Working at Thorn Springs
Collie Place, Dunstable, LU5 6TW
Operated by Ideal Carehomes (2) Limited
66 bedsResidential homes
Workplace Score
3.8/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 9 February 2026
Score: 3.8/10
Key Finding
"Supportive management and a passionate culture, but stretched staffing limits activities and affects safety."
Safety & Risk
3/10
✕
Medicines were not always being managed safely and some key processes in relation to the management of medicines were either not in place or were not robust. Processes were not always in place or robust enough in relation to safeguarding people at the service.
Staff Culture
5/10
!
Staff mostly felt well supported by the management team. The staff and management team were passionate and motivated about learning lessons and making people’s experiences of care the best they could be.
Staffing Levels
3/10
✕
Staff told us that staffing levels had not kept up with the number of people who now lived at the service or the changing needs of people already living at the service.
Training & Dev
4/10
!
ensuring staff training had been effective were not being audited effectively. Some staff members told us they had not been trained to properly use the systems in place record incidents and accidents.
Management
4/10
!
The management team operated an open-door policy and were visible at the service. The staff team felt mostly well supported by the management team.
Programmes
3/10
✕
there was limited activities on offer for people throughout the day. One person said, ‘It is impossible for staff to do anything with us... We used to go out for walks and things like that but there is no time for that anymore.’
Points to consider
Staffing has not kept up with more residents and higher needs, so staff feel stretched and miss time for chats or activities.
Staff told us that staffing levels had not kept up with the number of people who now lived at the service or the changing needs of people already living at the service.
Limited activities on offer, no time for outings or engagement beyond basic care tasks.
there was limited activities on offer for people throughout the day. We used to go out for walks and things like that but there is no time for that anymore.
Medication safety issues like out of date creams and missing stock checks, plus weak safeguarding from missed concerns in records.
We found several topical medicines in people’s rooms which were very out of date. Stock checks of controlled drugs were not being completed regularly. staff were not consistently reporting these as safeguarding concerns using the systems in place to monitor this.
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- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Data
- PlainSight staff reviews