A WOMAN has been banned from running a care home for the elderly after she was found to have provided inadequate supervision for the elderly residents.

Lesley Wilkinson was found to have under-staffed the Marylawns Residential Care Home, on Foster Lane, in Breightmet.

There were also allegations made to the Registered Homes Tribunal of poor communication and insufficient supervision of people under her care.

Miss Wilkinson was also accused of being thoughtless. District nurses, on one occasion, were not told a resident had died until one had visited, expecting to see him.

There was also concern at Miss Wilkinson's comments. According to the tribunal's findings, at one point she said: "What people can't understand is that little grannies in nice shawls turn into little monsters. We are like mortuary attendants; like dustbin men. We do a job no-one else wants."

Miss Wilkinson said it was uttered during a discussion about the difficulty of recruiting staff because the job was not glamourous. Although the comment was regarded as "insignificant" on appeal, Miss Wilkinson agreed that the comment had been "inappropriate".

In a damning report by the Registered Homes Tribunal, Wilkinson was ruled to be "out of her depth" in running the residential care home.

Tribunal chairman Mark Rowland stated: "Put simply, her approach is unprofessional."

Miss Wilkinson had appealed against Bolton Council's cancelling of her registration, but the tribunal backed the local authority's decision.

It was argued by Bolton Council that Miss Wilkinson intimidated residents, made derogatory statements about them and showed a lack of sensitivity and understanding in relation to the care needs of older people.

For the purposes of the appeal, the local authority added a number of other grounds for cancelling her registration. Among the allegations were poor hygiene and failing to provide sufficient staff.

The tribunal believed Miss Wilkinson, who owned the home, would not have deliberately hurt any of the residents. It considered, however, the management at the home to be weak.

Assessments, monitoring, care plans, provision of staff and communications with other professionals were deemed to be inadequate.

The appeal hearing took place last October but the result has just been announced.

When a reporter visited the Marylawns Residential Care Home, a woman said she did not know Miss Wilkinson. She said the owner -- whom she refused to name -- was abroad.