Dementia patients were left unwashed because of problems with a care home’s hot water supply, a report has found.

Few rooms and bathrooms at Fitzroy Lodge, Worthing, had hot water with no records kept on whether resident had been showered or bathed, inspectors found.

The private care home for dementia sufferers in Windsor Road, Worthing, has 24 single rooms and costs £419 per week.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report found: “Staff could not easily meet peoples’ hygiene needs and staff could not adequately wash their hands between attending to residents and making it difficult to clean the home.”

Many residents looked unkempt and uncared for.

Inspectors found one man sleeping in an “uncomfortable state” without blankets and whose continence needs had not been attended to.

Staff had no training on how to deal with issues of consent for mentally ill patients.

Records on residents’ end of life care, such as instructions on whether to attempt resuscitation, were incomplete or incorrect.

The report found: “Where people did not have the capacity to consent, the provider had not always acted in accordance with legal requirements.

“None of the staff we spoke with had a clear understanding of the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

“For example staff could not tell us about what happened when a person lacked capacity to consent and how best interest decisions were made.

“Staff were not aware of the need to gain consent and the action to take if a patient lacked the capacity to consent.”

'Risk of abuse'

Care records were poorly completed, inaccurate and out of date, with the wrong names appearing on headings.

Residents were not protected from the risk of abuse and staff at the home had not undertaken safeguarding training.

The CQC said action was needed in six areas, following the inspection on March 1, 2013.

Two follow-up inspections have since been made but the reports have not yet been published.

Service provider Prakesh Beeharry said the manager in charge at the time of the inspection had since left and the home had improved.

He said: “Historically the home has always been compliant. When this report arrived we voluntarily decided to limit admissions until the situation had improved.

“Our feedback since is that there have been significant improvements. The situation has been turned round 180 degrees.”

Specialist dementia training for staff had since been implemented, he added.