Working at St Stephen's Care Home

Big safety risks from unclean rooms with faeces stains, broken waste bins, unlocked chemicals, and medication errors not spotted by checks.

In some bedrooms, we found dried faeces stains on bedding, doors, and in one room on a sealed catheter bag. ... Most clinical and disposal waste bins were not in working order ... COSHH products had not been safely locked away.

Managers missed major issues like poor cleaning and unsafe meds storage because oversight and audits weren't working well.

The providers internal audits did not always identify the risks we found during our inspection ... systems for governance and oversight had not always been effective in identifying the service’s shortfalls.

Staff numbers are adequate but poor deployment means residents sometimes wait too long for help when they need it.

Other people said “Short staffed, can see it ... waited half an hour ... Sometimes can’t find staff, usually late afternoon ... it took ten minutes" ... staff were not always deployed effectively.