A luxury care home rated outstanding little more than two years ago has now been given the lowest possible grading after a government watchdog uncovered a catalogue of failings.

Chaucer House - once billed among the top residential homes in the district - was visited by the Care Quality Commission in January, with inspectors finding “widespread and significant shortfalls” at the service, which has been rated inadequate and put in special measures.

The home’s fall from grace began in 2018 when bosses were ordered to improve things following an unannounced visit in November 2017.

But despite this, inspectors returning in January this year saw no improvements and instead found a further deterioration in the service.

The report has been branded “bureaucratic clap-trap” by 94-year-old care home resident Richard Barton.

He says Chaucer House is a wonderful place to live and the staff work incredibly hard.

“Of course there will be niggles in the background, but as residents we don’t see this,” he said.

“I’m very impressed with the hard work of the staff. The agency staff are brilliant, even though they are coming in to do someone else’s work.

“The home is under-staffed but intense recruiting campaigns have produced disappointing results. This report will just destroy the morale of the hard-working staff here.”

Mr Barton, who has lived at the home for 18 months, says the conclusions in the report are “totally unfair and uncalled for” and that he has a “good life” at the home.

“So many residents are completely happy with their care,” he added. “This negative attitude shows a lack of imagination and common sense.”

“Of course there will be niggles in the background, but as residents we don’t see this...” Mr Barton

In their report, published this month, they say they found people had not received safe care and that the home - previously rated outstanding in November 2016 - has poor leadership and management.

One of their main concerns was the high number of agency staff used, which bosses at the home had promised to rectify.

Another issue exposed was the lack of guidance to deal with residents with challenging behaviour.

“Staff had recorded that one person had 15 incidents of behaviour in one month, including verbal and physical aggression towards another person,” said a CQC spokesman in the report.

“These incidents had not been analysed to identify any patterns or trends and the care plan had not been updated to give staff guidance to reduce the risk of these incidents happening again to keep people safe.”

Inspectors also saw one resident with challenging behaviour having a one-to-one observation by a security guard wearing a hi-vis jacket with “security” written on it.

“This was neither dignified for the person, or provided assurances that any risks to the person or others were being appropriately managed by the provider or registered manager,” the report stated.

Other concerns raised were the lack of detailed guidance to help staff deal with catheters, discrepancies in care plans and insufficient staffing levels.

The report also flagged up issues about the time it takes the team to deal with residents after they have rung their call bells - more than 25 minutes in two cases.

Other findings included a resident missing doses of medicine and becoming ill, worries from relatives about social isolation, and a lack of competent and experienced workers,

Inspectors said, however, that permanent staff had an in-depth knowledge of people’s care and treatment needs and were skilled and confident in their practice.

They also said workers were kind, caring and compassionate. Martin Vanhinsbergh, regional director of Chaucer House, says senior managers are supporting staff in order to ensure the necessary improvements are made and sustained.

“We look forward to demonstrating improvements when the CQC next visit,” he added.

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