An elderly man has been charged with the attempted murder of a fellow care home resident after she was stabbed in the face multiple times.

Dennis Latter, 78, is accused of violently attacking an 89-year-old woman at Kingsfield Care Home in Jubilee Way, Faversham.

He has been charged with attempted murder and wounding with intent and has been remanded in custody until the case is heard at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, May 12.

Police spokesman Vicki Foster said: “Police were called at 9.09am on Friday, December 30, to a report of a stabbing at a care home in Jubilee Way, where it was reported a woman received facial injuries consistent with stab wounds.

“The victim has since been discharged from hospital.”

She added that the victim and suspect were known to each other.

Kingsfield Care Home, which has been rated as “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission, is run by Care UK, and is described as providing “quality, tailored, short-term respite breaks, plus nursing, residential, end-of-life care and residential care for older people living with dementia”. Staff look after 90 older people.

Care UK’s regional director Angi Knight said: “There was an incident involving two residents at our Faversham care home in December where one lady was injured.

“No other residents or any colleagues were harmed. The lady who was injured has made a good recovery and her family were very happy that she was able to return to the home a few days later.”

A spokesman for the company claims all other residents and their families were made aware of the incident.

Asked whether any internal investigation is being carried out, the spokesman added: “If there is ever any injury to a resident at one of our care homes we always liaise very closely with the safeguarding team and the relatives of the resident involved.

“Both the local safeguarding team and relatives also play a part in any decision to return a resident to the home if they have had to go to hospital.”

Kent County Council (KCC) confirmed it has been made aware of the “serious incident”.

A spokesman : “KCC has responded by initiating a safeguarding inquiry as required by section 42 of the Care Act 2015.

“A multi-agency response was co-ordinated involving the police and hospital staff to respond to the needs of both people.

“The person alleged to be responsible was removed from the setting and the injured adult was admitted to hospital and has now returned to the nursing home.

“Safeguarding inquiries are ongoing involving the provider, the police, clinical commissioning staff and notification to the Care Quality Commission.

“KCC is working closely with the nursing home management, which is ensuring the safety and welfare of residents.

“The nursing home is also offering support to individuals, staff and others who have been affected by this incident.”

A spokesman for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) says it will not make any comment until after the police investigation.

A CQC report published in October said the inspection had been “brought forward due to concerns we had received about the quality of care in the service”.

The care watchdog had rated the home as good in both the care and responsive categories but it required improvement in all three others.

“The nursing home is also offering support to individuals, staff and others who have been affected by this incident" - KCC spokesman

The report said: “The provider and manager ensured that they had planned for foreseeable emergencies, so that, should emergencies happen, people’s care needs would continue to be met.

“However, there was a lack of clarity around who was responsible for ensuring that risk within the environment was properly managed.

“People who could verbally tell us about their experiences of the services and the relatives we spoke with did not have any concerns about safety at Kingsfield Care Centre, but concerns were raised about staffing levels.

“Staffing levels were not planned to meet people’s needs. During our inspection we observed a number of instances where people calling out were not responded to by staff. For example, two people in distress in their bedrooms were ignored by nearby staff.

“People at risk were either ignored or not properly supervised or monitored as staff were busy elsewhere.”