Ann Rigby, 50, from South Shields, was manager of Bamburgh Court Care Centre – branded in 2004 by inspectors as the worst home they had ever seen.

Elderly residents and dementia sufferers slept on dirty mattresses on the floor in rooms smeared with faeces, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing was told yesterday.

Whistle-blower Phil Brown, an experienced nurse who worked at the home for 10 weeks, revealed the alarming list of failings at the time.

The home in St Michaels' Avenue, Westoe, South Shields, is now under new ownership, and was praised by inspectors last year.

The hearing was told that Rigby allowed Bamburgh Court to fall into a state of disrepair.

Elderly residents and those with dementia were allowed to wander the dimly lit halls unsupervised, and mouldy food was left to rot on dirty work surfaces and trolleys.

Horrified inspectors discovered one woman hunched in the dark, in a room stinking of urine and faeces, with only a mattress on the floor to sleep on.

Rigby, 50, from South Shields, faces being struck off today after she admitted misconduct by letter.

She declined to appear at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing, which started in London yesterday.

It heard how inspectors Jackie Herring and Darren Hobson visited the home on May 27, 2004.

The home was separated into the Cleadon Unit for dementia patients and the Marsden Unit for the elderly.

John Hepworth, for the NMC, said: "In the Cleadon Unit there was faecal matter on the walls in the corridor.

"In one bedroom there was a mattress on the floor. The resident in this room was sitting in a chair in the room, hunched over and looking very uncared for.

"The room was very dark, there was no light on and the door was shut.

"There was a smell of urine and the bed bumper in this room had ingrained faecal matter upon it.

"In total, three or four bedrooms on the Cleadon Unit had no beds and only single mattresses on the floor. Placing a mattress on the floor is unacceptable."

He said residents were in an "unkempt" state and the whole home was in a general state of disrepair, with broken furniture and stained upholstery.

Inspectors also discovered toilet seats were loose or missing, while one lavatory had not been plumbed in, and equipment and bathroom goods had been stored in the residents' bathrooms, making it difficult for them to move around.

Mr Hepworth said: "In particular shampoo was left unsecured in the toilets in the dementia unit.

"It is not unknown for residents suffering from dementia to drink from a bottle of liquid, not knowing what it is."

In the staff kitchen, officials found food ingrained in the lining of a refrigerator and a bowl of cornflakes left to rot in a cupboard.

Waste food was discovered festering in a slops bucket in one of the corridors.

A multi-sensory room, designed to stimulate dementia patients, was being used as a store room, piled up with furniture and old clothes.

Mr Hepworth said: "Mr Hobson formed the view that the condition of the home was very significantly worse than a typical home of a similar size on a poor day.

"He concluded that this was the worst home that he had visited.

"Mr Hobson's view was it was Mrs Rigby's responsibility as the registered manager to maintain a hazard-free environment for all residents.

"The condition of the home was the result of a long period of neglect. Staff appeared to have had very little training of handling residents with dementia."

Rigby first registered as a nurse in 1979. She had worked at the home since 1997 was promoted to general manager in September 2001.

She was away on a training day during the inspection, but an improvement notice was served immediately and she was suspended on June 4, 2004.

Rigby, who resigned through ill health in November 2004, has admitted six counts of failing to ensure that the home was properly maintained, failing to ensure it was clean, tidy and hygienic and failing to provide adequate nursing care.

Clare Malcahy, a senior divisional nurse employed by the then owner Ashbourne Healthcare, told the hearing how she was shocked by standard of the home during the inspection.

She said she had raised concerns about Rigby's ability to manage the home on previous occasions and action plans had been drawn up to help her cope.

Ashbourne care homes were usually inspected every six months, but in the months leading up to the damning visit, Mrs Malcahy was visiting fortnightly.

•Hearing continues.