VULNERABLE elderly people have been left cold, thirsty and unclean in a Worcester care home after staff ignored their pleas for help, according to a damning report.

The latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report on Shaw Red Hill Care Centre, in London Road, highlights failings in the essential standards of monitoring and care and welfare and says these have a “major impact” on residents.

In their report, inspectors say calls for hot drinks, an extra cardigan or a wipe of a nose fell on deaf ears, failing to ensure residents’ welfare and denying them their dignity.

The report says staff even fed the elderly in a disrespectful way, failed to reposition a person with painful pressure sores and left one individual in their bedroom all day despite them asking “I want to get out of here, can somebody help me?”

The disturbing revelations come less than six months after the home’s operator, Shaw Healthcare, promised an “improvement plan” would be implemented, following its failure to meet three essential care standards in a previous inspection report published in June.

But inspectors have now raised more serious concerns, rating its failings in care and welfare and monitoring as “major” rather than “moderate” as in the previous report.

Craig Kendrick, of Leigh Sinton, whose father Denver Kendrick spent two months at Shaw Red Hill Care Centre before his death in January 2012, has been left “angry” by the most recent CQC report.

He said he first voiced concerns about the home when his father was there.

He said: “It is nearly three years to the day since I first officially complained about the care home.

“It is very frustrating and makes me so angry.

“I can’t believe that the place seems to carry on and on in the same way. I would like to see a new provider with a good track record step and take over to prevent other people suffering.”

Shaw Healthcare, which runs the home that can accommodate up to 90 people, remains defiant and has reiterated this week that “the welfare of our residents is our number one priority”.

The latest CQC inspection report published on Saturday, December 6, follows a visit by inspectors in September.

It states: “Care and treatment was not planned or delivered in a way that was intended to ensure people’s safety and welfare.

“We found that most people who had received personal care had dirty nails, unkempt matted hair and ill-fitting clothes.

“People’s requests for help were ignored by some staff and…people were left for long periods of time in isolation without any meaningful interaction.”

This meant “people who use the service experienced poor care that had a serious current or long-term impact on their health, safety and welfare, or there was a risk of this happening”.

Inspectors cited a number of examples to justify their harsh criticism.

One resident was woken abruptly and upon opening their eyes had a spoonful of cereal put into their month, meaning their “privacy was not respected or supported by staff”.

Another individual had their dignity compromised when their bedroom door was left open, despite them being in a state on undress, and one person lost 10kg in four months while staff failed to follow a care plan recommendation for weekly weigh-ins.

The report states managers even tried to cover-up a scabies outbreak amongst staff and residents, telling people “if anyone asks, you didn’t get scabies from the home”.

However the CQC report does include some praise for Shaw Red Hill, stating “some staff had a kind and caring approach” and “there were sufficient numbers of staff to meet people’s needs”.

Improvements in cleanliness and infection control were also recognised, with problems now classified as having only a “minor impact” on residents compared to a “moderate impact” back in June.

A spokesman for Shaw Healthcare said: “We take the findings of the CQC inspections carried out in September at Red Hill Care Centre extremely seriously.

“Following receiving a draft version of the inspection report we are implementing a programme of continuous improvement to ensure the needs of residents are met including appointing new senior managers and carers to help address this.

“The welfare of our residents is our number one priority and we will continue to work closely with Worcestershire County Council, NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the CQC to ensure that all concerns raised in the report are addressed.”

A spokesman for NHS South Worcestershire CCG added: “The quality team within the CCG continue to work very closely with colleagues at Shaw Red Hill Care Centre in monitoring the improvements that have already been made and the overall quality of care.”

A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council said: “We are working closely with our partners to monitor the situation and are working with staff in the home to ensure that the residents’ care is of an excellent quality.”