Working at Essex Care Consortium - Colchester
Maldon Road, Colchester, CO2 0NU
Operated by Essex Care Consortium Limited
20 bedsResidential homes
Workplace Score
4.5/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 10 February 2026
Score: 4.5/10
Key Finding
"Staff feel valued and supported with good training and enough suitable staff, but inexperienced leadership and unsafe medicines management are major concerns."
Safety & Risk
3/10
✕
Medicines were not always managed safely... improvements were needed to manage people’s medicines and ensure the premises was clean and hygienic.
Staff Culture
6/10
✓
Staff felt valued and supported in their roles... Staff told us morale amongst staff had improved. They felt supported and more optimistic about the future.
Staffing Levels
5/10
!
There were enough suitable staff... skill mix of staff had improved with... less reliance on agency. Although some agency staff were still used... Recruitment processes were not robust.
Training & Dev
5/10
!
Staff including new staff confirmed they had completed a robust induction, and a range of training which ensured they had the skills, and knowledge to meet people’s needs.
Management
3/10
✕
lack of experienced leadership. Whilst the registered manager and assistant manager demonstrated a passion and commitment... they lacked support and direction by the provider.
Programmes
3/10
✕
We observed people freely moving around... engaged in activities... such as cooking and cleaning... access the community, including day care facilities.
Points to consider
Managers lack experience and strong oversight from above, so key issues get missed.
lack of experienced leadership... lacked support and direction by the provider. The provider continued not to have effective governance systems in place.
Medication not always handled or stored safely and cleaning misses spots raising infection risks.
Medicines were not always managed safely... we found staff did not consistently apply good infection control practices, areas of cleaning were being missed.
Recruitment checks are not thorough enough and some agency staff still cover shifts.
Recruitment processes were not robust... documents... not easily located... some agency staff were still used, these were regular agency staff.
AI Generated
CQC Inspection Overview
CQC Inspection
Last inspected: February 2025
Requires improvement
Safe
!
Requires improvement
Effective
✓
Good
Caring
✓
Good
Responsive
✓
Good
Management Quality
Well-led: Requires improvement
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- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Data
- PlainSight staff reviews