An abortion provider is being accused of putting women at risk through poor staff training, and failing to get proper consent.

Last night the Care Quality Commission (CQC) released a report detailing a series of failings at Marie Stopes International, following inspections at a number of its clinics.

Among those visited was the centre in Brewer Street, Maidstone.

In August, the firm temporarily stopped providing terminations under general anaesthetic, and to under 18s and vulnerable women, but services were resumed October, after the health regulator said standards had improved.

It meant diverting around 250 patients a week to alternative providers nationally, and led to the provider setting up a helpline for concerned patients.

At one clinic staff tried to give a vulnerable woman an abortion even though she did not understand what was going on.

In Norwich, doctors were found to be bulk signing consent forms, and inspectors found foetal matter was left in open waste bins, leaving patients open to infection.

In Maidstone, safety checklists, due to be completed before, during and after surgery were found to be "inconsistent and incomplete", with staff said to have a limited understanding of the documents and policies.

Failings were also found in infection control systems, with poor hand hygiene.

And while Maidstone was found to have the highest take up of life support training, just 16% of staff had had training regarding safeguarding children in the previous year.

CQC issued four warning notices to Marie Stopes International, in response to regulatory breaches around consent, safeguarding, care and treatment and governance, as well as a number of requirement notices, to support improvement.

Inspector Sir Mike Richards said: "CQC continues to monitor these services with regard to compliance with the regulations and will re-inspect these services in due course."

Suzanne Ash, interim managing director at Marie Stopes UK, said: “We have worked hard with the CQC to regain compliance and we’re grateful to them for their assistance.

“Since the inspections, we’ve made considerable changes to our management, governance and assurance processes, including extensive training of staff, and updating of policies. We have learned from this, and intend to continue our focus on providing the safe and compassionate care that women expect and deserve.”