Accused care home to close

No official reason has been given for the home's closure

A Bristol nursing home which was accused of exploiting foreign nurses is to close within three weeks.

The Avon Gorge home was at the centre of allegations that some nurses were low-paid and lived in cramped accommodation.

It was also claimed they were denied proper training to theBritish standards which had attracted them to applying for the jobs in the first place.

The owners of the 37-bed home, who denied the allegations, have given no official reason for the its closure.

The UKCC withdrew its accreditation

BBC West's health correspondent Matthew Hill said the residents are being re-housed.

He said: "They are being reallocated. The health authority says that's going quite well in terms of finding them places."

A spokesperson for Avon Health Authority said: "We're working with social services and the residents' families to find them new homes."

However, the news has affected the home's residents.

Matthew Hill said: "They are very distressed about it. That information I got from talking to a member of staff.

"But the home will close on 11 November because they had to give the health authority 28 days notice that they were going to do this."

Training banned

Avon Gorge home was banned from training overseas nurses.

This was after the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC), the regulatory body for nurses, removed its training accreditation.

It was the first case of its kind.

The UKCC made the decision in August after investigating reports the overseas nurses were not receiving the supervised tuition they needed.

Menial tasks

The home, which also acted as a recruitment agency, employed 95 overseas nurses, who were mainly from the Philippines.

The nurses claimed they had been poorly housed, paid less than promised and forced to carry out menial cooking and cleaning tasks, despite their qualifications.

When contacted by the BBC in August, the home refused to comment, but in earlier responses it has said some of the claims were false.

The UKCC said it made the decision after complaints from other employers and overseas nurses.

In May, police were also called to investigate the death of a resident. The inquest is due to be held on 4 December.