A daughter has shared a catalogue of ‘horrifying’ incidents, witnessed while visiting a care home that left the residents ‘dirty’ and ‘smelling’.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous but will be referred to as Mrs Smith, contacted the Herald following the closure of Bindon Care Home, which was recently given an ‘inadequate’ rating by regulators the Care Quality Commission.

Mrs Smith said her 80-year-old mother lived with Alzheimer’s disease and stayed at the home for six months, paying £650 a week.

She added: “It is horrifying – my mother was a hard-working company director and she was left smelling of faeces with filthy nails. She would have been mortified if she realised how dirty she’d been.”

Mrs Smith said her mother suffered multiple falls at the home, the last of which left her hospitalised with two black eyes after she was found unconscious at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Mrs Smith said: “Most days I visited my mother and she hadn’t been cleaned up.

“She would smell, would be wearing dirty clothes or someone else’s clothes entirely.

“The carpets were dirty and the bed sheets were filthy and unchanged. The toilet was never clean, with faeces all over the seat.

“I just kept raising it and telling them to change her and clear her up.

“I was disgusted by the staff and management.

“It is an appalling way to have treated our elderly people.

“It was distressing to see her there. Some of the staff were lovely and very kind and tried their best but they were stretched continually.”

Mrs Smith said her father lived in supported accommodation and made himself ill with stress worrying about the safety of his wife of more than 50 years.

“He used to make himself a packed lunch and go and sit there and watch her,” she said.

“We took my mother out as much as possible.

“But I had to ring them up to ask them to ensure she was clean in the morning.”

Mrs Smith added that her mother’s incontinence pads were often left unchanged so urine would seep through her clothes and onto seats. She added that on one occasion her father spent all day asking staff to clean her up.

She said: “She was sat in her own poo for more than 10-and-a-half hours. We wouldn’t leave babies this way.”

When the Herald revealed the Binden Residential Home had closed, a spokesman for the company said: “It is with great regret that Bindon Residential Care Home will be closing in the immediate future.

“Bindon has been an established part of the care community in Sidmouth since 1980 but in recent years has struggled to meet the increased expectations made and regulations imposed on social care providers.

“Our immediate focus is to ensure that our current residents are kept safe and found suitable new homes as soon as possible.

“In this regard we are working closely with social services to ensure a smooth and happy transition.”

The company has been approached for further comment.