Working at The Old School House Care Home
38 Merafield Road, Plymouth, PL7 1TL
Operated by The Old School House Care Home (South West) Ltd
36 bedsResidential homes
Workplace Score
4.4/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 10 February 2026
Score: 4.4/10
Key Finding
"Staff receive regular training and feel supported in an open culture, but lack of activities leaves residents bored and staffing shortages stretch the team."
Safety & Risk
4/10
!
Safeguarding and medicines adequate but issues with learning culture, infection control, and safe environments identified.
Staff Culture
6/10
✓
Staff felt supported, able to speak up without bullying, culture based on listening and learning with improving trust.
Staffing Levels
3/10
✕
On first visit not enough or appropriately deployed staff to meet needs quickly, though numbers increased and redeployed after.
Training & Dev
6/10
✓
Managers made sure staff received training and regular appraisals to improve abilities and progress.
Management
4/10
!
Leaders were visible and supportive to staff but no clear vision or strategy, governance breach, and oversight failed to address issues.
Programmes
2/10
✕
People reported boredom with not enough social or stimulating activities, no dementia approach or planned programme.
Points to consider
No activities or engagement programme, so the job is mostly routine care and residents get bored.
People told us they felt bored... 'There’s not a lot to do and I get bored sometimes.' Another person told us, 'It’s a long day just sitting, doing nothing'
Not enough staff to respond quickly to call bells, leaving staff stretched across floors.
On our first visit there were not enough, or appropriately deployed, care staff present in the home at certain times, to quickly meet the needs of people living in the home.
No clear leadership vision or strategy that staff know about, so direction feels unclear.
The service did not have a clear vision or strategy that staff or people were aware of.
AI Generated
CQC Inspection Overview
CQC Inspection
Last inspected: November 2025
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