Elderly people at a care home were unsafe and frightened to leave their rooms, an inspection found.

The Cherry Acre Residential Home in Rainham provides accommodation and care for people with dementia, mental health illness and mobility problems and was inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) back in December.

The health watchdog advised a number of the 17 residents should be moved out and Medway Council stepped in to rehouse them.

The report from that visit to the home in Berengrave Lane assessed it as inadequate and was only published this month.

The home's management says improvements have been made.

The inspectors found residents were “at risk of serious harm” and that unlawful forms of restraint had been used to control behaviour.

Inspectors noted: “Staff had a caring approach, but they lacked the skills and knowledge to recognise the culture in the home had become uncaring.

"There were people who were frightened to leave their bedrooms, they had become isolated but staff failed to recognise this.”

There were not enough staff, most of the staff were not trained and those who were only had poor training, which led to dangerous situations.

The report added: “People’s safety was being compromised in a number of areas. The arrangements that were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse were not adequate as incidents which should have been reported to the local authority and CQC had not been.”

Care was not reviewed to assess the change in people’s needs, such as dementia getting worse. Risks of malnutrition and dehydration were not addressed.

"There were people who were frightened to leave their bedrooms, they had become isolated but staff failed to recognise this" - care home inspectors

In April inspectors visited again. This time there were only six residents at the home – and four of them were independent, requiring minimal help.

Safety aspects still need improving, there were trip hazards and medicines were not being stored safely. The leadership was also inadequate.

There were some good points, which brought it from being inadequate to now requiring improvement overall.

The treatment of staff is much better, they are now trained and respond more consistently to incidents.

They encourage residents to eat and drink where appropriate, and have made them feel more secure.

Uday Kumar, who runs the service, said: “Cherry Acre has bounced back from its troubles in December last year. The management and staff have worked very hard to meet requirements stipulated by the CQC.

"We are looking forward to welcoming new residents and their families to our care home. We thank wholeheartedly the immense support we received from existing residents and their families through difficult times.”