A care home for dementia sufferers in Willesden has been slammed by inspectors after managers failed to report a “safeguarding concern” and staff were not fully trained to spot signs of “risk or abuse”.

Following a surprise inspection by the Care Quality Commission on November 30 last year, Towerhouse residential home in Tower Road, was rated “requires improvement” overall after aspects of the service were found to be “not safe” “not effective” and not “well-led”.

Despite criticism of managers for failing to inform them Brent council had investigated safeguarding concerns over an elderly woman with arthritis in February last year, inspectors rated services at the home as “good” in both the “caring” and “responsive” categories.

The council visited the home after a medical professional treating the bed-ridden woman, who was not able to move her hands, raised her condition with local authorities on safeguaridng grounds.

The report summary published last week, states: “People’s safety was compromised because there was limited evidence that actions were in place to ensure that they were safeguarded from risk or abuse.”

However, speaking to the Times, Mary Munday, manager of Towerhouse hit out at the CQC’s rating and claimed she had mistakenly thought Brent council had informed the CQC of their investigation in February 2015 and insisted inspectors would not have made such a severe assessment if she had not informed them of the safeguarding concerns herself during the CQC visit in November.

She added: “They found out because I am an open person and I told them about the safeguarding visits. There was no physical abuse on this client and I thought the council had told the CQC about it”.

“At the end of the day I don’t feel guilty because because I have been looking after this lady for six years and she is bed-bound with arthritis- her hands are stiff and she can’t open them.”

Inspectors found the care home, which looks after up to eight residents over the age of 65, broke CQC guidelines by failing to inform them of the resident safeguarding concerns.

They also highlighted evidence that some staff had not received formal supervision from managers for more than a year.

However, residents told inspectors that staff were attentive and caring.

One resident said:“I feel very safe. They look after us very well here,”

The CQC found the care home was in breach of two legal requirements and asked managers to send a report outlining actions they would take to address the failings. While the care watchdog did not take formal action at this stage, inspectors warned they would check managers were implementing their improvement plan.

To see the full report click here.