A CARE service has been put into special measures after being rated inadequate.

Community Care North East, which provides home care for people across County Durham and Gateshead, was given the rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The independent watchdog, which carried out inspections over ten days in January and November, said people were not being protected from the risk of abuse and were at risk of receiving inappropriate care.

Inspectors also found the company, which has about 50 clients, had failed to respond appropriately to incidents where abuse was suspected involving staff at the service.

The CQC said: “The provider did not have an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people who used the service.”

The inspection was a follow-up to one made last April, when the company was found to be in breach of seven regulations and three warning notices were given.

While some of the company’s clients were complimentary about the staff and said they had positive relationships with their carers, some were dissatisfied.

When inspectors checked one complaint made by a client, they found staff were spending fewer hours with them than they were being paid for.

Owner and manager Keith Jones described the report as giving a “false impression”. Mr Jones, who returned to work in February following six months of leave due to ill health, said: “We have already worked to address the concerns. We’re happy with the progress we’ve made.

“Despite me being off for six months the clients still rate us as providing an excellent service which contradicts what the CQC is saying. They give the impression we’re providing a poor service.”

Other concerns were raised about not all staff being given competent background checks before working with vulnerable people, staff not receiving appropriate specialised training to meet the needs of the people they support and not following best practice guidelines when giving out medicines.

The reports adds there was no effective service monitoring the quality of service and whether people are getting the service they need and have paid for.

Problems were raised in an interim inspection in 2015 and in 2014 it was failing to meet a number of national care standards.

The service will be inspected again in six months time.