Care home owners seek to bar council officers from entering premises

The owners of a care home have sought to bar Cornwall Council officers from entering its premises, claiming that the action was necessary to “protect service users from disruptive local officials”.

In a statement, Bowen Derra said Cornwall had “enacted an unwarranted and spurious campaign of harassment against [it, following].... unfounded claims from anonymous officials about the standard of care”.

Directors David and Judith Cash said: “We have patiently endured weeks of unfounded, unfocused, irrelevant, and increasingly aggressive investigation by Cornwall Council, who have chosen to ignore the evidence we submitted more than two weeks ago.

“It has now become increasingly clear that we must take steps to protect the safety and wellbeing of the people we support from these spurious allegations, which do not relate to direct care whatsoever.”

Access would be permitted only for “genuine individual care reviews of the residents we support”, they added.

A Cornwall statement said: “The council is continuing to work with partners and the owners of Bowden Derra Park to investigate the allegations which have been raised about the service which is being provided for residents.

“Our priority is to make sure people are safe and cared for. We are currently reviewing the information which has been gathered to this point to decide if the allegations have been substantiated. Once this process has been completed we will be working with the provider, and partners to put in place any improvements that may be required.”

Cornwall said the original allegations had been raised by NHS Kernow in January.

Mark Smulian