A Timerley care home has been placed in special measures after inspectors deemed it unsafe.
The Care Quality Commission made an unannounced visit to Allingham House Care Centre, after they were contacted with concerns about residents' safety, including unexplained bruising and mistakes made with medicines.
Inspectors found that 'standards of care at the home had declined significantly' since the last inspection in 2016, when the home, which has 76 residents of all ages, including some with complex needs, was rated as good.
They found it had breached a number of regulations, in areas including safe care and treatment, person centred care, the handling of complaints, staffing and governance.
They discovered that the home relied heavily on agency staff, who were not always aware of their responsibilities or residents' needs.
Other failings they identified included that medicines were not safely managed and care plans and risk assessments were not always up to date
The registered manager had left the home a week before the inspection took place.
In their report published this week, inspectors noted that some residents had run out of medication and it had not been reordered, and medication was not given out in a timely manner.
One relative who spoke to inspectors said: "I've spoken to the new manager about (the resident) not getting their medication at the right time. It's happened several times and it's like you have to battle all the time to get it done right. Hopefully the matter will now be resolved."
Inspectors saw one resident who had been identified as being at being at risk of choking eating alone in their room, while the nurse call alarm was out of their reach.
They said the home could not demonstrate that people at high risk of developing pressure sores, such as those confined to bed or wheelchair users, were being moved regularly to prevent this.
This included one person who, according to their charts, had not been moved into a new position for four days.
Inspectors also felt that there were 'insufficient numbers of competent staff and staff were not effectively deployed', placing people at risk of harm.
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They found that the service 'relied heavily' on the use of a recruitment agency, and were told by some of those working there that they felt the lack of permanent staff impacted on the quality of care provided.
Some staff told inspectors they did not always have time to complete monitoring charts as they had too much to do.
As a result of the CQC placing urgent conditions on the home, care provider Maria Mallaband Care Group has now brought in a person to have oversight and management of all medicines, as well as additional clinical and care support from other areas of the business.
The home is now working with the CQC and Trafford council to reach the required standard of improvement.
A spokesperson for the Maria Mallaband Care Group said: "Senior Managers are supporting staff at the care home in order to ensure that the necessary improvements are made and sustained.
"The care home are working closely with the Local Authority, CCG and CQC throughout this process.
"Improvements have been made however we look forward to demonstrating continued improvements when CQC next visit."
A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: “We are working hard with the owners and managers of Allingham House to ensure residents there receive a safe service.
“Our priority is the welfare of residents and we will continue to do all we can to support them.
“Our focus is ensuring the home and the care received there is of a good standard. It is important that residents are happy in a home they know, supported by staff who are able to meet their needs.
“We have had ongoing concerns about the quality of the service and have provided specialist support to help the service improve.
"We have seen improvements and are keen to see this continue and sustained over the coming months.
“We will continue to work with and monitor the situation at the home.”
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