OWNERS of a care home in Callington have apologised ‘unreservedly’ for a series of shocking incidents which were revealed through secret filming for the BBC programme Panorama, which aired on Monday evening.

St Theresa’s Care Centre is one of several homes run by the Morleigh Group and was featured in the programme along with Clinton House in St Austell.

Panorama filmed over four weeks on hidden cameras, with undercover reporters posing as residents and care assistants.

Some of the most serious incidents occurred at Clinton House, which has subsequently been closed, including a resident being given morphine to ‘shut her up’, over-worked staff and out-of-date prescription supplements being re-labelled and re-issued to the wrong patients.

Following the filming, the Panorama team raised safeguarding concerns with the local authority.

In a statement following the broadcasting of the programme on Monday, the Morleigh Group said: ‘The Morleigh Group utterly condemns the actions of inhumane, uncaring and unprofessional individuals in the programme. We apologise unreservedly to all of our residents and their families for the pain and distress suffered following the Panorama programme’s revelations.

‘We can confirm that dismissals have been made both since and prior to being notified by the producers of the Panorama programme.

‘Furthermore, we are now undertaking careful examination of the footage (seen for the first time by us tonight) as part of further disciplinary proceedings.

‘The revelations have also caused considerable anger and anguish amongst our 200 plus staff — the overwhelming majority of whom are trustworthy and dedicated care professionals. They are currently working around the clock to bring comfort and reassurance to all of our residents at this extremely sensitive time.’

Last Friday, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released the results of the most recent inspections of the four nursing homes run by the Morleigh Group, rating them all as ‘inadequate’.

Cornwall Council, which placed residents at both homes, said the Panorama team had co-operated in describing what they observed to the council to aid its investigation.

Trevor Doughty, Cornwall Council’s strategic director for children, families and adults, said: ‘Following the decision by the CQC to rate the four nursing homes run by the Morleigh Group as inadequate, we will be working closely with the residents and their families and carers to ensure the best outcomes for them.

‘Our priority is to ensure the safety, well-being and dignity of all the residents being cared for in these homes. We have already provided additional nursing and care staff to ensure the safety of residents and have also placed a member of staff from the council’s social care team in each of the homes to support residents, relatives and carers.

‘We would never make placements in care homes which have been rated as inadequate. Having initially suspended new placements at Clinton House and St Theresa’s, the two homes at the heart of the Panorama programme, immediately as we were made aware of the allegations, we extended this suspension to the other nursing homes in the group as soon as the decision was made to expand the multi agency safeguarding investigation to these homes.

‘We will now need to consider the best outcomes for the residents in the remaining four homes which have been rated as inadequate. The investigations are still continuing into these care homes and are expected to be completed within the next few days.

‘Clearly the results of these investigations and the CQC announcement will inform our actions but we will be talking to residents and their families before any decision is made. In the meantime we hope that the additional nursing and care staff which have been provided by the council and health partners will help reassure people about the safety of the residents whilst these discussions take place.’

Mr Doughty said that the council recognised that the coverage in the media over the past few weeks may have raised concerns among people who have relatives and friends in a care home in Cornwall and said that there were a number of issues which all agencies would need to look at to identify areas for improvement in the future.

‘However, not-withstanding what has been uncovered in these shocking instances, I would like to reassure people that the majority of care homes in Cornwall are well-run, staffed by people who genuinely care for the welfare of their residents and provide a good quality of care,’ he said.

‘All agencies in Cornwall are working together to make sure that every single resident of nursing and care homes in Cornwall is safe, well looked after and treated with the dignity all deserve.’