A SUPPORTED living service providing personal care to adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health needs has been told it requires improvement.

An inspection carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that people and staff at Potensial North East Supported Living, in Darlington, were at risk of harm.

After inspecting the service in April, the CQC said some staff did not have enough training to support people with learning disabilities and behaviours which challenge.

The service’s safety and whether it is ‘well-led’ were rated requires improvement

The report said: “We found no evidence that people had been harmed, however, this placed both people and staff at risk of harm.

"Quality assurance measures were not always effective and had not picked up the issues we identified on inspection.

“Medicine errors had been identified, but there was no evidence of lessons learnt. We found the

service had not informed us of an important event which was in breach of regulatory requirements.

"We were not always assured the risks of lone working had been fully assessed. We have made a

recommendation about staffing levels and training need."

However, it noted that people felt safe within the service.

The report added: "People told us they felt safe. Staff understood their safeguarding responsibilities. Policies and procedures were in place to safely store and support people to take their medicines. Infection control policies and

procedures were in place to help keep people safe."

The CQC said people using the service lived in their own accommodation, either alone or with others in a house with shared communal areas.

At the time of the inspection the service supported 10 people living in their own homes.

Operator Potens, which runs Pontensial Supported Living North East, was contacted for comment.