A care home for autism sufferers in Wembley has been deemed unsafe by inspectors who discovered vulnerable residents were able to access to sharp knives and staff were not safely managing medicines.

In a damning report released this week by health watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC), it states Holt Road Care home in Holt Road, was “not safe” “not effective” and “aspects of the service were not caring” following the unannounced visit.

The home, which had no registered manager at the time of the inspection last December, provides round-the-clock care to five residents.

It failed to meet the required standard in all five key care categories during the inspection last year.

The dossier lists a catalogue of breaches including an absence of measures to protect residents from the risk of “open flames on the cooker and the handling of sharp knives” as well as a below-standard control of medicines that “put people at risk of harm”.

The team of two inspectors and a clinical psychologist also criticised the lack of a registered manager, inadequate staff training and care plans.

In one care plan it was noted that a resident “needed to learn to eat food in a timely manner” in order to “conquer the fear/phobia of flying.”

When the inspectors challenged staff over a lack of managerial oversight and training, leading to a slip in standards, the CQC found three centre managers had left in a 13-month period.

Whilst inspectors found enough staff to meet residents’ complex care needs and observed a number of “positive interactions”, they also witnessed staff in a number of “negative interactions” including use of abrupt language and a resident who picked up dry leaves being physically pulled towards a bin to dispose of them.

The CQC also found residents’ dignity and privacy was compromised, with one person’s bedroom door left open while they were resting leaving other residents to walk in.

Salisbury Autistic Care, managers of the home, have been instructed to submit an action plan to tackle areas in which legal requirements weren’t being met and where “the service isn’t performing as well as it should.”

Salisbury Autistic Care refused to comment.

To see the full report click here.