Conditions at an elderly care home where a dozen residents were forced to leave at short notice last week have been damned in an inspection report.

Fairmount Lodge in Otley Road, Shipley, suddenly closed without notice last Friday leaving relatives struggling to find new homes for its residents.

Aiaqat Choudary, of Purefleet Limited, Duckworth Lane, Bradford, which runs the home, said at the time that Fairmount was shutting for 12 weeks to allow an extension to be built for 15 extra rooms and for a refurbishment.

But a report of an inspection in September by social care watchdog, the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate, has now revealed a litany of faults needing 26 separate requirements and three recommendations to bring the home up to scratch.

And it criticises Fairmount's management for failing to make progress on failings uncovered in a "key" inspection carried out this January.

The inspector's report concludes: "These are of serious concern and compromise the health and welfare of residents, staff and visitors.

"It is unacceptable that these matters remain unchanged and CSCI must now question whether the owners are meeting their legal responsibilities and are fit to continue running the home."

CSCI lead inspector Karen Westhead produced the 38-page report after a two-day unannounced inspection. It was the third time the home had been inspected in three months.

Staff training and the condition of the building were heavily criticised in the report.

It states: "The home is poorly maintained and there is no evidence to say the premises are safe and fit for purpose. The owner's continued lack of action in this area is unacceptable and places residents, staff and visitors at serious risk.

"There has been no improvement to the environment and the premises continue to be unsuitable and unsafe. The owner is not carrying out the work needed to improve the standard of the home nor is he carrying out routine repairs, redecoration or carpeting to the extent needed.

"There has been no staff training since January. Some staff who started work after that date said they had not received any training, other than being shown where the fire exits are. There is no training plan and staff did not know when any training would be provided."

Elsewhere the report states: l not all staff had a criminal record bureau check carried out before starting work l guidelines on how to meet individual needs had not been reviewed for 11 months l the temperature of a refrigerator storing medication could not be monitored because there was no thermometer l residents who are diabetic are not having routine blood glucose levels checked because staff claimed they did not have the equipment, or had not all been trained l a lack of records available for inspection of financial transactions involving the bank accounts of some residents.

The daughter of a woman resident who had to be re-homed last week, said: "There were water leaks everywhere and the carpets weren't fitted properly.

"Mum's window frame was nearly falling out and the handyman did a botched job. He never spent any money on it at all. The only reason we let her stay there was the staff, they were brilliant."

A spokesman for the CSCI said: "We have been monitoring the situation very closely and will continue to do so.

"There are a number of actions the commission can take in terms of enforcement, from serving a notice with requirements to be met, to limiting the type of patients the home can take to cancelling the registration of the home."

The spokesman could not say when Fairmount Lodge would be inspected again when it reopens.

Mr Choudary was not available for comment yesterday. Companies House records for Purefleet list Liaqat Ali, 63, as director and Manir Begum Ali, 64, as its secretary.

When the news broke that the home was closing, social services were called in to try to rehome some residents.

Peter Kay, assistant director of adult services at Bradford Council, said that his department had only been told on Wednesday that the home was to be closed.

He said: "In such cases the home is required to give two weeks' notice to allow social workers to review and assess the residents in order to find suitable alternative places."

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