A care home has been placed in special measures after an inspection found residents were "exposed to continuous risk of harm".

Seymour House, which looks after nearly 50 people in Rickmansworth, has been rated 'inadequate" following two visits in June by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

An inspection was held after concerns relating to safeguarding at the dementia-accredited home were raised with the CQC at the end of May.

Specifically, the safeguarding concern related to how a wound sustained by a resident had been treated by staff.

Two visits were subsequently made by CQC inspectors to Seymour House in June, with a focus on determining whether the care home was "safe and well-led".

During their visits, the inspectors say they identified a "number of safeguarding concerns" with as many as 15 incidents to be investigated by the CQC and partner agencies.

The report - published on August 21 - stated: "Staff failed to recognise potential safeguarding incidents and had not reported these to their manager or to external safeguarding.

"We shared this with partner agencies, this triggered well-being checks for people. In total 15 potential safeguarding's had been identified by CQC and partner agencies to be investigated.

"For example, people were found with either bruises, wounds, pressure ulcers and other skin conditions and equipment that was not safe for use, which were not identified by staff."

Inspectors claimed staff "lacked knowledge in what their responsibilities were" under safeguarding processes and as a result people were "exposed to continuous risk of harm".

The report stated the governance system at the home was "not robust to pick up where there were significant failings", adding the registered manager had not notified the CQC where there were incidents of harm to people at this inspection.

The CQC report also picked up on a number of other concerns that arose during the inspection.

It stated residents were "not always shown respect and dignity" when being supported by staff. For example, a person had wet trousers. The report also claims inspectors observed staff not being "proactive" in supporting people when they expressed pain or discomfort.

The CQC says infection prevention control measures at Seymour House were "not effective", and practices meant "people were at risk of infections".

For example, the home did not account for people having to socially distance themselves while inspectors said they were "not assured" personal protective equipment (PPE) was "effectively" used.

Seymour House said four residents, whose cause of death was suspected to be Covid, had died over the pandemic. A spokesperson for the home told the Observer this is "evidence of effective and excellent infection control practices".

The CQC concluded there was not an "open and honest culture" at Seymour House, and taking into account everything they witnessed and all the information they gathered, inspectors rated the home as 'inadequate' for being "safe and well-led".

As a result, the home has been placed in special measures which means the service will be kept under review.

If the CQC does not propose to cancel the provider's registration, inspectors will revisit in six months time.

The CQC says it will meet with the provider - Seymour House Residential Care Homes Limited - to discuss how it will make changes to ensure Seymour House can achieve a 'good' rating at its next inspection.

A Seymour House spokesperson told the Observer the initial safeguarding complaint was raised after a district nurse visited the home on May 31 to dress a wound of a resident which had "deteriorated rapidly".

They claim the complaint included "inaccurate information" and that the home felt "targeted".

The spokesperson said staff referred the incident involving the resident and their wound to the district nurse team on May 28 but said the home did not receive a response. Subsequent calls to 999, 111, and an out-of-hours GP between May 28 and 30 did not result in any further help, the spokesperson claimed.

They added: "The home has been in operation for over three decades and has never been under any kind of unjustified scrutiny.

"Seymour House is a residential care home and not a nursing home The home is dependent on the community district nurse team.

"Seymour House achieved Gold Member status with the Hertfordshire Care Providers Association for 2019-2020 following a long and thorough process of accreditation.

"We have also been a Dementia Accredited home with Hertfordshire Local Authority since 2006."