‘Major improvement’ in food safety needed as York care home gets 1 out of 5 hygiene rating

A new care home in York has been marked down on its food safety.

The Chocolate Works Care Village, located in the former Terry’s factory on Bishopthorpe Road, has received a lowly 1 out 5 food hygiene rating.

And City of York Council food inspectors said there was ‘Major Improvement Necessary’ on management of food safety.

But the owners say it was just a system and documentation error on their part which has now been corrected.

The Chocolate Works Care Village is a care home providing nursing or personal care to up to 102 people across three separate communities, each of which have separate adapted facilities.

It was visited by food inspectors on 1 March who published their verdict today (Thursday).

As usual, they rated the hygiene under three headings:

Hygienic food handling – rating: ‘Improvement necessary’. This relates to the hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.

Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building – rating ‘Very good’. This concerns how clean and well maintained the facilities are (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control).

Management of food safety – rating ‘Major improvement necessary’. Inspectors are looking for the system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat, evidence that staff know about food safety, and the food safety officer has confidence that standards will be maintained in future.

The Chocolate Works Care Village is run by Springfield Healthcare.

Sarah Paskett, registered manager, said “Environmental health officers visited us a few weeks ago and highlighted some improvements that were required to our documentation and processes.

“Those changes were made immediately, and we are confident that the next inspection, due imminently, will yield a more positive result.”