Working at Hill Farm
15 Keycol Hill, Sittingbourne, ME9 8LZ
Operated by Optimal Living (Kent) Limited
9 bedsResidential homes
Workplace Score
5.5/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 10 February 2026
Score: 5.5/10
Key Finding
"Strong staff training and a positive culture, but no registered manager and medication errors hold it back."
Safety & Risk
6/10
✓
The provider had effective safeguarding systems... all staff had attended safeguarding training... Risks to people's health, safety and welfare had been assessed, managed and reviewed... provider continued to have monitoring systems... to review accidents and incidents.
Staff Culture
6/10
✓
Staff told us that the culture within the service had improved... 'I enjoy it [working at Hill Farm] that is what has kept me there. I go to work because I have that bond and love. We all want to do our best for residents.'
Staffing Levels
6/10
✓
Staffing levels when we inspected were suitable to meet people's needs... Staffing rotas showed four staff were deployed on shift each day 08:00 to 20:00 to support five people.
Training & Dev
7/10
✓
Staff had completed the provider's mandatory training... additional training which centred on people's specific needs, such as epilepsy, dementia and learning disabilities. Staff met their line manager regularly for one to one supervision meetings.
Management
2/10
✕
The service did not have a manager registered with CQC. The registered manager had left. Provider in process of recruiting new manager and nominated individual had applied to become registered manager.
Programmes
6/10
✓
One of the bedrooms had been converted into a sensory room... service had worked with a university... to explore the use of virtual reality headsets... people's goals... to make smoothies and to be involved with the cleaning.
Points to consider
No permanent manager in post, so day to day leadership relies on the provider stepping in.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The registered manager had left. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run... provider was working on recruiting a new manager.
Staff sometimes get pulled from care duties to handle cooking and cleaning.
these staff were taken away from providing care and support to complete cleaning tasks and cooking tasks. Whilst we did not witness any impact on people... there was potential for people to have their care needs unmet because of this.
A medication error went unnoticed for over a day because stock wasn't properly checked.
one person's medicines did not tally with records... They found that the person had not received medicines... a staff member had wrongly recorded that they had been given as prescribed. The error had not been detected for more than 24 hours.
AI Generated
CQC Inspection Overview
CQC Inspection
Last inspected: April 2022
Good
Safe
✓
Good
Effective
✓
Good
Caring
✓
Good
Responsive
!
Requires improvement
Management Quality
Well-led: Good
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- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Data
- PlainSight staff reviews