A SHAMED care company has made a “heartfelt apology” to clients and their families after a damning report revealed a catalogue of failures and shortcomings.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors found Carewatch Hampshire South was so poorly run that managers struggled to identify how many clients it had, while vulnerable people were left hungry or in their own filth.

Resources were stretched to breaking point, with some staff saying they worked 100 hours a week overtime just to ensure clients had visits.

Chandler’s Ford-based Carewatch racked up two official warning notices and nine breaches of the Health and Social Care Act.

After initially declining to answer questions from the Daily Echo the company issued a statement last night in which it admitted regret at the poor standard of care.

It comes as a former worker revealed how working for Carewatch became a nightmare (see panel).

The company’s statement says: “Carewatch would like to offer its heartfelt apologies to any customers and their families who may have been affected by the issues identified by the CQC at our Chandler’s Ford office.

“Clearly there have been occasions where the quality of care delivered has fallen short of our usual high standards and we deeply regret this.

“We are working diligently to rectify the problems that we have experienced since the challenging implementation of the new framework.

“We are liaising closely with the CQC and the Hampshire County Council to implement measures that will be effective both in the long and short term.

“Since the CQC inspection, we have made marked improvements to our service, as evidenced by the Hampshire County Council.”

The CQC report highlighted on a number of occasions damaging effects as a result of merging two of its Hampshire branches into a single office in Chandler’s Ford.

However the company insists that its management structure has been changed to be able to provide better care in the Southampton and Hampshire areas while a new regional director and senior branch manager were appointed in September.

“Our branch manager has completed a full assessment of the branch from a quality and compliance perspective and we are currently implementing a detailed quality improvement plan”, the statement says.

“Our local recruitment team has been actively recruiting staff to deliver our service with 47 new staff joining between July and October this year through a robust screening and interview process. “For our staff, we are also offering fully funded QCF Apprenticeship awards and recognising exceptional employees through the Carewatch Star Employee recognition programme.

“Once again, we would like to apologise for letting any customers and their families down in the recent months.

“We are working hard to restore service standards as quickly as we possibly can.”

The CQC identified areas where Carewatch fell below acceptable standards.

These included: l Not having suitable systems to investigate and act on abuse allegations.

• Failing to have enough qualified, competent and skilled staff.

• Not having appropriate arrangements in place to meet client’s nutritional and hydration needs.

• Staff being unqualified to meet people’s needs.

• Not acting in accordance with mental health guidelines.

• Robust arrangements were not in place to monitor and assess care being provided.

• Not ensuring that staff were qualified or of good character.

• Not always treating people with dignity and respect.