A CARE home has been criticised for its treatment of elderly patients following an inquiry into the deaths of three residents.

The independent investigation into the privately run Whitecroft home in Stanford Road, Orsett, was ordered after some residents were found to have severe health problems.

When police were called in, a surgeon sent some patients to hospital for treatment. The deaths of three patients were also investigated.

Initially, the home's manager Colleen Fulbach was arrested on suspicion of the involuntary manslaughter of the patients in her care. No charges were brought against her. Today, the report stemming from the police investigation found there was not enough food or drinks for patients, misuse of medication and a shortage of basic supplies.

Evidence of various inadequacies in care were found, as well as some medical and nursing shortfalls.

The report added that staff and practitioners confused old age and living in a care home with being ill or frail, leading to a "tacit acceptance" that residents' conditions would be "significantly worse in every respect" when compared to people living in their own homes.

There were also concerns about: * Admission procedures * Failures to maintain a safe, clean, homely and therapeutic environment * Access to medical care * Lack of clear and co-ordinated records * Few stimulating activities for residents.

Thurrock Council and the PCT said today they have accepted the report's ten recommendations. They say most have already been fully implemented. The manager no longer works for Benfleet-based Runwood Homes, which runs Whitecroft.

Chris Paley, who was Thurrock Council's social services chief at the time, said: "People working in the public and private sector who look after some of our most vulnerable citizens now work as teams which have the best interests of those in their care at heart.

"It has highlighted how the needs of the individual can be lost if staff in different agencies do not communicate or work together.

"The review found that while senior managers from different agencies were working well together, this was not mirrored throughout the organisations.

"Doctors and nurses, social workers and care home staff did not share information about residents they were looking after."