Cascade (Hurst House)

Updated 30 December 2025

We conducted an inspection of Hurst House on 07 and 08 January 2026. Hurst House is a residential home registered for 8 adults with learning disabilities and autism situated in Norwich, Norfolk. We looked at all 5 key questions with all quality statements being assessed.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

The service had been intentionally designed around the needs of autistic people and people with a learning disability, rather than adapting a traditional care model. From admission, people experienced support from a small, consistent staff group who took time to understand how each person communicated distress, choice, and preference. This approach resulted in people becoming more settled and confident over time, which was reflected in a sustained reduction in incidents and the need for restrictive interventions. Staff consistently interpreted behaviour as communication and responded proactively, enabling people to experience greater stability, choice, and independence.

Opportunities for staff to develop personally and professionally helped them to deliver high standards of person-centred care and staff were motivated to complete their role to the best of their ability.

Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and how to promote people’s safety and to recognise how people communicated their needs. The reduction of incidents within the service illustrated how staff had become skilled in identifying and responding to people’s needs in a timely way.

People’s needs were clearly documented and regularly reviewed to ensure their accuracy. Case studies demonstrated the achievements people had made since living at the service. There was a sharp focus on promoting individual goals and independence with communication tools being adapted to help people express themselves and make their own choices. As part of the homes approach to lifetime learning people have clear learning and well-being objectives which they were supported to achieve with the support of care staff and staff working in an educational role.

There was an integrated approach to providing holistic care and support to ensure every young person was thriving and achieving their potential.

Strong links with the community and partnership working helped to ensure young people felt safe and a sense of belonging, identity and security and they were regularly supported to build friendships and retain links with family and friends.

There was a strong ethos and drive to continuously improve the service and learn from incidents, safeguarding concerns and complaints which were all seen as an integral part of the quality assurance process. Inclusive managers actively sought to support their staff through robust training programmes and a detailed programme of support. Staff felt able to raise any issue and described the service as inclusive. Staff knowledge helped them to support people to maximise their quality of life.

A staff member told us, “Personally I don't feel like I'm at work because it's one of the most amazing work settings one can wish for. Hurst has an amazing staff team and residents alike; both are welcoming and approachable”. They said, “it’s indeed a home away from home and I don't just feel safe at Hurst. I know I belong here.”

The environment was inclusive and helped to ensure people had a high standard of living and a building which was intuitive to their needs. For example, by creating different accommodation types both bedrooms and flats, subtle lighting, underfloor heating, and versatile space to promote people’s individual needs.

Updated 30 December 2025

During our observations we saw people were relaxed and accessing various parts of the house and receiving individualised care: i.e. listening to music, television and helping with household chores: laundry and cooking. People were participating in activities in line with their needs and preferences and staff used a variety of communication aids to support people across the day such as social stories, picture exchange communication system (PECS), timers, and visual aids. Staff working at the service either provided care or education but worked as an integrated team to help ensure any goal was supported and embedded. For example, there was a clear emphasis and focus on promoting communication by teaching people phonics to increase their vocabulary and choice. Staff constantly reinforced this to ensure people learnt in a supportive and timely way.

An integrated approach to well-being had tangible and measurable outcomes such as improved health, a reduction in medication and safeguarding people from future illnesses and tooth decay.

Overwhelmingly families told us that they felt their relatives were safe at the service. One family recalled their experience of an allegation of bruising and how the service had managed this and put systems and processes in place to learn from incidents and how they had reinforced staffs training and knowledge to better protect people in their care.

Families felt consulted and able to raise issues knowing that staff would take these matters seriously and felt like partners in care.

Staff with a strong background in education and lifetime learning showed us how they shared the skills development programme with parents which demonstrated their relative’s engagement and success in developing skills. People’s care plans also gave very good oversight of people’s needs and new staff were never left to work unsupervised. We spoke to the provider about staff turnover and about a third of the original staff were still in post and there was a full staff team.