A care home has been plunged into special measures after inspectors found residents had been involved in "physical altercations".

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) slapped The Coach House in Herne Bay with an inadequate rating - the lowest possible - after concluding residents were "not safe and were at risk of avoidable harm" and medicines were not being safely managed.

But the Strode Park Foundation, which runs the home, says it has made "good progress in implementing an agreed action plan" to make improvements.

The Coach House, based in Lower Herne Road, is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to nine people with learning and physical disabilities, autism and sensory impairment.

The watchdog found systems and processes had "not consistently protected people from abuse" as incidents had not always been reported to the local authority safeguarding team.

"We found incidents where people had been involved in physical altercations with other people," the report said.

"Systems had not been effective in ensuring these were reported correctly. This left people at risk of repeated incidents.

"We reported two incidents to the local authority safeguarding adults team that had not been reported by the provider.

"Failing to report incidents puts people at risk of repeat distress or harm, prevents independent oversight of them and does not give people the opportunity to have their voice heard about the incidents."

The unannounced inspection was carried out in September, but the CQC only published the findings on December 21.

"Failing to report incidents puts people at risk of repeat distress or harm..."

It found the home was based in a "campus setting" and says although the grounds were "pleasant and accessible" this did not meet the current government guidance on services for people with a learning disability and autism.

The watchdog also found medicines were not being safely managed at The Coach House.

"Some people were prescribed 'as required' medicines," the report said. "These medicines did not have a protocol for their use.

"As a result, staff were deciding without formal guidance when to give people medicines to relieve their constipation.

"One staff told us, 'The guideline [on when to give the medicine] is when we think it's necessary.'

"One person went almost seven days without a bowel movement despite having suppositories prescribed to be given on the fifth day, that were not administered.

"This meant people sometimes went longer than necessary before receiving their medicines."

Inspectors also found admin and supporting documents for medicines "consistently contained errors".

Staffing levels were also found to be inadequate, and failing to meet people's needs.

The report said: "For example, one person had an emotional support note written in their care notes because they were very unhappy about staffing levels, were crying and did not have their one-to-one staff."

The CQC also found there were "widespread and significant shortfalls" in leadership.

"There had been a significant deterioration in the overall quality of the service since our previous inspection," the report said.

"Our inspection found concerns with the management of risk, medicines, staffing allocations, management of some health needs, person-centred care, activities, culture and the campus-style setting of the service.

"Despite the widespread concerns outlined above, the registered provider had not ensured that audits were happening with the planned frequency, and audits were not effective in highlighting concerns or putting them right."

The overall rating given to the service was 'inadequate', and it was placed in special measures.

This means it will be kept under review and - if the CQC does not propose to cancel the provider's registration - be reinspected within six months to check for "significant improvements".

A spokesperson for the Strode Park Foundation says it has a "proud record" of providing high quality care for people with disabilities for many years.

"We manage several residential homes, and most of our services are rated ‘good’ by the regulators, CQC and Ofsted and all have the top 5 star environmental health rating," they said.

"The Coach House has been rated Good for many years and we are very disappointed and sorry that the service has fallen below the standards we expect.

"Since the pandemic, like all other social care providers, we have found staff recruitment difficult and this has had an impact on the number and variety of activities we have been able to support the residents to undertake.

"However, the CQC inspection visit was over three months ago and since then we have made good progress in implementing an agreed action plan to make improvements where this is necessary.

"These improvements include re-establishing more opportunities for people to enjoy activities in the local community and increasing the number of staff members available in the evenings and at night.

"We remain committed to offering the best possible support for the people with disabilities who rely on our services."