Inspectors said the quality of a care home, which was previously rated 'outstanding', has 'deteriorated' after patients were found to have missed medication and being restrained against their will, causing distress.

Saxlingham Hall Nursing Home was told it "required improvement" after failing to satisfy the Care Quality Commission on matters of safety, effectiveness of care and leadership, despite being awarded an "Outstanding" rating in its last inspection in 2017.

The unannounced inspection, carried out on October 16, discovered residents being restrained using lap belts, which left one person "distressed".

According to inspectors, there was no record to confirm that the use of restraints in this case was consenting.

There were also issues with patients receiving medication, with one person missing 11 doses of different medicines in 22 days, "because they were asleep".

Some medicines were out of stock, with the same person failing to receive their steroid inhaler, prescribed for asthma, on eight occasions during the same time period.

Inspectors said the manager's attempt to improve this issue by meeting with the local GP practice had "not been effective in the short term.'

Some security risks were also highlighted, with members of the public able to "walk straight in" to the home, without being challenged by staff.

At one point inspectors discovered a delivery man, wandering around the facility.

Inspectors said this lack of security "posed a potential risk".

However, they also noted that residents seemed generally happy, and the home was awarded "Good" for how caring and for how responsive the service was.

A spokesman for Saxlingham Hall said aspects of the initial report had been challenged and removed, and that he was disappointed with the overall rating.

He added: "It has always been the ethos of Saxlingham Hall to enable our residents and their visitors to have the freedom of movement within the home as they would in their own home, and we are disappointed that this will no longer be the case.

"Following CQC's visit the home commissioned an independent report by an ex-CQC inspector, whose personal view was that the service was unlucky to have received this rating as 'the points raised in the inspection report could have been emphasised differently with an overall 'Good' rating being applied."