Working at The Ferns
175 Walmersley Road, Bury, BL9 5DF
Operated by Focused Support Ltd
6 bedsResidential homes
Workplace Score
5.6/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 9 February 2026
Score: 5.6/10
Key Finding
"Staff feel well supported with regular supervision and good training, but need to recruit more staff and fix minor safety gaps like medicines training."
Safety & Risk
5/10
!
People received their medicines as prescribed but one staff member had yet to complete their medicines training and MCA not fully followed for one person.
Staff Culture
6/10
✓
Staff said they felt well supported by the provider and senior care worker and had regular supervision meetings.
Staffing Levels
5/10
!
Rotas and activity sheets showed there were more hours available to support people to take part in activities outside of the home.
Training & Dev
6/10
✓
The provider had purchased a recognised on-line training system. Staff had completed a range of training courses, prioritising safeguarding, medicines administration, emergency first aid and diabetes.
Management
6/10
✓
Staff said they felt well supported by the provider and senior care worker. One member of staff said, 'We can always speak to the managers anytime.'
Programmes
5/10
!
People had started to go swimming, to the gym and to be involved in the weekly house shop. One person said, 'I do go out for walks with staff and recently been swimming.'
Points to consider
Staffing is now adequate with extra hours for outings, but no new hires and they need to recruit more to make full use of them.
We recommend the provider continues to review the rota's and recruit sufficient numbers of staff to effectively use the additional hours.
Safety has improved but still minor gaps like one worker behind on medication training and missing capacity checks for decisions.
One staff member, who had recently returned to work at The Ferns, had yet to complete their medicines training. The service was not following the MCA code of practice fully for one person.
Activities include outings like swimming and gym thanks to more staff time, but no dedicated coordinator or special programmes to make the role more varied.
More hours were available within the service to support people to participate in different activities. People had started to go swimming, to the gym.
AI Generated
CQC Inspection Overview
CQC Inspection
Last inspected: July 2021
Requires improvement
Safe
!
Requires improvement
Effective
✓
Good
Caring
✓
Good
Responsive
✓
Good
Management Quality
Well-led: Requires improvement
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- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Data
- PlainSight staff reviews