‘UNITED’ carers have hit back at claims made by healthcare inspectors who labelled their service inadequate.

A Care Quality Commission report published last week said that Alexios carers regularly missed or were late for appointments, putting clients at serious risk.

But staff at the Chorley New Road-based agency say they do not deserve to be ‘tarred with the same brush’ as others who have now left the company.

Alexios carer Sarah Kelly said: “The report makes everything sound awful, when in fact we excel and do everything possible for our clients.

“We treat them like our extended family. They are all well cared for, we make sure they have their medication, and all of our training is up to date.

“We have all been painted in a bad light by this report and that is not fair.

“The CQC only looked at a small and insignificant minority. If they are going to say those kind of things in a report, they should speak to every carer and every client.

“If a carer is leaving a door unlocked overnight when they leave, they are just a bad carer. That doesn’t reflect on the rest of us.

“You can’t get the true picture with only five, or even 20, people.”

Alexios, which has had its contract to provide care for 165 people through Bolton Council terminated, has been placed into special measures by the CQC and will be inspected again within six months.

She added: “We are all going to stand united. We have nothing to hide, so we want the CQC to come back with fresh eyes and see the good work we do.

“We are a team and we are all doing our utmost to make sure our clients have the best care.

“The CQC should not tar us all with the same brush.”

While the inspection report described the organisation of the agency as ‘shambolic’, staff said that their managers were ‘very supportive’ and regularly went ‘above and beyond’ for their clients.

Colleague Louise Atherton said: “Our clients should be allowed to stay with us and told that they don’t have to move to a new provider if they don’t want to.

“We are getting calls from people who are really upset and in tears because they are being told they have to change services. If we were as bad as the CQC say then our clients would have left by now and the council would not be saying that our carers can move to the new providers.”

Karen Russell added: “A lot of the people here have worked here for a long time and that shows that it must be a good place to work. Why would you stay if it wasn’t?

“We are all committed and we are like a family.”