An angry daughter whose mother is on end-of-life care has slammed a nursing home - which was shut down for significant failings earlier this month - for cutting short her mother's life.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health and social services watchdog, shut down Grantley Court Nursing Home, in York Road, Sutton, on December 12, after identifying "significant failings in safety and quality of care".

This came just days after Merok Park Nursing Home, in Park Road, Banstead, was also shut down after the CQC discovered its elderly residents were at "significant risk of harm".

Both homes were owned by Cheam millionaire Soondressen Cooppen.

FROM DECEMBER 9, 2014: Care Quality Commission shuts nursing home where residents were washed in cold water and workers had no criminal records checks

Following the closure of Grantley Court, Linda Cackett contacted this newspaper with regards to her 89-year-old mother Edna Slann.

She was moved to the home in June by Surrey County Council (SCC) social services, where she stayed until the end of September this year.

Ms Cackett, of Manor Green Road, Epsom, said: "She arrived there with no infection and in reasonable health.

"Whilst there she lost weight, developed a severe life-limiting infection in her leg, sustained various injuries including a severely bruised face and stitches in her head."

She said she received a phone call from the CQC at the start of September: "They had taken an interest in my mother during their inspection because of severe bruising to her face.

"I then received a call at the end of September to state they were moving my mother and, I understand, other residents to alternative homes."

Ms Slann was moved from Grantley Court to Leighton House Nursing Home, in Burgh Heath Road, Epsom.

Ms Cackett said her mother has been advised that the only way to stop an infection in her foot is to amputate the leg below the knee.

She said: "It was felt by the hospital and myself that my mother would not survive the operation so she is now on end-of-life palliative care as there is nothing more they can do.

"She now only has days/weeks to live.

"This cannot keep happening to our elderly friends and relatives.

"It is too late now for my mother but I will work tirelessly to make sure this does not happen to somebody else's friend or relative."

Your Local Guardian:

Linda Cackett said her mother was in "reasonable health" when she arrived at Grantley Court Nursing Home but sustained injuries to her head, pictured, and infections while there 

In its inspections of the home in September, the CQC found the residents of Grantley Court were "at risk of acquiring infections because the home and equipment were not cleaned to an appropriate standard and there were not adequate systems in place to reduce the risk of infection". 

It also failed all other standards including treating people with respect and involving them in their care; providing care, treatment and support that meets people’s needs; caring for people safely and protecting them from harm; staffing; and the quality and suitability of its management.

But, in an inspection conducted in January this year, the home had already failed to meet four out of five key standards, including assessing and monitoring the quality of the service.

Referring to the January inspections of the home by the CQC, Ms Cackett said: "Why did Surrey social services and the NHS put my mum there knowing there were issues? That’s dreadful.

"All of these people failed my mum and failed her miserably."

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: "We’re sorry to hear about Mrs Slann’s problems.

"We moved her to the home in June before health services took responsibility for her care a month later and at that time it had passed an inspection by the national regulator the Care Quality Commission – if it hadn’t, we wouldn’t have placed her there."

It said it was not aware of the January inspection because the report of it was not published on the CQC website until September.

On the CQC’s website, the date on the inspection on this report is stated as "13 January 2014" and the date of publication is given as "April 2014".

But a link to access the full report states "Inspection report published 18 September 2014".

The CQC was contacted for an explanation last Wednesday, but has not yet responded to the Epsom Guardian.

But a CQC spokeswoman said it would be "highly unlikely" that the first SCC would have heard of the concerns raised in January were through a report published on its website.

She said: "Where we identify concerns about a place we would talk about this with the local authority as it is the lead authority on safeguarding. They would need to know about it.

"It should also be monitoring homes with visits."

Your Local Guardian:

The CQC's website states that a report of the January inspection of Grantley Court Nursing Home was published on 18 September 2014 

Ms Cackett said that the staff working at Grantley Court seemed "genuinely nice" but were not adequately trained. She said: "They weren’t lifting our mum as they should.

"We don’t know how the bruising happened and have since found out there was no record of that either.

"The staff were very young. They do watch you like hawks but they did seem to have an empathy with a lot of the residents there."

She said that as well as the CQC, she also received a telephone call from the owner of Grantley Court in September.

"I’d never met him. He said ‘I understand you’re moving your mum’," Ms Cackett said.

"He said would I be prepared to write a letter saying I was happy with the care there? He sounded quite desperate. He obviously didn’t want to lose people."

Ms Cackett said she was particularly shocked when her mother was given a haircut by a hairdresser at the nursing home shortly before she was moved to Leighton House.

She said: "The whole time she was at Grantley Court I asked if she could have her hair done every week. It was never done.

"The day before they moved her to her new home they hacked her hair like you wouldn’t believe.

"They literally cut it off in chunks, it was one inch all over. My mum was in tears.

"When she got to Leighton House they said ‘what’s happened to her hair?’"

The daughter added: "I’m angry the wound and infection she got at Grantley Court is going to terminate her life.

"She was reasonably strong and healthy for her age.

"For her to be going like she is now, it’s wrong."

Have you had a positive or negative experience about a care home which you want to share? Contact Hardeep Matharu by emailing hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk or by calling 020 8722 6346.

To view the CQC's inspection reports for Grantley Court Nursing Home click here.