A HEALTH service caring for frail and vulnerable people in their homes has been put into special measures for neglecting its patients.

When Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors visited Essex Cares Mid, a company set up by Essex County Council, they discovered patients were at risk due to mismanaged medicines and staff lateness.

Carers were found to lack sufficient training while patients’ diets were not supported to keep them healthy, it emerged following an inspection at the firm’s Moulsham Street base in March.

The inspector said: “There were not always sufficient staff members available to meet people’s needs safely. This had resulted in missed and late visits.

“We saw that visits were sometimes not covered and these were recorded either as late or missed visits. We saw that the impact of these missed visits put people at risk. For example on occasions, people had not received assistance with taking their medicines, personal care tasks or provided with food and drink.”

Patients had missed meals and courses of antibiotics due to lateness, the inspector added.

Among them was a patient who relies on regular co-ordinated meals due to suffering with diabetes.

The inspector continued: “As calls could be very late, people could also find that their breakfast and lunchtime calls would be too close together in time or they would forfeit one of these meals.”

Essex Care Mid, which provides homecare directly to Essex County Council, has six months to improve before inspectors take steps to shut it down.

In March, inspectors awarded the care provider a good rating for the work it carries out in south east Essex, south west Essex and West Sussex.

The firm maintains it has already made improvements throughout mid-Essex following the inspection.

Its chief executive, Keir Lynch, has since invited inspectors back during the summer.

He said: “We were encouraged to have been rated good in three areas, and take very seriously the disappointing reports which were also received.

"The actions we have taken will ensure our customers get better continuity and quality in their care, with the same carer visiting where possible each time and more time allocated for each visit.

“We have reduced the numbers of visits a carer does each day.

"Improvements to systems, training and auditing have also been completed and we are inviting CQC to reinspect our services this summer.”