A company which owns a care home in Cerne Abbas has announced plans to axe thousands of jobs.

Southern Cross, the UK’s largest care home operator, owns Cerne Abbas Care Centre. It announced yesterday it was proposing a reduction of up to 3,000 jobs. The Cerne Abbas care home provides specialist nursing care for people with dementia, various other mental health needs and respite care.

A spokesman for Southern Cross said it is unclear if and how the care home in the village near Dorchester will be affected.

The spokesman said: “There is no regional break down at this stage. At the moment we are at the beginning of the consultation process.”

Southern Cross currently employs 44,000 people across its 750 homes which hold a total of 31,000 residents. Home managers, deputy managers and relief managers, activity co-ordinators and administrators will not be directly affected by the proposed reduction in jobs and the process is expected to be complete by October.

Cerne Abbas Care Centre manager Sarah Hedges was unavailable for comment.