Essex care home worker arrested on suspicion of assaulting elderly resident

A still from the Panorama investigation into the Old Deanery care home in Braintree, Essex. Photograph: Bbc/PA

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a resident at a care home that was the subject of an undercover investigation by the BBC's Panorama.

The woman, in her 40s, was arrested on Friday by detectives probing abuse at the Old Deanery care home in Braintree, Essex police said.

Anglia Retirement Homes Ltd, which runs the home, sacked seven members of staff there after Panorama showed an elderly woman with dementia being bullied and slapped by a worker.

The woman arrested has been released on bail until later this month pending further inquiries, police added.

An Essex police spokesman said on Saturday the woman had been arrested after police watched the Panorama broadcast.

He added: "The documentary highlighted the treatment of residents inside the Old Deanery care home.

"Essex police were denied an advance viewing of the programme so were only able to begin an investigation following its nationwide broadcast on Wednesday April 30.

"On Friday evening officers arrested a woman in her 40s at her home in Braintree on suspicion of assaulting a resident at the care home before being released on police bail until later this month pending further inquiries."

The force urged anyone else wanting to report abuse or neglect at the home to come forward.

The programme showed residents being taunted, roughly handled, ignored and left in their own excrement for hours at the 93-bed home, which costs up to £700 a week.

Anglia released a statement after the documentary was aired in which it insisted the incidents involved only a small number of staff and said the company did not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

It said that after initially suspending eight members of staff when the allegations came to light, six had been dismissed and a further case was being urgently reviewed, while the care worker who slapped the resident had been summarily dismissed.

The Care Quality Commission visited the site while Panorama was filming undercover in November and gave the home a clean bill of health.

But the regulator returned two months ago after it was informed about the Panorama findings and found shortcomings including too few staff and some residents having to wait too long for assistance