The former manager of a nursing home has been forced to defend the level of “holistic care” offered to her patients after East Sussex council suggested that allowing prostitutes to visit her residents was inappropriate.

Residents of Chaseley nursing home, in Eastbourne, referred to them as “special visits”. The home’s care workers would take the visitors to a resident’s room. They then put a “special red sock” on the door and checked on them every 15 minutes.

The home, which mainly cares for disabled ex-servicemen, has long had a policy of facilitating sex workers. However a spokesman for the council said that it was unaware of the practice and was investigating because it “has the potential to place vulnerable ... residents at risk of exploitation