A CARE home is set to close and its residents be re-homed after inspectors found serious failings during an unnanounced visit.

Care Quality Commission inspectors found Selena House Care Home, in Oxford Road, Stratton, was failing to meet national standards in 11 areas.

These included treating people with dignity and respect, care and welfare, meeting nutritional needs, safeguarding, cleanliness and infection control, medicines management, safety and suitability of premises, staffing levels, assessing and monitoring the quality of the service provided, record keeping, and failing to make statutory notifications to CQC.

Since the inspection in October, the provider, Mr Y Abhee, has applied to cancel his registration with CQC and the home is due to close at the start of December.

The council is helping residents and their families find new placements for the five residents, who are aged between 75 and 90.

A spokesman for Selena House said: “Our number one priority at this time is the health and wellbeing of the people we support. We have been working closely with the local authority, residents and families over the last month to help each person affected find an alternative home with as little disruption as possible.”

Ian Biggs, deputy director of CQC in the south, said: “Selena House has been failing in its duty to provide care which was up to the standard required by law. The national standards exist to protect people who cannot always speak up for themselves from being put at risk of harm.

“The level of failings was so serious that we had to take action. If the provider had not decided to take steps to close the home, we would have taken immediate enforcement action to protect the residents.

“We have been working closely with the local authority, who are monitoring the home to ensure that people remaining there are safe and adequately cared for.”

This inspection took place as part of a national programme looking at dignity and nutrition for older people living in care homes. A full report on the national inspection programme will be published in due course.

A council spokesman said: “Concerns had previously been raised by the Council and the CQC regarding standards at Selena House and an agreed action plan was put in place to bring about improvements.

“However, despite regular follow-ups, standards at Selena House have failed to improve culminating in the latest findings from the CQC Inspection. We are working with the CQC and our colleagues at SEQOL and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership to identify and secure alternative accommodation for residents.”

CQC’s inspectors reported that care records did not always refer to people respectfully; residents were not sufficiently involved in making decisions about their care; there was a lack of activities available in the home and people were not always given a choice of suitable food and drink to meet their needs.

They also claimed the home was dirty, with fixtures and fittings sometimes damaged or badly stained, cleaning was not taking place regularly and medicines management in the home was inadequate.

More details of CQC’s findings can be found on www.cqc.org.uk.