A damning report has blasted the “lack of respect” shown to elderly residents at a care home in Poole – with one man allegedly left naked and crying out for help after carers used a stair gate to keep him in his room.

The Links, a 67-bed private care home for elderly people with dementia on Golf Links Road in Broadstone, was criticised by a Care Quality Commission report published last month for failing to protect its residents against “the risks of unsafe or inappropriate care” when inspectors visited in August.

The report describes an inspector finding one resident lying unclothed on their bed and calling out for help.

“There was a stair gate across the doorway,” the report said.

“We found a staff member and told them what we had found. They came back to the room with us. We asked them what the gate was for. They told us: ‘The gate is for him’.

"We asked what it did and they answered: ‘To keep him in’. We asked them a third time and they replied: ‘Yes it is to keep him in.’

“The person’s care plan contained no reference to the gate and no record of the person’s consent, or a mental capacity assessment and interest decision, for using the gate.”

The following day a statement provided by the staff member denied they had said the gate was to “keep him in” and the home later claimed the gate was used to protect the person’s privacy, the report added.

The report said inspectors watched as a member of staff “failed to treat someone attentively and respectfully” during a meal time.

“For 20 minutes we observed the care worker assisting the person to eat their meal, at the same time as completing paperwork,” the report said.

“The staff member did not interact with the person. At one stage they commented to a colleague, over the person’s head, that the person had had their hair dyed.”

The report slammed another care worker’s “lack of respect for adulthood” after they said of one resident: “I let him have tea and toast in bed as he was a good boy.”

Other failings identified in the report included a “risk of malnutrition” after food monitoring charts were found to be incomplete, that residents were at risk of falls after staff failed to react to low blood pressure readings and incomplete records affecting the way medicines were administered.

No excuse

David Leighton, chief officer of Age UK Bournemouth, said: “It should be shocking to hear of older people being subjected to poor care or neglect, sadly though these reports are too commonplace for it to come as a great surprise.

“Care providers will increasingly find it difficult to make ends meet as budgets are cut but this does not excuse failings in providing a level of dignity and respect that we would all expect.

“I would encourage anyone with concerns about the level of care that they or a person they know is receiving to contact their local authority or the CQC.”

Statement from the Links

The home’s manager, Nathalie Booth, said: “The CQC report that you are looking at is from August 2014. We responded immediately to the report and addressed all of the findings in it. CQC re-inspected and the feedback following this visit was positive with the inspector noting the improvements we have made.

“Our recent customer satisfaction survey found that 100% of respondents found us welcoming, open and caring. Our ethos of care is to maintain the highest standards for our residents and their families.”