Working at The Willows

No permanent manager in place, and repeated leadership issues over multiple inspections mean oversight is weak.

The registered manager had recently left the service. The provider had sourced management cover to provide oversight and support. However, this was the third consecutive inspection where we found concerns relating to record keeping and safeguarding people.

Managers did not always act properly on abuse concerns or follow the safeguarding policy.

Where safeguarding concerns had been identified, the provider did not follow internal and external processes to address these or avoid reoccurrence. We raised 2 safeguarding referrals to the local authority safeguarding team following our inspection.

Recruitment missed issues like a bad reference about a worker's honesty, with no action taken.

Recruitment checks were not always completed thoroughly to ensure new staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. We observed a reference for a staff member which reflected concerns regarding their honesty and integrity. No action had been taken by the management team to address this.