A resident attacked another at a care home on the day inspectors arrived.

And watchdog Care Quality Commission concluded there were not enough staff to keep people safe at The Willows in Hythe, having previously warned about manpower shortages.

The report by the commission followed a return check on the Stade Street home after it had been previously marked down for safety.

The home is for up to six men with learning disabilities and difficult behaviour.

The report said: “In the dining room we witnessed an example of one of the daily incidents that occur between two people in particular.

“The staff present were not trained to respond and intervene appropriately to such incidents and awaited the arrival of the interim manager.

“By which time the incident had escalated and one person experienced a physical assault.”

The report did not specify who had assaulted whom.

But the inspectors said that on the day they arrived, August 13, they found just two workers for all five residents, two of whom were meant to have one-to-one staffing. Four workers are needed during the day, the inspectors have found.

Their report stated: “A staff member told us that they had been on duty on their own between 6.30am and 8am before a second member, who was new, joined them.

“They said that they felt pressured by the need to support every­one: this had been made worse by an escalation in one person’s negative behaviours.

“This had caused an increase in the number of incidents with other people in the house, which staff said were now a daily occurrence.”

The inspectors summed up that there were “not always sufficient staff available that had the necessary skills and know­ledge to support people safely”.

They added: “People were not given the support they needed at the time they needed it because there were not enough staff on duty to provide this.”

The check-up in August was a follow-up from full inspections on February 24 and March 2.

Then the CQC gave the home the second-best grades of ‘good’ in three categories – effectiveness, care and responsiveness.

But they gave the second-worst grading of ‘requires improvement’ overall and for two categories – safety and leadership.

The report for those visits, published on May 11, said: “Staff were not available in sufficient numbers to meet people’s needs.”

Care homes get four possible gradings from the CQC: outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

A spokesman for The Willows said: “Since this inspection [in August] we have put in place a robust action plan to address all the issues raised, which have included increasing staffing levels and enhancing training especially around safety.

“The care, safety and well­being of our residents is our highest priority and we look forward to the CQC returning so it can see the improvements we have embedded.”