Half of care homes leave elderly unfed and neglected, reveals inspectors' damning report

They found homes where residents were barred from moving about, where they went hungry because no one bothered to help them eat and where they were left to stare at a television all day long.

The inquiry by the Whitehall care watchdog called for urgent action to improve conditions for the 244,000 who have Alzheimer's or another mental health condition and live in care homes.

Neglected: Residents are left to stare at the television all day

It said that inspectors ordered 51 out of the 100 care homes examined to improve standards in order to meet legal requirements.

The Alzheimer's Society charity said the findings showed that the care system is a disgrace.

'There are examples of excellent personalised care but clearly this is not universal,' said the report from the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

'Where necessary, poorly performing homes were kept under scrutiny and appropriate action taken.'

Concerns raised by the Commission follow warnings that the care system in general and residential and nursing homes in particular are often neglecting or ignoring those with dementia.

A study by the Alzheimer's Society last autumn found that many get no more than five minutes conversation or attention a day from care home staff who are ill-trained to help them.

Last month the King's Fund research group said that there will be a million Britons with dementia in 20 years' time and that the cost of treating and caring for them will rise to £50billion a year.

The Daily Mail's Dignity for the Elderly campaign has highlighted the difficulties faced by dementia patients and their families.

Yesterday's CSCI report endorsed many of the findings of the Alzheimer's Society. It said that home owners believe that qualifications for care staff are being dumbed down and that training is ineffective.

It also found that they and their families may lose out financially because of the system for paying care home fees. In some cases if care homes help improve someone's condition, NHS trusts may cut their contribution to fees, the CSCI said.

In others dementia patients and their families have no choice over which care home they go to because the NHS or local councils refuse to meet the fees of their preferred home.

The report said the 51 homes found to have aspects of their care below standard were given 155 'statutory requirements'  -  actions they must take within a reasonable period to comply with the law.

Of the 100 checked, 58 were told they should make some improvements to their policies or procedures.

They involved the privacy and dignity of residents, the instructions given to staff on how to look after people, the health care given to residents, the social contact and activities they took part in, and the competence of staff. Among examples of poor treatment, inspectors found:

• A home where residents were put in front of a television or CD player for the day, with no choice of what to watch or listen to.
• A home were residents were prevented from moving by staff who stopped them using their walking frames and intimidated them.
• Homes where residents slept for more than a quarter of the day because they had nothing to do.
• Homes where they were given food they could not eat and where no one helped them eat when they had difficulty.
• Homes where nobody took time to talk to residents with dementia. The report said that those with dementia can benefit from proper care but that they do not always receive it. It added: 'There is much more to be done to improve the quality of care for people living with dementia in care homes.'

The report added: 'There is a tendency for the better performing homes to be smaller.'

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: 'The standard of dementia care highlighted in this report is a national disgrace.

'We can no longer afford to ignore the hard facts. This report shows that homes barely meeting standard requirements are being given acceptable star ratings.

'New standards currently being developed are a good opportunity to cut the sheaf from the wheat and show people what makes a good care home and where to find one.'

Thousands of immigrants are working in care homes without having passed checks on their criminal records, a report to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has found.

There are also many more illegal immigrants employed by care homes who have used fake documentsto bypass such checks, a leaked Government report said. In some homes more than half the staff are illegal foreign workers.

The official Home Office intelligence assessment warns that there are more than 20,000 legal care workers from Eastern Europe who have not been checked to ensure they are no threat to those they care for.

The document raises grave questions over the effectiveness of the UK's immigration controls and Criminal Records Bureau checks.

Some 240,000 foreign-born people are estimated to work in care homes or in care services for the vulnerable. But progress towards exchanging information on criminal records with Eastern European countries has been slow.

The report warned that the practice of employing illegal foreign workers in care homes was widespread and 'significant'.

In one case there were so many illegal immigrants working in two care homes in Bristol that a planned raid by immigration staff was cancelled because most of the staff would have been removed at a stroke.