A DEMENTIA care home in Poole has been closed to new admissions after being placed in 'special measures' following its third inadequate rating by the Care Quality Commission.

The latest inspection of Sheridan Care Home, Durlston Road, revealed it is still failing to protect the safety of its elderly residents.

Now home bosses have been ordered to make urgent improvements or face being struck off the CQC register for good.

Debora Ivanova, interim deputy chief inspector of adult social care in the South, said: "We have imposed a condition on the service which means they can no longer move people into the service without agreement from CQC."

Investigators discovered a catalogue of failures at the Lower Parkstone home following an unannounced three-day inspection in August this year.

An inspection report revealed:

  • Most staff members did not display the knowledge, experience or communication skills needed to effectively deal with people living with dementia.
  • Staff were not confident in how to safely move people, putting residents at risk of injury.
  • Some residents were not being given the support needed to eat, putting them at risk of receiving inadequate fluids and food needed to increase or maintain weight.
  • Medicines were not been managed safely. Some were incorrectly labelled, others were being administered without pharmacist consultation.

Mrs Ivanova said: "We found that the care provided at The Sheridan Care Home fell a long way short of what we expect services to provide.

"It is unacceptable that the provider has failed to pick up on or address the safety risks identified by our inspectors."

The deputy chief inspector stressed residents are entitled to services that provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care and the CQC has now told the operators they must prioritise action.

"We are in close liaison with the local authority to monitor the situation and ensure people living at the home are not at risk."

This latest report followed an earlier CQC inspection, the previous October, that concluded elderly services at the home were "inadequate" and needed urgent improvement.

After the publication of the CQC's October findings, The Sheridan Care Home manager Richard Koussa said there had been “a lot of improvement” since the inspection and they had addressed the issues raised in the CQC feedback, adding: “I am confident that we will now meet the requirements.”

He was unavailable to comment on the latest report.