EMERGENCY steps taken to close a Southampton care home were unusual, a court heard.

Normally homes were given 28 days’ notice but the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) acted quickly after a series of unannounced visits to The Briars in Thorold Road, Bitterne Park in September 2008 amid mounting concern about the level of patient care and lack of records Carol Payne, a CSCI regulation manager, told the city crown court that she spoke to owner Annette Hopkins about her day-to-day involvement.

“She told me she wasn’t. She thought her manager Margaret Priest was excellent and she didn’t have any concerns about her. She was happy with her.”

Mrs Payne described how following a meeting between the CSCI, solicitors, the city council and health bosses, they went to Southampton Magistrates’ Court to ask for the home’s registration to be cancelled.

Mrs Payne said an emergency cancellation was “extremely rare.” She added: “There has only been a small number of emergency cancellations in the past.”

Mrs Payne said that by the time it closed, about a third of the residents required nursing care, which Priest and Hopkins should have been aware of.

Hopkins, 64, of Thorold Road, and Priest, 56, of Lydgate Green, Hightown, deny charges of ill-treatment and neglect of 16 patients.

Proceeding