Bosses at two care homes have been ordered to improve after inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors said Abbeyfield House, in New Malden, and Langley Court, in Surbiton, were both 'good' in three of five key areas, but required improvement overall.

They praised staff at Abbeyfield House, home to 35 older people with dementia, for "treating people in a respectful and dignified manner" and said "signs of wellbeing were evident with people engaging with one another and having quite animated conversations".

The report added: "The home had several ‘reminiscing’ rooms; one was decorated as a child’s nursery, another as a sitting room typical of the 1930s or 40s. This attention to detail meant that people could relate better to Abbeyfield House as their home."

But the home had breached regulations by failing to carry out a quarterly health and safety check, meaning residents were not always adequately protected.

Manager Emmanuel Torsoo said "constraints" on maintenance staff meant safety checks were not recorded. He added: "That doesn't mean that checks were not being done. It's a paper-based issue."

Care at the home is not rushed and staff "go about their duties with pleasure", he said.

Langley Court cares for 28 people, many with dementia. Inspectors found medicines were sometimes given late and the home was in breach of regulations, with a potential for errors in administration.

The report said: "We found the service had not taken sufficient action to improve medicines management to keep people safe.

"When we checked medicines stocks we could not always confirm people received their medicines as records showed. In addition, staff who administered medicine were not always able to focus on carrying out this task."

A previous inspection also found medicine management to be an issue. However, staff were effective, caring and responsive, the CQC said.

Director Dinesh Patel said: "Everything is in hand - we have done more than what they asked. We're doing a daily reconciliation of all the medicines."

Managers have now guaranteed that staff will not be disturbed while they are administering medicine, he added.