Vulnerable people left alone in rooms for 24 hours a day and denied showers for a week as number of vacancies grows to 165,000
Thousands of vulnerable people are suffering inadequate care as severe staffing shortages in previously good care homes push operators to break rules and put residents at risk.
A wave of inspections has revealed the human impact of a worsening nationwide staffing crisis, with people being left in their rooms 24 hours a day, denied showers for over a week, enduring assaults from fellow residents, and left soaking in their own urine.
A resident at Cedar Lodge care home in Bury St Edmunds – where at times 23 people were left unsupervised – physically and verbally assaulted another. Another person went missing and was only found after a member of the public escorted them to a police station.
At Osbourne Court care home in Herefordshire, staff had so little time, they used wet wipes to clean one resident and only showered and washed their hair once a week.
Residents were left in soiled incontinence pads overnight at the Hollies in Westcliff-on-Sea.