Worthing care home patients 'abused in front of inspectors'

Sutton Court had been rated good in a previous CQC report

Inspectors visiting a care home already under investigation over alleged physical abuse witnessed a member of staff verbally abusing patients.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Sutton Court in Worthing it needs to make "urgent improvements".

Some residents were "generally happy", the watchdog said, but its rating dropped from "good" to "inadequate".

The home, which cares for up to 10 people with learning disabilities or autism, was contacted for comment.

Sutton Court has previously been rated as "good overall".

The care home has now been put in special measures, the CQC said.

'Abuse not recognised'

CQC inspectors visited the care home in Chesswood Road in June after the watchdog was notified of an incident of alleged physical abuse, which is currently the subject of a criminal investigation.

Debbie Ivanova, a deputy chief inspector at the CQC, said: "While our inspectors were on the premises, they witnessed a member of staff verbally abusing people, which led them to report this as a further safeguarding concern.

"We raised this with the manager, who did not immediately remove the staff member from the building while more detail was collected, or report the incident to the local authority safeguarding team, because it had not been recognised as abuse."

Ms Ivanova also said the original safeguarding incident that triggered the inspection had not been reported by staff who witnessed it.

Sutton Court Homes Ltd, which runs the home, said the company would not be responding to the report.

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