Community Integrated Care looks after some of the most vulnerable adults in towns like Lauder and Earlston as well as the rest of Berwickshire. But furious families have hit out at a catalogue of errors and missed appointments by the Duns-based service.

And the Government’s watchdog body, the Care Inspectorate, has slammed the shambolic service for a second time in four months, claiming lives are being put at risk.

Inspectors are continuing to probe complaints made by families while Scottish Borders Council has carried out its own review.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Borders Council told the Border Telegraph: “In terms of the care at home service provided in Berwickshire, the council is concerned about a number of areas detailed in the recently published Care Inspectorate report and the overall grades.

“Indeed, prior to the publication we received a number of concerns about the overall management and quality of the services being provided.

“As a result, we conducted a separate review into the care at home service in line with the agreed contract. As this noted a marked deterioration in standards, further referrals to the service were immediately suspended and required improvements reported to CIC.” Community Integrated Care provides home care and housing support for people with physical disabilities, learning disabilities and mental health issues across Berwickshire.

Despite a highly critical report in the wake of last September’s inspection by the Care Inspectorate, the local authority’s social work department still forwarded a further 50 referrals to the company.

When inspectors swooped on the Duns offices again in January they found even greater problems.

And they scored the service 'unsatisfactory’ for across the boards in levels of care, staffing and management.

The Care Inspectorate report, which was published last week, stated: “Missed and late visits, staff not being aware of individual’s care needs and inconsistency in care staff has the potential to result in service user’s health and wellbeing needs not being met.

“At worst this could be life threatening for vulnerable service users, at least it causes distress and anxiety.

“Since our last inspection in September 2014, the service has received two formal complaints.

“We looked at the records and noted that these complaints were in relation to service users not receiving the care and support as planned, due to missed visits by the support staff or lack of information and communication.

“The Care Inspectorate has also received complaints from service users and carers regarding missed visits, to which are being investigated.” Staff at Community Integrated Care admitted they were stretched, lacked training and supervision, and regularly didn’t know the reasons for their visits to service users.

The Care Inspectorate also hit out at the local authority’s decision to direct 50 new service users towards the company.

They stated: “CIC took a total of 50 referrals at one time from the local authority into the outreach service.

“Based on our findings, we consider that the service does not have sufficient staffing resources to deliver the standard of care and support required to meet the needs of service users.

“We have been made aware from a number of service users of missed or cancelled visits, due to the lack of adequate staffing levels.

“Whilst undertaking this inspection, we learnt of two missed visits to two service users over the course of a weekend, resulting in one service user not being supported to take their medication and the other with their meal preparation.

“We were also advised through discussions with the management of the service that there was a spate of missed visits in November 2014, however the service has not kept any records to reflect this, nor of what action was taken to prevent these missed visits in future.” A learning disability service provided by Community Integrated care in the Jedburgh area has been given a contrasting, glowing report by inspectors.

But the Berwickshire service has been given an ultimatum to make vast improvements.

The council spokeswoman added: “CIC have now provided us with an action plan and as part of this, have reviewed and strengthened their management arrangements and processes in line with Care Inspectorate recommendations.

“We are continuing to monitor the service closely whilst conducting regular meeting with senior CIC managers regarding the service moving forward.

“The safety of service users remains our key priority and further action will be taken should we decide that the steps being taken by the company do not provide adequate assurance as to improvements in the quality of the service being provided.”