Athena Care Homes has said a “robust action plan” is in place to address areas of concern after its Amberley Care Home in Kings Lynn dropped from Good to Inadequate.

The care home, which provides nursing and residential care for up to 106 people, dropped from Good to Inadequate overall and from Good to Inadequate in Safe and Well-led.

The home remains Good in Caring, Effective and Responsive and was not inspected in these areas.

Inspectors observed people with unclean nails and teeth with parts of the home unclean and smelling unpleasant.

Unsupervised access was allowed to items that could be dangerous particularly for people with dementia, such as razors, denture cleaning tablets, personal care products and staff’s personal possessions. 

Inspectors reported multiple safeguarding incidents to the local authority, including those related to restrictive practice, with the CQC finding leaders lacked oversight of the service.

An Athena Care Homes spokesperson said: “We are proud to operate Amberley Hall Care Home as purpose-built care home, where we have served the Kings Lynn community since 2014. Throughout that time, we have developed a strong reputation by building the trust and support of our local community.

“As such, we are disappointed by the latest CQC report, but want to offer firm assurances that these have been treated as valuable lessons by the team at our home and the wider Athena Care Homes group.

“Whilst we accept there were some shortcomings on the day of inspection, we did challenge the findings from the CQC as we felt some of the areas highlighted in the report were not a true reflection of the service.

“We have put in place a robust action plan to ensure all areas of concern are addressed. We are also pleased to have welcomed our new, experienced home manager to the team, who is currently being supported. This additional support will continue for the foreseeable future to ensure continuous improvements are made and to provide ongoing support to our residents, team members and families.

“We want to reassure our residents, their loved ones, our team and all external stakeholders, that we are working hard to ensure immediate improvements are made and embedded into our service.”