A DUDLEY care home slammed by health inspectors as inadequate has been placed in special measures.

Castle Meadows care home for the elderly on Dibdale Road, Dudley, was described as being unsafe after an inspection by  the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February.

The residential centre which specialises in looking after people aged over 65 with dementia and disabilities was rated inadequate in the two categories of safety and management.

The home, which cares for 36 older people,  was also found to be unsatisfactory in the care, responsiveness and effectiveness of its service.

Last year the centre was given an overall ‘requires improvement’  rating by the watchdog.

But a manager for Castle Meadows says it is confident it can meet the CQC’s standards when it is re-inspected later this year.

In their latest report inspectors said: “At our last inspection we required the provider to improve the management of medicines.

“On this inspection, we found some improvements had been made to the safety of medicines for people who were supported by one staff team, but medicines were not managed safely by other staff teams.

“There had not been sustained improvements to the way people’ medicines were managed. We also identified deterioration in other areas of people’s care.”

The CQC added processes were not in place to ensure people’s right to privacy was maintained and their health needs consistently met.

And it noted systems to ensure people benefited from living in a home where the quality and safety of their care was effectively monitored and concerns identified and addressed were not available.

Summing up, the report stated the service was judged to be inadequate in keeping people safe, as well as continuing to be inadequately well-led.

The commission added: “We are taking action against the provider for failing to meet regulations. The overall rating for this service is ‘inadequate’ and the service is therefore in ‘special measures’.

“Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months.”

Mark Brunner, a manager for Castle Meadows, said that since the inspection the home had worked closely with the CQC and Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group to improve services.

“We have concentrated on safety initially with the medication,” he said.

“We have brought a pharmacist in to work with the nurses to manage drugs safely and we have brought in new policies  and competencies and ways of working with medication within the home.”

He added: “In relation to well-led, we are putting lots of protocols and training in for the staff and we are confident that will all be in place for the next inspection.”

A further inspection of the home will take place later this year.