A woman has been arrested on suspicion of neglect and fraud by police investigating the deaths of 12 care home residents amid claims of intimidation and physical abuse.
Police are probing the treatment of 43 people at nine facility under the wing of Sussex Health Care.
Sussex Police say that the woman remains in custody pending further inquiries.
The organisation is being scrutinised following serious concerns over the safety of patients amid claims of intimidation and abuse.
Sussex Health Care is being scrutinised following serious concerns over the safety of patients amid claims of intimidation and abuse (pictured: Kingsmead, one of the homes under review)
In September West Sussex County Council admitted that it had stopped placing people at eight homes, but would reveal the names of only two of them – The Laurels and Orchard Lodge.
But last month the county council has said investigations are ongoing at nine care homes.
As well as The Laurels and Orchard Lodge, the other homes were named as: Beech Lodge, Beechcroft Care Centre, Kingsmead Lodge, Longfield Manor, Rapkyns Care Centre, Rapkyns Nursing Home and Woodhurst Lodge.
A meeting between police and relatives of people who died while residents at the care homes, along with health authorities and the West Sussex Coroner, was held in August.
Valerie Tilley, who had Alzheimer’s, was at Longfield Manor care home in Billingshurst, West Sussex, when she suffered two accidents within a week and died shortly afterwards at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.
A special ‘whistleblowers’ hotline’ was set up last month by the independent charity Compassion In Care for anyone who has any concerns about relatives.
Gary Lewis, 65, and Matthew Bates, 33 – neither of whom can walk or talk – were each found to have suffered broken legs in separate incidents while they were residents at Beech Lodge care home in Horsham, West Sussex, in 2015.
The home is also run by Sussex Health Care which operates 20 local care homes – nine of which are being investigated following the deaths of 12 residents.
Staff at The Laurels failed to notify officials of incidents of physical and verbal abuse plus intimidation, according to a report published by the CQC on July 26.
Care inspectors rated the home in Broadbridge Heath, West Sussex, which cares for adults under 65 with learning or physical disabilities, overall as ‘requiring improvement’.
Last month West Sussex County Council admitted that it had stopped placing people at eight homes (pictured: Longfield Manor care home)
Two days later Peter Catchpole, the county council’s deputy leader – who is a paid adviser for Sussex Health Care – quit his council post as cabinet member for adult social care to ‘ensure that there is no risk of any actual or perceived conflict between his cabinet role and his declared work with the company’.
He then stood down as deputy leader later that week ‘for personal reasons’.
The authority says that the nine care homes are ‘the subject of a multi-agency safeguarding investigation being undertaken by West Sussex County Council, the Care Quality Commission, Health and Sussex Police. The provider is working with the agencies to provide the information requested’.
In September the Care Quality Commission rated Orchard Lodge care home as ‘inadequate’ following an inspection in July.
CQC inspectors found the home, in Warnham, West Sussex, was ‘inadequate’ for being safe and well-led, ‘requires improvement’ for being caring and effective and ‘good’ for being responsive to people’s needs.
Police say their investigations could go on until 2019.