A Holme Valley care home for OAPs has been warned about its care for a second time.

Bell House Care Home at Meltham has been deemed “not safe” and “not caring” by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors visited last October to follow up poor conditions found at an unannounced inspection in June.

The Examiner reported last year that they found some residents were being given “strip washes” rather than their preferred shower or bath.

Inspections found that people had underwear in their drawers which was very stained and did not belong to them.

In one person’s room underwear belonging to five different people was found.

Elderly residents were given children’s cups and some were wearing clothes soiled with food stains.

Bedroom carpets were not clean and some smelled strongly of urine with furniture dirty and sticky to touch.

Staff said they had to bring in their own vacuum cleaner as the home one did not work.

Other issues raised included lack of care plans, inappropriate handling of medication, no involvement of relatives in care plans, poor standards of cleaning and hygiene, problems with the availability of a cook, lack of training, poor maintenance of the home and incomplete or inaccurate paperwork.

A new manager was installed in September who told the Examiner that the CQC had since given the home a clean bill of health.

But a report into the follow-up inspection in October, which happened three days before the Examiner story but had not been made public, says “the service is not safe”.

The CQC said some improvements had been made but highlighted a number of concerns, including the issuing of medication, the safety of beds and windows and the accuracy of medical records.

The inspection report says: “The service was not effective. The home did not promote a good quality of life for the people that lived there.”

Members of staff told inspectors they felt unable to raise concerns for fear of losing their jobs.

They said they were told, “If you don’t like the way things are you know where the door is.”

Manager of the home Christine Evans declined to comment.

The CQC said it would be back to check the home had responded to the warning in the near future.