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A mental health unit has been told to make improvements to its services after concerns were raised over patients' rights.

Inspectors visited the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Trust's Fromeside site after issues over staff qualifications were also highlighted.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection of five wards in December.

The trust said it had "plans in place to address the points raised".

Fromeside, in Bristol, is a medium secure service which cares for people with mental illness or a personality disorder who also have a criminal history, or behaviours that mean they cannot be treated in mainstream mental health services.

The CQC received information regarding the quality and safety of the service relating to how the rights of patients were being respected, and whether the service had suitably qualified staff.

The said the service was providing safe care and that staff managed risk well, but there were some issues with staff vacancies and poor communication between medical and nursing staff.

In addition, some care plans lacked detail regarding how a patient's needs were met in their preferred manner.

Julie Kerry, from the trust, said it was "pleased with the outcome of this recent inspection".

"We recognise we still have work to do and we have plans in place to address the points raised by the CQC so that we can continue to further improve our care planning and delivery," she said.

Care plans have been developed following a comprehensive assessment and patients were given a range of treatments which were suitable to their needs, the CQC added.

The service was previously rated as "good" by inspectors where as the trust has a "requires improvement" rating.