A care worker with no experience and less than a day's training was sent to look after elderly people.

A damning expose of social services in Sussex has revealed shocking practices in two care agencies.

An undercover reporter with no experience used a fake CV to get a job at agencies contracted to Brighton and Hove City Council.

The reporter, working for BBC's Panorama, uncovered incidents of "call-cramming", where agencies double-book appointments with elderly people so hour-long visits are cut down to 15 minutes.

Elderly people were left alone for hours with one woman wearing a dirty incontinence pad not knowing when a carer would arrive.

Reporter Fran Baker was given just a few hours of training before being sent out to care for elderly people on her own.

The reporting team contacted agencies in Brighton and Hove during the summer and 11 said they would consider her for a post despite her lack of experience.

Among them were Medichoice, based in Portland Road, Hove, and Anchor Care, in Western Road, Hove.

Fran gained a job at Medichoice in August after giving false information and despite admitting having no experience.

She gave false references, which agencies are legally obliged to check with a phone call. No police checks were carried out.

She was initially told she would be given training over a six-week period but was only offered an hour and 20 minutes shadowing before being sent out.

She shadowed a woman called Linda, who took her to see four clients.

Linda was recorded making comments about the elderly people they were due to visit, using derogatory words to describe them.

She bragged about being able to finish appointments early.

When visiting a terminally ill patient, which Government guidelines state requires "specialist training", Fran was told she would be able to care for him after watching how Linda worked.

Fran then worked alone for three days with eight people.

After her spell with Medichoice, Fran took up a post with Anchor.

Her false references were again not picked up and police checks were not carried out. But she was still given access to the homes of frail, elderly patients.

She was given three to four hours' training and a 90-minute manual handling course before being sent out.

In one of the most disturbing cases, she visited a woman called Doris, 92, who lives alone.

Initially she had no idea how to get into her house then she realised she had to change Doris' incontinence pad.

When she called Anchor for help she was told to put a dry pad on top of the wet one. When she returned the next day, Doris was soaking wet and she managed to change her.

City council director of housing and city support Ian Long, interviewed as part of the programme, said the issues raised were being taken "very seriously".

He said: "We want to reassure people locally that the quality of home care provided by independent home care organisations and our council services are generally of a very high quality."

He admitted unacceptable practices had been uncovered. It is very unlikely the council would continue to commission home care services from Anchor.

Arrangments with Medichoice were "under review".

A Medichoice spokesman said nobody had lost their job as a result of the programme but disciplinary action had been taken.

Anchor said the documentary was filmed when the organisation was suffering severe staff shortages.

A spokesman said: "We found this lapse unacceptable and apologise to clients who felt let down. Action has been taken to prevent a repetition. We adhere to Government guidelines on checking references on CVs but in this case we did not. Disciplinary action is being taken."

Police checks are now being carried out on every employee.

The programme, called A Carer's Story, is to be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday at 10.15pm.