AN OSWALDTWISTLE care home could close after inspectors found hygiene and staffing failures.

White Ash Brook Nursing Home, Thwaites Road, has been served with an enforcement notice in the last fortnight, from inspectors who say they must improve standards, or face closure.

Since then the home has voluntarily stopped taking extra residents on while they work on the recommendation of the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

The actions follows a surprise inspection in December which found residents were not being regularly washed regularly, and the home was often understaffed.

In the report by the CSCI, it was claimed that one resident said there were no baths or showers “for weeks” and a relative wrote: “He sometimes has pyjamas on under his clothes and he doesn’t very often get a shower.”

Inspectors said there were no clear care plans for residents who wandered, were at risk of falling or developing presure sores. The care plan for a incontinent patient, had no hygiene guidance except “to use perfume to mask the smell”, the report said.

Staff surveyed were also concerned about staffing levels. One said in the report: “You cannot get all things done and watch the residents at the same time.” One man said his mother’s nails “looked like talons” and another relative said her mother had to go to bed at 5.30pm because of staffing shortages.

Staff were however said to be cheerful and polite with one resident saying: “The girls take good care of you.” However inspectors found they were too busy for training and “inneffective management” caused low morale.

One member of staff also wrote on the survey, “My induction never happened, but I was told that I will learn as I go.”

Twelve of the care workers had NVQ qualifications at level 2 or above and another two care workers were working towards NVQ level 2. In the report the home was praised for good food, and fulfilling social activities.

Two further inspections, which are still unpublished, have taken place since the December report. Their findings are unknown, although the enforcement notice, was served following the last inspection on July 28.

A spokesman for the CSCI said they were currently monitoring the home and that closure would be a last resort: “We are working with them to make sure standards improve.”

The home, which provides 24-hour-nursing to up to 53 people, made up of demetia patients, the elderly and young adults, charges fees of between £386 - £600 per week.

The home is run by Mimosa Healthcare which has other care facilities throughout England, including Wigan, Barnsley, Doncaster, Bristol and Somerset.