A Norwich care home has been blasted for putting its residents at "unnecessary risk" after inspectors found 'unsafe' furniture, cobwebs and mould at the site.

Harvey Lane, a home for people with learning difficulties and autism, has been plunged into special measures by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection last month.

The regulator said the home, which is run by Consensus Support Services Limited, suffered from a "poor culture" with "basic needs" of its residents not being met.

Inspectors downgraded the home's rating to inadequate - the lowest available - following an assessment prompted by concerns about its management and safety measures.

During the assessment, inspectors found:

  • Mould growing in the bathrooms
  • Chemical products left within reach
  • Fire doors which did not close properly
  • Sofas and chairs torn with exposed padding
  • Cobwebs in several areas

Rebecca Bauers, director for people with learning disabilities at CQC, said: "When we inspected Harvey Lane we found poor leadership and inadequate safety measures were putting people at unnecessary risk.

"It was worrying that people's basic needs were not being met, in areas like supporting them to eat well.

"In one case, we saw somebody's food records showed they had mainly eaten crisps for nine days and hadn't had any protein.

"Harvey Lane was not a safe or dignified place for people to live."

The home can house up to eight people, but at the time of the inspection, six people were living there."

A spokesman for Consensus said: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety and wellbeing of the people we support and we take feedback from the CQC extremely seriously.

"It is clear that, in this case, we have not met the standards the people we support and their families expect and deserve - and we would like to again apologise to them.

"We took immediate action after the initial inspection, including addressing some environmental issues and reviewing risk assessments and training for staff."