A dementia specialist care home where staff members were "not always kind or caring" has been placed in special measures after a damning inspection.

Fairmount Residential Care Home, in Mottingham Lane, was blasted for its inadequate service in a recently published Care Quality Commission (CQC) report.

An unannounced inspection on July 9 found that vulnerable residents were "not always protected from abuse".

In one shocking incident, the CQC report stated: "We observed one person being verbally abused by a visitor throughout a 45 minutes lunchtime visit.

"The person was clearly very distressed, but staff did not step in at any time to stop the abuse."

According to the report, one staff member told inspectors they "thought it was a relative and didn’t want to interfere" and another staff member responded by saying "it’s always like that".

This was brought to the attention of the manager who said the aggressive visitor was a "life-long friend" and often behaved this way during their weekly visit.

The manager said the resident would be left "agitated and unhappy" when the friend frequently left without a goodbye.

CQC concluded: "They had not taken any action to protect the person from the risk of abuse and failed to recognise their safeguarding responsibilities."

The Mottingham care home accommodates 38 elderly people and specialises in caring for those with dementia.

During the disaster visit, inspectors saw one person being left to sleep instead of being encouraged to eat lunch.

"Staff did not always treat people with dignity and did not always ask for their consent before supporting them," the ominous reported added.

Medication was not safely managed with unlabelled medicines being found in the medicines trolley.

The report stated: "Staff had not recorded opening dates of medicines where required to ensure they remained safe for use."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Eastenders legend Barbara Windsor this week and pledged to improve dementia care. 

Inspectors spoke to residents who said they felt safe and their needs were met.

People’s independence was promoted, and people were also protected from the risk of infection.

The report also said enough skilled workers were deployed to meet people’s needs.

However, the home was given an overall inadequate rating - down from its required improvements rating last year.

CQC concluded that not enough improvements had been made since its 2018 inspection and as such placed it in special measures.

The service will be kept under review and will be re-inspected within six months.

News Shopper has repeatedly contacted Fairmount and its managers MillsCareGroup for a response to the story.