Working at Thorndene
Canterbury Road, Dover, CT15 7HZ
Operated by Thorndene Limited
17 bedsResidential homesSupported living
Workplace Score
7.3/10
AI analysis of latest data
Our AI workplace review
PlainSight AI Review
Last updated: 9 February 2026
Score: 7.3/10
Key Finding
"A warm family culture and confident staff safety practices shine through, with improved staffing retention and training, although activities lack a full programme and agency covers sickness occasionally."
Safety & Risk
8/10
✓
Staff knew when and how to raise a safeguarding concern and were able to give an example of when they had escalated a concern. Staff said they were able to raise any concerns with the manager and felt confident the right action would be taken to keep people safe.
Staff Culture
8/10
✓
Staff spoke about a family ethos and were proud to work at the service. Staff spoke in a warm and caring way about the people they supported.
Staffing Levels
7/10
✓
The service had seen agency use increase prior to the current manager coming in to post. The manager told us they were now only needed agency on occasion to cover sickness.
Training & Dev
7/10
✓
Staff had the training they needed to provide support to people, this included a mixture of face to face and online learning. Training included areas such as safeguarding people, autism, epilepsy and positive behaviour support.
Management
7/10
✓
The provider told us the new manager had made improvements to staffing. They said, '[The manager] has improved training so there is more face-to-face training. They have improved staffing levels and retention. The culture and induction have improved.'
Programmes
6/10
✓
During the day people had gone out to a variety of different places. For example, one person had gone swimming, another person had gone for a walk and then a coffee.
Points to consider
Days include some outings like swimming or walks and practice with daily skills like cooking, but no full activities programme or specialist creative approaches to vary the role.
People went out on the activities they chose if they wanted to do so... one person had gone swimming, another person had gone for a walk and then a coffee. There was a co-ordinator at the service whose role was to support people with independence and developing or maintaining their daily living skills.
Agency staff sometimes cover sickness even after recent improvements to levels and retention.
The service had seen agency use increase prior to the current manager coming in to post. The manager told us they were now only needed agency on occasion to cover sickness.
AI Generated
CQC Inspection Overview
CQC Inspection
Good
Safe
✓
Good
Effective
✓
Good
Caring
✓
Good
Responsive
★
Outstanding
Management Quality
Well-led: Not Rated
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- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Inspection Data
- PlainSight staff reviews