Residents at a Dewsbury care home were found to be at risk of Legionella when visited by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission.

Management at Aston Manor in Moorlands Road have now been given six months to improve or risk being shut down.

Aston Manor, which is run by Leicester-based Mauricare Ltd, was placed in special measures following the damning report by the CQC.

It had been rated inadequate in 2016 after inspectors saw faeces smeared on carpets, walls, furniture and handrails.

Inspectors who visited on three occasions in late August and early September this year rated it “inadequate” in four out of five categories. It was found to be not safe, not effective, not responsive, not well-led and not always caring.

The report recorded multiple breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 including significant concerns about the presence of the Legionella bacteria.

A risk assessment completed by an external contractor advised that it was “very likely” that the Legionella bacteria would occur in the home’s water systems. It concluded: “The risk of the occurrence [of] Legionella bacteria in your water systems appears to be out of control”.

The inspectors noted: “This meant people at Aston Manor were at risk of Legionella”.

Care workers were found not to have read people’s care plans, records were not in place to show the support people had received and action had not been taken to ensure people’s end of life wishes had been recorded.

Staff told inspectors they did not think the registered manager had “the skills to do the job” and concerns remained about good governance. As at two previous inspections, the most recent in April 2017, inspectors found evidence of the registered provider and registered manager’s “continued lack of compliance” with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff were also found to lack training and there was a continued lack of effective supervision and appraisal.

The new report stated: “The home is therefore still inadequate and remains in special measures.

“Services in special measures will be kept under review and, if we have not taken immediate action to propose to cancel the provider’s registration of the service, will be inspected again within six months.

“The expectation is that providers found to have been providing inadequate care should have made significant improvements within this timeframe.

“If not enough improvement is made within this timeframe so that there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service.”

The manager at Aston Court was unavailable for comment when contacted by the Examiner. Mauricare Ltd did not respond to a request to comment.