A WORCESTER care home has been placed into "special measures" following a damning report by an independent regulator which has branded care unsafe.

Latimer Court, based in Darwin Avenue, Worcester, was rated "inadequate" overall following an unannounced visit by the Care Quality Commission.

The highly critical report found the service at the home, managed by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited, to be unsafe, lacking in care and poorly led.

The care home, which has 61 residents (a capacity for 80), was inspected on November 23 and 24 last year with the inspection report published on Monday (February 8).

The overall rating of the service was inadequate, the lowest possible rating which can be awarded by the CQC although the home has introduced an improvement plan with a spokesperson for Latimer Court stressing a 'commitment to provide the highest quality of care'.

The scale of CQC ratings ranges from outstanding to good and from requires improvement to inadequate.

The service was so poor the home has been placed in 'special measures' and is now under review.

If the CQC deems that not enough improvement has been made within the next six months the registration of the service can be cancelled and the home prevented from operating.

For adult social care services the maximum time a care home can be in special measures is 12 months.

The report found that the care home was inadequate in safety ('is the service safe?'), its level of care ('is the service caring?') and leadership (is the service well-led?).

The report said: "The service was not safe. The service was not caring. The service was not well-led."

In two further areas the home was classed as 'requires improvement' (is the service effective?' and 'is the service effective?').

As part of the inspection the CQC spoke to six residents, seven of their relatives, six staff and the interim and regional manager.

The registered manager was not available, having been absent from the home since September, 2015.

Criticisms included:

* Too few staff. One person said: "There are so few people to help us." Staff also said they were understaffed. One 'anxious' resident sat 40 minutes waiting for their meal while other residents ate. Staff had previously alerted the CQC to raise concerns about safe staffing levels. Of the staff available many were agency staff who people felt did not know or understand their needs.

* Medicines: People requiring time specific medication were not receiving their medicines on time. One person's relative said: "Most of the time, she's not sure she's getting the right medicines. The nurses don't know the medicines, the people or where the medicines are kept."

* Poor communication: People and their relatives and advocates had not been involved in the decision-making.

* Care: "Care staff at times walked past without engaging with people or trying to initiate any conversation." One resident had a significant birthday to celebrate. By mid afternoon the cards remained unopened in the nurse's office.

* Privacy and dignity: "The registered manager and provider did not ensure people were treated with dignity and respect" the report said. One example included a person sitting in the lounge wearing their underwear where they could clearly be seen by other residents.

* Complaints: "Although the registered provider had a system for recording

complaints, we were not able to review how the complaints were received, acknowledged or responded to.

"The interim manager told us complaints ought to have been logged onto an online system for the regional manager to review.

"However, these had not been completed adequately. We spoke to relatives and saw examples regarding issues they felt had not been responded to. For example, one relative had had a complaint upheld by the Health Ombudsman."

Positives from the report included good food, support from a tissue viability nurse and hard-working staff.

A spokesperson for Latimer Court said: "Following the inspection in November 2015, we took immediate action to address the areas that were identified in the report.

"We implemented a comprehensive plan clearly outlining the steps being taken to ensure improvements in our services continue to be achieved, including staff recruitment, increased training and support from the senior management team. "We would like to reassure everyone of our commitment to provide the highest quality of care to those residing at Latimer Court and to emphasise that their health and wellbeing is at the forefront of everything we do."