A CARE facility in Winkleigh providing accommodation with personal care for people with autism has been declared 'inadequate' by the regulator of health and social care in England.

The Care Quality Commission has given Little Acorns the inadequate rating as part of its latest series of reports on the quality of care provided by social care services across the region.

Under CQC's new programme of inspections, all of England's adult social care services regulated by CQC are being given a rating according to whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Little Acorns scored 'inadequate' in each category.

Little Acorns is registered to provide accommodation with personal care for up to eleven people who have autism. The facility is also registered to provide a personal care service to people who live in their own homes in the community. At the time of inspection there were nine people living permanently in Little Acorns and three people who regularly stayed there for shorter periods of respite care.

Three people shared a house in Winkleigh who received a personal care service with a fourth person staying regularly for respite care each week. One older person who lived in their own home received personal care visits from care staff five times a day.

The inspections took place in February and March 2015 with the first visit unannounced. They were carried out in response to concerns the CQC had received about the service. The CQC met with the provider, acting manager and deputy manager on March 18 to discuss the findings of the inspection and the actions the CQC proposes to take.

Concerns found during the inspection were so great that the service is now subject to a multi-agency safeguarding process.

In the report, the CQC inspectors said: 'People were not safe. People did not receive the support they needed because staffing levels were inadequate.

'Staff recruitment and disciplinary methods were not always robust. People were at risk of accident, injury or abuse because there were poor systems in place to keep them safe. Risks had not been effectively assessed or reviewed. When staff raised concerns these were not listened to, investigated or acted upon.

'The service was not effective. Staff did not have sufficient skills or knowledge to meet people's needs. Staff did not receive the supervision or support they needed to ensure people's needs were met. Communication was poor.

'Although most staff demonstrated kindness and compassion, they lacked specialist skills and training needed to understand and support people with autism.

' Some staff also acted in an uncaring way by imposing rules and restrictions without recognising people's right to make decision and choices about their lives.

'The service was not responsive. People were not involved in drawing up or agreeing their plan of care. Care plans did not fully explain people's support needs.'

A spokesperson for Enigma Care Ltd which runs Little Acorns said that the report had been given to their legal team and they will be making a statement when necessary.

Adrian Hughes, CQC's deputy chief inspector for adult social care, said: 'People are entitled to services which provide safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care.

'We assess services against five key questions – Is the service caring?  Is the service effective? Is the service safe? Is the service well led? Is the service responsive? Where we find a service meets our characteristics of good or outstanding then we will rate accordingly.

'Whenever we find a service to be inadequate, we will consider taking further action on behalf of the people who use the service.

'Providers of those services should take the publication of the inadequate rating as a signal that immediate action is required to improve the service.'