Care home bedrooms had holes in the walls, an unclean commode next to a resident’s clothes and false teeth in a cup of dirty water, inspectors found.

A damming report of Madeira Lodge in New Romney tells of staff failing to notice a person had “soiled themselves while sitting in a communal area”, which the inspector had identified.

Carers at the Madeira Road site were working up to 10 night shifts in a row, totalling 120 hours, meaning “people were at risk of receiving poor quality care”.

Management claimed at the time of the inspection this was due to staffing issues and said they would ensure this did not happen again.

For the second time in two months, the care home has now received a rating of “inadequate” – the worst possible – by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates health and social care providers in England.

The report published on Wednesday says “the service was not safe”, and highlighted various issues of hygiene and cleanliness.

“An open commode pot [bedpan] with no lid was placed on the floor in one person's bedroom," the inspectors said.

“The pot was unclean and standing next to the person's clothes hanging on an open rail.”

Adam Hutchison, managing director at Belmont Healthcare, which runs the home, said: “In that moment in time the commode may very well have been dirty but that isn’t to say it wasn’t about to be emptied and cleaned.

“We would never leave a full commode for any length of time.

Inspectors also feared residents were at risk of experiencing “infection, malnourishment and pain” due to poor dental health.

They said: “When we were visiting people's bedrooms, we found five people did not have a toothbrush or toothpaste.

“Another person's dentures were sitting in a cup with dirty water and two toothbrushes were in the cup with their heads down in the dirty water.”

In response, Mr Hutchison said: “We would never ignore false teeth being left in a cup of dirty water."

CQC officers described a different bedroom as "sparse with limited furniture and in a poor condition".

The report stated: "The room was unwelcoming and there was no hint of an effort being made to provide a personal space.

"There were holes in the wall and the space was not clean."

“The pot was unclean and standing next to the person's clothes hanging on an open rail..."

But Mr Hutchison says maintenance is carried out on a regular basis at the property.

“We have on-site maintenance to fix and make good any damage or wear and tear throughout the home", he added.

“To imply this is a continuous state of affairs is unfair.”

The report raised concerns that "people were not always treated dignity and respect", noting an incident of one resident who had soiled themselves while sitting in a communal area.

Although this was clear to inspectors during the unannounced visit in December 2022, according to the report, "staff in the room at the time were unaware until it was pointed out to them".

Inspectors suggested the resident's dignity would have been preserved by "more timely action by staff".

The watchdog also disapproved of the language used in residents' care plans, with one person described as "being known to act like a child”.

Mr Hutchison insisted that the choice of language was “a cultural issue rather than that of a wilful act of disrespect” and says the language used in care plans has now been addressed.

The care home was also given an inadequate rating in January following an inspection in October that found that residents had been “locked in their bedrooms during the night without their consent”.

"We were given just six weeks to make changes – the second inspection in December was not a fair amount of time..."

Mr Hutchison added: "We have taken seriously the CQC findings and responded in haste to address them.

“However, some of their findings are disproportionate and we are currently evidencing those.

“We were given just six weeks to make changes and in our view, the second inspection in December was not a fair amount of time to allow us to fully implement all the changes.

“However we quickly replaced the management team and key members of staff and implemented a new governance system to address CQC concerns.

“Madeira Lodge has had a good reputation for 10 years, the people that have made the care home their home, their families and friends have always benefitted from open and transparent dialogue with us and have never had cause for complaint.

“Nearly six months on from the first inspection many changes have been made, if the CQC were to inspect now we genuinely believe there would be no issues.

“We would be happy for anyone to come and visit us and see for themselves that our home is not how the CQC would like you to believe it is."