Working at Avenues South East - 492 Maidstone Road

Staff morale was low and staff did not always feel supported in their role. A staff member mentions there was a 'lazy culture' and staff just wanted to do the 'bare minimum'. Another staff member informed us, 'Staff just can't be bothered sometimes.'

Staffing levels were not consistently maintained to ensure people's needs were met. On the day of our inspection, the service did not support two people to attend a planned activity due to low staffing levels. Staff gave us mixed views about staffing levels. A member of staff commented, 'Sometimes staffing is good but other times we are left with two instead of three staff [on the late shift]; this is happening regularly.'

Staff were not always supported through training and supervision in line with the provider's policy. For example, seven out of 12 staff had not refreshed their moving and handling training and six of 12 staff safeguarding adults training had not been refreshed. Supervision was not always carried out in line with the provider's policy.

Staff morale was low and staff did not always feel supported in their role. One staff member could not recall the last time they saw the registered manager and another staff said, '[Registered manager's name] writes loads of notes in the communication book once a week and then goes away and this is not having any impact.'