is helpful to you?"

He said there had been a high number of agency staff it was recruiting permanent staff. With this complete, he said the number of agency staff has decreased.

But he added: "We still have some regular agency staff that I’m not willing to shed.

"They do a grand job and I get a good deal from the agency."

He said that following the inspection he "parted company" with the manager of the nursing home who had not been reviewing residents’ care plans adequately.

He said a new manager is now in post.

To read the inspection in full click here.