A care home has been given six months to get its act together after residents were left unattended due to low staffing numbers.

Whittingham House, in Whittingham Avenue, Southend, provides care for up to 70 residents. It was rated Inadequate by CQC after they carried out an unannounced inspection in July this year.

The care home was graded inadequate in all five of its key services. It also failed to improve from its last inspections in November 2016.

The care home has six months to prove they have improved their services otherwise CQC will cancel the provider’s licence.

A CQC inspector said: “During our inspection we found a lack of governance and managerial oversight. There were no robust systems in place to effectively monitor and improve the quality of the service.

"The lack of governance and managerial oversight had impacted on people, staff and the quality of care provided.”

In the previous inspections, the care home also lacked meaningful activities for residents to engage in. But the service still failed to improve in this area.

The report said: “Improvements were required to ensure sufficient staffing levels and effective deployment of staff to ensure people’s individual care and support needs were met.

"Staff did not always have time to spend with the people they supported and the majority of interactions by staff were routine and task orientated.

“There were five people sitting in the back dining room with one person regularly calling out for help. During this time, no staff came into the lounge to ascertain why the person was distressed.

“This was due to the members of staff supporting people with their care needs elsewhere.”

Stuart Vive-Kanada, managing director of Strathmore Homes, which oversees Whittingham House, said they are committed to increasing recruitment.

He said: “We are greatly disappointed and concerned by the latest published CQC reports for Whittingham House. The findings of the report do not meet the company’s standard of care.

"We are committed to providing the highest quality of care to all our residents and any shortfalls have been swiftly addressed.”