A Canterbury care home has been found to have serious failings following a spot inspection by The Care Quality Commission.

The unannounced visit in January to Hamilton's Residential Home in Upstreet revealed it was "failing to provide safe, effective, responsive care for residents".

Now the CQC, which had just published its findings, has ordered the provider, Lett's Care Ltd, to make urgent improvements or face enforcement action.

The care home caters for 17 elderly residents, some with dementia.

Inspectors found that people whose behaviour challenged the service were not supported in ways which were effective and on occasions inappropriate sanctions were being applied.

There was also evidence that staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse but had not realised that people were at risk because their behaviour was not being responded to in line with good practice.

CQC observed that residents had not been involved in planning the care they received, for example receiving influenza vaccinations without their consent.

People had not always been involved in planning the care they would prefer at the end of their life and for some nor had their cultural and spiritual needs been considered.

There was a specific example that the end of life arrangements had not be considered or recorded in line with the religious faith which guided their life.

Under CQC’s programme of inspections, all adult social care services are being given a rating to help people choose care. Overall, Hamilton's Residential Home has been rated as 'inadequate'.

The reports says service was not always delivered in line with the provider’s statement of purpose because the local management and staff did not know what the aims and objectives of the service were.

Summarising the findings, the CQC's deputy chief inspector for adult care, Adrian Hughes said: “The way in which Lett's Care Ltd., operated the service failed to meet the fundamental aspects of good care that people have the right to expect - high quality, compassionate and safe.

"We saw evidence of staff treating people with kindness and compassion but there was not enough planning to support people to be involved in planning their own care and promoting independence.

“The way in which Lett's Care Ltd., operated the service failed to meet the fundamental aspects of good care that people have the right to expect" - the inspection report

"If a service sets out to support people to increase their independence then the policies and procedures, staff recruitment and training along with the values and behaviours of the whole staff team, must align to ensure the overall aim is delivered on a day to day basis. Regrettably, this is not what we found at Hamilton's Residential Home.

"The provider should use our inspection finding as an agenda for action and work across the whole staff team to determine a plan to deal with the areas of concern.

"We will inspect again and if action has not secured improvements we will have no alternative but to take further enforcement action."

A full report from the inspection has been published on the CQC website: http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-916268362