Six more shamed care home staff have been sacked after last night's Panorama programme.

The programme, Behind Closed Doors: Elderly Care Exposed, was broadcast last night and revealed a catalogue of poor care and mistreatment at The Old Deanery Care Home in Bocking.

In one clip, a careworker was seen slapping resident Joan Maddison, who suffers from dementia and is partially paralysed following a stroke.

Anglia Retirement Homes, which runs the 93-bed care home, sacked the care worker responsible for slapping Mrs Maddison before the programme was aired, while seven others were suspended.

Six of those have now also been dismissed, while the case involving the other is being "urgently reviewed".

A spokesman said: "We have this morning contacted the police after the BBC’s Panorama’s programme exposed inappropriate behaviour by some members of staff at the Old Deanery Care Home.

"We apologise unreservedly for those failings.

"The new management team at the home have been working with the Essex constabulary since Panorama first contacted us about their allegations in February, when we immediately suspended eight staff pending a full inquiry.

"We have repeatedly asked Panorama for their filmed evidence so we could take the appropriate action, but they refused to show their undercover footage to us before broadcast.

"Having seen the programme and their evidence for the first time on Wednesday night, we have today summarily dismissed six more staff and a further case is being urgently reviewed.

"The care worker responsible for slapping a resident had been summarily dismissed earlier in the week after an independent investigation secured a statement from an eye witness.

"We care passionately about our residents and will not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

"These incidents involved a small number of staff and are not reflective of the high standards of care which we expect and demand from all of our team.

"As soon as the new management team was made aware of the allegations we took immediate action. We hired an independent law firm to carry out a full investigation as a matter of urgency.

"All procedures, services and staffing levels at the home are being reviewed.

"Our priority remains the health and wellbeing of our residents and we have more than 200 dedicated members of staff who remain committed to the highest standards of care."