A failing care home where a resident was allegedly found “disorientated“ and “injured” in a storage cupboard and faeces were spotted on bedding, has been placed into special measures.

The Care Quality Commission has taken urgent action to safeguard 43 people living at Eastfield in Maidstone after finding “widespread shortfalls” in almost all areas it looked at.

The watchdog rated the home, which caters for those with dementia, as “inadequate” and has blocked it from taking on any more clients while a review is carried out.

In a damning report, inspectors found evidence of someone who had self-harmed and staff referred to incontinent residents as “wetters”.

They deemed the premises dangerous with nails jutting out from walls, exposed electrical wiring above a bed and trip hazards.

The inspection was carried out following concerns regarding the safety and quality of care in the service.

Inspectors found staff didn’t manage medicines safely and weren’t always aware of when people should be given medication, including for someone who had diabetes.

The home also consistently ran out of people’s medicines as there were no audit processes in place to check stock levels.

According to the CQC report, there was specialist training in place that staff undertook, but managers didn’t ensure this was being used or enforced it.

Eastfield didn’t involve other healthcare partners properly when needed, and both they and emergency services raised concerns about the quality of care.

However, inspectors did note staff said they felt able to raise concerns and some kind interactions were observed between staff and residents.

Eastfield told KentOnline internal and third-party reviews of the home had been taken since the inspection, four months ago, and “demonstrable and sustained improvements” have been made to the service.

Despite this, the CQC says it has suspended the ratings of the home in Sittingbourne Road while investigating “information of concern”.

The home’s overall rating has been downgraded from “good” to “inadequate”, as has the service's safety and well-being.

The effectiveness, caring, and responsiveness gradings have also dropped from “good” to “requires improvement”.

The CQC also found seven breaches of regulation around the service not providing people with safe, person-centred care, consent to care and people’s dignity and respect, as well as staffing, safeguarding and good management.

Staff didn’t always treat people with compassion and dignity

Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director of operations in Kent and Sussex, said: “When we inspected Eastfield, we found a service that wasn’t being well-led.

“Our experience tells us when a service isn’t well-led, it’s less likely they’re able to meet people’s needs in the other areas we inspect, which is what we found here.

“Leaders did not have a grasp on the issues at the service, and we found widespread shortfalls in almost all of the areas we looked at. S

“Some of the issues they weren’t managing well were the basics, essential to the good running of any home. Such as ensuring there were enough staff on duty to keep people safe, and ensuring that people’s health risks were well managed.”

Ms Coleman said inspectors saw several examples of how people’s safety was being impacted by these issues, including poor documentation and risk management.

“After finding one person disorientated in a storage cupboard with a small injury, an incident form stated increased checks should take place,” she added.

“There were no details in their care plan on how often and what form those checks should take, and evidence in their daily notes showed this wasn’t happening.

“The registered manager was unaware of some incidents, including someone who had self-harmed and another where one person had pushed another.

“This didn’t assure us that leaders at the service could recognise abuse and neglect or were able to keep people safe.”

Ms Coleman said it was “for these reasons and more” the watchdog decided to stop them from admitting new residents.

Concerns were also raised in the report the service didn’t make sure the physical building was safe.

The presence of exposed nails and electrical wire “directly above someone’s bed”, was particularly troubling, she added as the home was caring for people with dementia who could become “easily confused”.

The home was also dirty and inspectors found faeces on people’s bedding and bed frames, and soiled chairs in people’s bedrooms.

“Staff didn’t always treat people with compassion and dignity,” added Ms Coleman.

“We heard some staff refer to incontinent residents as wetters, and when people’s dignity was compromised in public areas staff didn’t try to shield them from view. It was also concerning that some people who were clearly distressed were ignored.

“This level of care is unacceptable for the people who call Eastfield home and we expect them to make rapid and widespread improvements.”

Eastfield has also been placed into special measures which means it will be kept under close review to ensure people are safe while improvements are being made.

The full report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.

Eastfield, which is run by Bureaucom Limited, said it was deeply disappointed with the outcome of the inspection.

“While we do not agree with all aspects of CQC’s description of the service at the time of the inspection, we accept that improvements were required,” a spokesperson said.

“We have undertaken a significant amount of work to improve the service since CQC inspected in October 2024 (some four months ago).

“We have been providing monthly updates to CQC by sharing our Service Improvement Plan which sets out the improvements we have made.

“Since the CQC inspection, both internal and third-party reviews of Eastfield have been undertaken to assess our newly implemented processes to ensure that they are effective.

“The outcome of these reviews shows demonstrable and sustained improvements to the service.

“We are working closely with the CQC, the local authority, and our key stakeholders, to ensure we deliver the highest standard of care for our residents.

“As a learning organisation, we are always committed to learning from any shortcomings identified at a service and will continue to work through our Service Improvement Plan to embed and sustain the changes we have made.

“We look forward to welcoming the CQC back to demonstrate the improvements we have made since the inspection.”