OFFICIALS have placed a care home in special measures after they found residents received the wrong medicines and were at risk of infection from a dirty kitchen with "out of date foods”.

The scathing report into Oaklands Care Home in Brightlingsea was published on Friday after a two-day inspection in February and March found serious shortcomings which assessors at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) say placed its 15 residents at risk.

The scope of the assessment was widened after inspectors raised concerns about safety of the environment and quality of infection control at the care home, which was taken over by operator Primos Care in October last year.

Management – the care home has been run by Primos Care since October last yearManagement – the care home has been run by Primos Care since October last year (Image: Google Street View)

Of particular concern were the safety of residents and the lack of leadership, both of which were rated as inadequate by inspectors.

A 35-page report published on the CQC website detailed one incident of a resident leaving the care home without staff knowing, leading to them being reported to the police as a missing person.

Poor hygiene and a lack of facilities were also highlighted in the report, which says: “People did not experience a safe place to live – people did not have access to a bath or shower for weeks due to both bathrooms being renovated at the same time.”

One resident told inspectors: “I just try and stay in my room, and keep out the way – it’s much calmer.”

A carer told a member of the CQC how renovation work made it difficult to provide the best level of care, saying: “The home is getting better now they are doing some works.

“Before, it was terrible trying to keep everything clean – impossible, mostly.”

That feedback matched the findings of inspectors, with one reporting the poor management of the renovations included fire exits being blocked with equipment.

The kitchen was “unclean”, inspectors said, and contained “foods past their use by date – there was evidence of cross contamination in the fridge".

Report – inspectors raised concerns about poor leadership and lack of safety at the care homeReport – inspectors raised concerns about poor leadership and lack of safety at the care home (Image: Pixabay)

The report says: "People had experienced medicine errors, for example the wrong medicine at the wrong time."

The CQC’s deputy director of operations in the east of England, Hazel Roberts, said Oaklands Care Home has been told to make “immediate and widespread improvements”.

Oaklands Care Home has been contacted for comment.