Working at Ellesmere House

Governance and audits are weak, so they miss safety problems until inspectors find them.

Audits and governance systems required improving as they had not been effective at identifying the issues we found during the inspection or ensuring prompt actions when deficiencies were found.

Recruitment skips full work history checks for new staff and only asks for the last 15 years.

Recruitment procedures at the home required strengthening. Providers application form asked candidates for 15 years of employment history. By law the employer should obtain a full employment history and an explanation for any gaps in the history.

Medication storage was unsafe with choking-risk thickener powder left out in communal areas, and checks missed it.

We found tins of prescribed drink thickener in 2 communal areas. If ingested this could cause suffocation... Regular medicines audits were carried out so any errors would be quickly identified, however, these required strengthening as they had not identified the concerns with the drinks thickener.