Last updated: 10 February 2026
"Staff are well-trained and numbers are sufficient, but the manager struggles with team issues, poor safety and few activities."
Accidents and incidents had not always been appropriately responded to and lessons learned had not been shared with staff to help prevent similar incidents from happening again. Medicines were not always safely managed.
When we inspected St Elmo there were some issues within the staff team that had begun to impact on people's well-being and threatened to impact on service provision. Staff disclosed some concerns about practice and other staff expressed frustration at a lack of a cohesive team and reluctance to change.
Sufficient staff were deployed to support people's needs however at times; several staff would be seated in the dining area completing care records rather than spending quality time with people. Staffing hours were more than 11 hours above the calculated dependency level at the time of our inspection.
Staff had been trained in a range of areas including safeguarding, moving and handling, infection control and dementia. These were included in the provider's mandatory training and refreshed on a regular basis. Staff new to care completed the Care Certificate.
we were not assured the registered manager had full oversight of the service. Issues in the staff team were impacting on well-being and could potentially affect service delivery. The registered manager was struggling to address these concerns.
The provider had been unable to recruit an activities staff member and while there were sufficient hours of care staff to cover this role, staff were reluctant to do so. This was a missed opportunity to engage people and provide them with fulfilling lives.
The manager is struggling to handle staff team issues and keep full oversight of the home.
we were not assured the registered manager had full oversight of the service. Issues in the staff team were impacting on well-being and could potentially affect service delivery. The registered manager was struggling to address these concerns.
Accidents like falls weren't always followed up properly, and meds had issues like too warm storage and no guides for some drugs.
Accidents and incidents had not always been appropriately responded to... Medicines were not always safely managed. As and when required medicines did not always have a sufficiently detailed protocol... the temperature in the medicines room was above 25° Celsius on frequent occasions.
No activities coordinator hired, and care staff reluctant to run sessions, so the job is mostly routine personal care.
The provider had been unable to recruit an activities staff member... staff were reluctant to do so. This was a missed opportunity to engage people and provide them with fulfilling lives.
AI Generated
Last inspected: April 2023
Management Quality
Well-led: Requires improvement
Direct feedback from current and former employees

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