A Letchworth care home has been given an overall ‘inadequate’ rating following a Care Quality Commission inspection last month, and is now in special measures.

The White House Nursing Home, run by Medical Resources Worldwide Ltd, is now under review by the CQC, and a subsequent report will be published alongside the recent inspection report.

The care home received 'requires improvement' on its effectiveness, level of care and responsiveness, however it was rated inadequate under the safe and well-led criteria.

The report, which was published on Friday last week, said: "Since November 2014, The White House Nursing Home has been inspected seven times prior to this visit being carried out.

"Out of those previous inspection five of the seven were rated as requires improvement and one was rated as inadequate.

"Accidents and incidents were not reviewed to help identify themes and trends and it was not clear if all unexplained injuries were recorded, investigated and reported. This was because of the lack of monitoring of these issues.

"The acting manager showed us that recent unexplained injuries were being managed appropriately, however, we could not be sure this had happened prior to the most recent incident."

The inspector also said that not all staff had attended fire drills and the fire risk assessment has not been reviewed.

In terms of safety, which was one of the key areas rated as inadequate, part of the report said: "There was no monitoring system for unexplained bruises and skin tears. For a period up to April 2019, a log sheet was kept of injuries. However, this did not state if injuries were because of falls or if they were unexplained.

"The acting manager told us of the process they followed for an unexplained injury and this was appropriate."

The care home will now remain under review and - should the CQC opt to continue the provider's registration - will be inspected again within six months to check for significant improvements.

If the care home does not make enough improvements in that time and there is still a rating of inadequate for any of the criteria, the CQC will begin the process of preventing White House Care home from providing the service,

The White House Nursing Home declined to comment.

To read the full report, go to cqc.org.uk/location/1-127439924.