Working at Sonia Lodge

The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to people’s safe care and treatment, medicine management, environmental safety, staff training and staff recruitment.

Staff were positive about the support they received in particular from the deputy manager... However, staff did not always speak up when there were concerns at the service. There had been no staff meetings since March 2025.

There were a large number of new staff at the service. A number of staff had not received the training they needed... Safe recruitment process had continued to not always be followed. The provider had not ensured that staff had complete recruitment files.

staff had not completed face to face training in manual handling or basic life support... We asked one member of staff what they would do if a person was choking... They told us they did not know.

The provider had not been at the service consistently and had left the service being managed day to day by inexperienced staff whilst the manager was away.

There was an activities coordinator at the service who did encourage people to participate in activities including exercise-based activities.