People waited two years to be trained to use a white cane and nearly a year for grab rails to be installed at home by a Yorkshire council, which has been rated the worst in the country for adult social care.

The Care Quality Commission said too many East Riding residents were facing unacceptable delays getting the support they needed, which was having a negative effect on their health.

In a report out today, the CQC rated the council inadequate in eight areas including safeguarding, assessing needs and governance, and “requiring improvement” in one area, “partnerships and communities”.

The overall score was 28, lower than that of Blackpool at 34, as the CQC continues to carry out adult social care inspections of councils in England this year. Nearly 90 have been rated so far.

Inspectors found that people in rural areas were more likely to experience significant delays.

In some cases, people who could have returned home following a hospital stay were unable to, due to a lack of support.

Chris Badger, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, said: "Our assessment team heard about people experiencing long waits for assessments, reviews, and equipment, including sensory support.

"For example, some people had waited two years for white cane training and 45 weeks for grab rails to be installed in their homes.

"During this time, some people with sensory needs deteriorated, and had increased falls which reduced their confidence, and affected their mental wellbeing.”

The council spends just over a quarter of its budget on adult social care. In the year to April 2024, it spent a total £166 million, which was £24 million over budget.

Communication was a challenge, the report found, adding that a carer told inspectors “everything was a fight and communication was poor”.

It went on: “Several carers told us they felt they had to progress through official complaints, to their MP or to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to get the support they needed.”

Lib Dem group leader Denis Healy said there had been at least four directors of adult social care in the past five years. Kim Curry was recently appointed to the role.

He said: “This is a damning indictment of the leadership at the council, not front-line staff, who are delivering dedicated and person-centred care.

"Kim was recently appointed and I have full confidence in her as a very experienced director of adult social care.

"The Cabinet has earmarked up to £1m from reserves for an improvement plan.

““We now wait to see whether the Secretary of State accepts the plan or whether he will appoint commissioners to effectively take over some of the council’s decision-making powers.”

East Riding Council admitted the delays were “unacceptable” and said they had an improvement plan in place overseen by an independent “improvement partner”.

Alan Menzies, the council’s interim chief executive said: “We take the findings of this inspection extremely seriously.

"People in the East Riding deserve timely, high-quality care and support, and we have already started making the necessary changes to ensure this happens."