Overall sentiment across these reviews is strongly mixed, with a clear polarization between praise for therapy and some day-shift caregivers and serious, recurring complaints about staffing, safety, hygiene, and management. Several reviewers describe excellent clinical rehabilitation services: occupational and physical therapy are available and, in multiple accounts, delivered at a high quality. Specific staff members (for example, a CNA named Carmen and a head therapist named Brent) receive strong personal praise for compassion and skill, and some families report measurable recovery progress. Admissions staff and kitchen/cooking staff are also noted positively for responsiveness and good meals.
However, those positive reports sit alongside numerous and sometimes severe negative accounts. A frequent theme is inconsistent staffing and competency: reviewers repeatedly note that day staff may be professional and caring while night staff or other employees are rude, uncaring, or inexperienced. Understaffing is mentioned explicitly and implicitly (eg, scarce wheelchairs, minimal checks on residents, staff doing the minimum), which reviewers link to neglectful outcomes such as diaper rash, lack of pressure-relief pads, and delayed or missed medication administrations. Several reviews describe serious lapses in medical oversight and escalation — including delayed hospitalization after a heart attack and at least one claim of injury (broken hip) following delayed diagnostics — which raises substantial safety concerns.
Facility conditions and infection control concerns appear repeatedly. Reviewers report poor hygiene practices (such as improper glove use touching door knobs and food carts), dirty spaces, bad smells, and tiny, ill-equipped visitor areas described as janitor-closet–like. Structural and capacity issues also appear: rooms described as very small, shared bathrooms serving multiple patients, and insufficient equipment (few wheelchairs). Personal property management is another notable problem: clothing loss, swapped garments, and outright theft of belongings are reported. Privacy concerns are raised as well — for example, residents allegedly being stripped to underwear at bedtime — which contributes to an impression of disrespect and poor dignity of care by some staff.
Communication and management problems are also consistent themes. Families report poor communication, refusal to provide discharge paperwork, and what some characterize as unethical behavior (allegations of fraud or kickbacks). These administrative breakdowns compound clinical and operational issues and lead to strong negative recommendations from several reviewers. Multiple accounts urge caution — some explicitly recommend avoiding the facility or using surveillance (nanny cams) to monitor night care. A few reviewers go as far as to recommend the facility only for certain populations (one review suggested cognitive patients only), but this is an isolated qualifier within an otherwise mixed-to-negative set of experiences.
In summary, Fallbrook Skilled Nursing appears to offer strong rehabilitative therapy and has several compassionate, competent staff members and positive experiences to its credit, particularly during daytime shifts. At the same time, the facility shows recurring and serious problems with staffing levels and consistency, cleanliness and infection-control practices, safety oversight, personal belongings management, privacy, and communication/administration. These issues have led to reports of neglect, medical delays, theft, and even severe outcomes according to reviewers. Prospective residents and families should weigh the strong therapy and some excellent staff against repeated reports of safety, hygiene, and management failures; if considering placement, they may want to verify staffing patterns (day vs night), ask about infection-control protocols and equipment availability, confirm inventory and laundry procedures, and monitor care closely, especially during evenings and nights.
