A CARE home that was put in special measures after being rated inadequate by inspectors earlier this year is to close with “almost immediate effect.”

Care Quality Commission (CQC) experts, who carried out an unannounced visit of Shalden Grange care home towards the end of 2016, highlighted a number of concerns in their report, which was published earlier this year.

After placing the home in special measures, inspectors then carried out a follow-up inspection in September - but this report is yet to be published.

However, the owners of the Boscombe home have now decided to close. The Echo understands residents and their families have just days to make alternative arrangements.

A dozen residents at the home are funded by Bournemouth Council, with an additional three paid for by the Borough of Poole. There are also private residents.

When the Echo visited the care home at Watkin Road yesterday we were asked to leave. No-one at the home made any comment about the latest developments.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth Council adult social care service manager Tim Branson said: “Following the decision by the owners of Shalden Grange to close with almost immediate effect, the council has been closely liaising with residents and their families around transfer to suitable alternative homes.

“Social care staff are currently helping everyone affected to plan and implement their respective moves.”

CQC deputy inspector of adult social care in the south west, Deborah Ivanova, said: "It is important that the people who live at Shalden Grange, Watkin Road, Boscombe, in Bournemouth can rely on getting the high quality care which everyone is entitled to.

"Inspectors visited the service in April 2017 and found this service was failing to provide the level of care people should be able to expect.

"We subsequently rated the home Inadequate and placed the service in to special measures.

"Inspectors have recently returned to the service to check if significant improvements had been made.We have shared our initial findings with the local healthcare community

"The CQC report from our unannounced September inspection will be published in due course

"We believe that people using the service are entitled to receive safe, effective and high-quality care that meets their needs.

"Our priority will always be the safety of people using health and social care services.”

The April CQC report highlighted a range of concerns.

It revealed medicine was managed unsafely, that there were “ineffective systems to protect people from abuse” and “serious shortfalls” when it came to fire safety.

The service – which looks after people living with dementia and those in need of personal or nursing care – was deemed inadequate in relation to four out of five questions regarding how safe, effective, responsive and well-led it was.

Inspectors also identified three residents who were “at risk of harm and neglect” and made safeguarding alerts to the council.

There was also no evidence showing 11 members of staff working in the home had received “essential training or competency assessments.”