A care home for people with learning disabilities and autism has been criticised by the health watchdog for failing to ensure people were always treated with dignity and respect.

The home, in Twyfords Gardens, Worthing, was rated requires improvement following the inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in September.

Inspectors said the provider was not ensuring people received person-centred care, had failed to ensure people were always treated with dignity and respect and had failed to ensure their consent to care and treatment had been sought in accordance with legislation.

The home, which cares for three people, was also criticised for failing to assess, monitor and manage risks to people's health and safety, provide safe care and treatment, manage medicines safely, for failing to ensure systems and processes protected people from abuse and improper treatment and for failing to ensure staff had received appropriate support, training and personal development to carry out the duties they were employed to perform.

A spokesman for Achieve Together, which runs the home, apologised "unreservedly" and said it has taken "immediate action" to resolve the issues raised.

The report said: “People were not supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not support this practice.

“Staff did not always communicate or support people in dignified or respectful ways.

“Improvements were needed to make sure people were involved and included in a personalised way when being supported by staff.

“People told us staff were not always caring and did not always encourage them to be as independent as possible.

“Professionals who worked with staff and relatives of people at the service gave us mixed feedback about the quality and safety of the support people received.

“Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.  

“Staff and people told us the culture of the service was negative and was not helping people to achieve good outcomes.”

Inspectors said the provider was aware of the quality and safety issues and they had offered assurances about actions they would take to make any necessary improvements as quickly as possible.

“We apologise unreservedly for the shortfallings highlighted in this report, which go against the high standards we set for ourselves as an organisation, and that people we support rightly expect and deserve," said Achieve Together's spokesman.

“We have taken immediate action to improve the areas highlighted. This includes urgently reviewing and actioning improvements on all our support plans, which the CQC are satisfied with, as well as deploying a manager and deputy manager to provide full seven day management cover.

"We have also implemented robust processes around team training and documentation, which have become quickly embedded.

“We will be working closely with the people we support, their families, our team members, and our partners including the local authority and the CQC to drive the necessary improvements over the coming weeks and months.”