Working at Thames House

Medicines optimisation Score:2... some concerns with the recording of some health observations, as it was not always clear that these had been completed... risk that staff might not be able to identify or take action when a person’s health had deteriorated.

The rotas did show a reliance on bank staff and agency staff, especially at weekends... There’s a massive turnover of staff; they don’t stay. There aren’t enough staff.

The overall compliance rate for clinical skills training was 63%. Some modules had good compliance including dysphagia training but other modules such as pressure ulcer prevention (10% compliance), tissue viability training (25% compliance) and respiratory and tracheostomy training (21% compliance) needed improvement.

At the time of this inspection, there was no registered manager in post. The manager, who had stepped into the role when the previous registered manager left, had been in post for approximately 8 months and had submitted an application to register... gaps in oversight.

Although we found areas which required improvement... the activity schedule... included ‘1:1 chats,’ ‘karaoke’, ‘parties’ and ‘takeaway night’.