A CORNISH care home has been condemned for “unacceptable” neglect and systemic failings after inspectors found vulnerable residents left without help for hours, hygiene standards in freefall and dismissive leadership the left staff feeling unable to raise concerns.

Restgarth Care Home in Polperro, near Looe – which cares for up to 32 older people, many with dementia – has been rated inadequate across the board by the Care Quality Commission following a damning inspection between September 24 and October 1.

The watchdog has now launched urgent enforcement action, warning that people living at the home were at “serious risk of harm”.

Restgarth, run by Orange Care Restgarth Limited, was being inspected for the first time under its current owner. What inspectors uncovered triggered immediate restrictions, including the home being banned from admitting any new residents or readmitting former ones without explicit permission from the regulator. It has also been placed into special measures and ordered to submit monthly updates on how it is reducing safety risks.

Stefan Kallee, CQC’s deputy director of adult social care in Cornwall, the failures were deep-rooted.

“When we inspected Restgarth Care Home, we found leaders weren’t managing the home well putting people at serious risk of harm,” he said. “We found people were being left without support for unacceptably long periods during the day. Our inspectors reviewed CCTV footage which showed one person was taken to the dining room for breakfast at 9am, then left in their chair until 6pm without further support. This is completely unacceptable and places people at serious risk of neglect and harm.

“Care plans were incomplete and out of date, which meant staff didn’t have the information they needed to support people properly. One person had been identified as being at risk of weight loss by a dietician, but records indicated they hadn’t eaten breakfast for six days in a row. There was no guidance for staff on how to encourage them to eat, and they hadn’t been weighed for two months despite care plans stating this should happen monthly.

“We also found people weren’t being supported with basic dignity and respect. Systems to monitor people’s skin integrity to avoid things like pressure sores weren’t working. Following our inspection, staff checked people and found six individuals with redness that appeared to be due to poor continence care.

“Leaders had identified areas for improvement but actions to address these had not been effective and the same poor practices kept happening. Throughout the inspection, staff told us they felt unable to raise concerns because when they had raised issues previously, these were dismissed or ignored.

“We’ve shared our findings with Restgarth Care Home and imposed urgent conditions on its registration to focus attention on making rapid improvements. We’ll continue to monitor the home while this happens to ensure people are kept safe.”

Inspectors also found there was not a permanent manager for the service; that staff gave a person medication that contained an animal product, even though the person said they were vegetarian; and the home didn’t carry out scheduled deep cleans.