COMPLAINTS were lodged about standards at a troubled Oxford care home as far back as 2005, the Oxford Mail has discovered.

These include some 31 comments about issues at the home made to Oxfordshire County Council since 2007.

The council’s review was prompted by the critical Care Quality Commission report last month about Brookfields Christian Care Home, in Little Bury, Greater Leys, which found pensioners left in pain without their medication and others struggling without the help they needed to get out of bed.

Now two families have spoken out about the standard of care given to their relatives at the Southern Cross home between 2005 and 2008.

According to her daughters, great-grandmother Maureen Stowell lost a stone in weight, was left in a communal lounge overnight, and was found smeared in her own faeces when they collected her after a week’s respite care in June 2007.

The former Pressed Steel and Oxford Boys’ School cleaner, who died in April, aged 80, was suffering the early stages of Alzheimer’s when she stayed in the home to give a break to daughters Christine Turner, 51, and Mandy Page, 49, who cared for her.

Mrs Turner said: “When we walked in, we didn’t actually recognise her. It was horrific.

“She grabbed my hand and said: ‘You’ve got to get me out of here’.”

They said their mother was dehydrated, had not taken prescribed painkillers and her clothes were soiled.

Southern Cross told them Mrs Stowell had refused to go to bed or take her medication, and the move to the home may have left her anxious or disorientated. The home said that she ate and drank well, but did not explain why her clothes were soiled.

Operations director Geraint Morgan wrote: “It was never the intention to cause distress or offend your mother and her family at any time and we apologise.”

Terry Cummings, whose mother Alice lived in the home until her death in 2008, complained to Oxfordshire County Council about standards in the privately-run home as far back as 2005.

Mr Cummings, who lives in Bournemouth, kept a log of staffing on the home’s dementia wing.

In a letter of complaint written in 2007, Mr Cummings raised his concerns with the council.

Southern Cross said that although staffing may have appeared to be low, it did not reflect the total numbers working at the home.

The firm said that when Mrs Cummings lost 9.3kg, or 17 per cent of her body weight, over seven months, medical advice was sought and she was put on dietary supplements. They said that despite the weight loss, she appeared to be eating and drinking well.

The county council will not pay for more patients to be placed at Brookfield until an improvement plan, drawn up after the inspection, is in effect.

The CQC said it was continuing to monitor the home after Southern Cross submitted a plan outlining how it would improve.

Southern Cross spokesman Emma Reynolds said: “A new home manager has been appointed and all full-time staff positions have been filled.

“The CQC is very happy with the improvements that have been made and have stated that there will be no need for further inspection until September.”