A second rest home has been taken over by the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) after complaints.

The board has appointed a temporary manager at Bermuda House in Upper Riccarton after an audit was carried out two weeks ago in response to ''anonymous concerns'' about the standard of care.

Board chief medical officer of health Nigel Millar said HealthCert, which conducts rest home audits for the Health Ministry, carried out an inspection on behalf of the board.

"This inspection was to make an objective assessment on whether the concerns raised required CDHB to take further action." 

The findings of the audit would remain confidential until a report was finalised, he said.

The temporary manager was ''assisting the existing management and staff in making the necessary improvements'', he said. 

The Press received phone calls from concerned family members of residents today, all of whom did not want to be quoted or named.

The 18-bed Bermuda House is the second Canterbury rest home to be placed under board control in recent months.

In July, the board appointed a temporary manager to Wiltshire Lifecare in Rangiora after receiving 11 complaints about the facility since 2010.

Bermuda House manager Arlen Carter said she ''could not comment'' about the facility's situation.

Carter has been the manager of the facility for 28 years.

Bermuda House's last HealthCert audit was in August last year, and shortfalls were identified in five out of six categories.

The categories were consumer rights, organisational management, consistent service delivery, safe and appropriate environment, and infection prevention and control. No shortfalls were identified under the restraint minimisation and safe practice category.

The facility's 2009 audit also identified some issues but it received certification for three years.

The most recent audit report said six out of nine recommended improvements from the 2009 audit had been made, but three others had not. It is not known what improvements were needed.

''As a result of this [2012] audit, several areas require improvement relating to quality and risk management and planning, policy reviews, incident reporting and documenting of all complaints on the complaints register, including those considered minor,'' it said.

Short-term care planning and medicine management also needed improvement, the report said.

However, the facility was ''clean and tidy'' and family and residents were ''very complimentary'' of the rest home, it said.

- © Fairfax NZ News