A STOCKTON care home has been put into special measures after being rated as inadequate by inspectors.

Residents at Wellburn House, in Fairfield, were left sitting alone in wheelchairs because there were not enough staff on duty, and medicine records were not being properly kept, the inspection found.

The home was told in November it must make improvements to protect the safety and welfare of residents.

But, following visits by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March and April, the 90-bed home, which provides dementia and personal care, has been placed into special measures.

CQC inspectors said the service:

*Was not safeguarding residents from abuse and improper treatment;

*People were being deprived of their liberty without lawful authority;

*Medicines were not always managed safety, and records had not been completed properly;

*People did not receive their medicines at the times they needed them and in a safe way.

Staff were caring, the report said, but there were not enough on each shift, and many had not received the necessary training.

Debbie Westhead, deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the North, said: "People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.

“We found that the care provided at Wellburn House fell short of what we expect services to provide. We have told the registered provider, Akari Care Limited that they must take action to resolve the issues we identified.

“Our first instinct is to make sure the service improves, but we must also take action to protect people when we are worried about their safety.

“We will continue to monitor the provider’s progress in making the necessary improvements to ensure that people living at the service receive the quality of care they are entitled to expect.”

A spokesperson for the home said: “This inspection took place more than three months ago and the home has made significant improvements in that time and we believe it is now fully compliant.

"We had already identified areas of concern, the team has worked hard to address these and the feedback from the CQC inspectors was added to the home’s action plan. The home is receiving senior management support and has a new home manager in place, who is a registered nurse. We have been working closely with the local authority, which has been making regular monitoring visits and we have informed the CQC that we consider the home to be ready for inspection."