Care home boss banned for four years

A director of a care home in Cambridgeshire has been banned from running a company for four years after it was found residents' health and safety were put at risk.

Millfield Lodge Care Home in Gamlingay was rated as inadequate in August 2017 after Care Quality Commission inspectors found extreme safety hazards, a serious fire risk and wires chewed through by rodents.

The care home run by 69-year-old Anita Ram, closed in August 2017 after the CQC cancelled its registration, with the care home owing £1.7m to creditors.

The liquidator’s report to the Insolvency Service triggered an investigation into the conduct of Anita Ram and on 30 September 2019, she was disqualified for four years from being involved, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company without permission of the court.

David Brooks, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “Care homes provide a vital service to our communities, taking care of some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and so are rightly held to the highest standards.

“The Insolvency Service will not hesitate to pursue the disqualification of any director whose conduct while in charge of such a business is assessed to pose a risk to the people under their care.”

Anita Ram was deemed by the CQC to not be a fit and proper person to carry on the service, as she had failed to co-operate with the nursing agency that ran the service in the home, removed records and equipment, and prevented access to people’s finances. Inspectors also found not all residents in the home were being safely administered their medication, with discrepancies between the amount of medication in stock and the amounts recorded as having been administered.

Millfield Lodge Care Home Limited entered Creditors Voluntary Liquidation and liquidators were appointed in September 2017, before it was formally wound up in October 2017.