A care home in Gateshead that was slammed following an undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama has been placed in special measures by a watchdog. 

A reporter from Panorama got a job at Addison Court, in Crawcrook, Gateshead, after allegations made by staff from abroad who claim they feel 'exploited and trapped'.

The program exposed staff concerns, including an NHS nurse who claims she was so worried about some residents that she made 33 safeguarding alerts over a two-year period to the Gateshead Council.

Now, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the home, run by Malhotra Care Homes Limited, inadequate and placed it into special measures after an investigation in November.

Addison Court is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 70 older people, some of whom are living with dementia.

The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about staffing levels, moving and assisting people, recruitment, and management oversight.

According to the Panorama program, the business had its licence to sponsor overseas staff suspended by the Home Office last December.

It said the Home Office has now "fully revoked" Prestwick Care's licence to sponsor overseas staff.

At the time the show went out, the CQC had suspended Addison Court's "good" rating and said it was "closely monitoring Addison Court along with the other locations registered to this provider".

Following the CQC inspection, the overall rating for the home is inadequate, as well as the areas of safe, and well-led.

Effective, caring, and responsive are rated requires improvement.

The service was previously rated good overall, and for being safe, effective, responsive, caring, and well-led.

The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review to make sure people are safe and, if CQC do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, there will be a re-inspection to check for significant improvements.

Linda Hirst, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “When we inspected Addison Court, it was disappointing to see a significant deterioration in the level of care being provided. Leaders were working on an improvement plan when we visited, but it was too early to see any proper progress.

“There was an increase of agency staff employed at the home who told us they didn’t know people’s needs well enough. One staff member hadn’t received an induction or handover and was given no training in how to support people when they were distressed or had specific care needs which placed people at risk of harm.

“Additionally, recruitment checks didn’t always follow the provider's own recruitment processes. Some references weren’t suitable, and some application forms hadn’t been fully completed, it’s important that thorough checks are carried out to keep people safe.

“It’s important in any care setting that incidents or risks to people are investigated as quickly as possible to prevent people coming to harm and to ensure lessons are learned, but this wasn’t always done at Addison Court.

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“For example, falls in the home had increased significantly between June and July, but nothing had been done to check why and to put preventative measures in place to keep people safe.

“However, we did see some positive areas of care. The environment was welcoming and spacious and had been adapted for the needs of people living with dementia, such as signage to help people orientate around the home.

“The home also had two activities coordinators and we saw a birthday and wedding anniversary being celebrated during our inspection."