- Care home
Casterbridge Lodge
Assessment report published 21 July 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 6 to 13 June 2025
This assessment was prompted in part due to concerns received about whether the service had enough suitably trained staff and whether staff had received appropriate training to keep people safe. We found no evidence that people were at risk of harm from this concern.
Casterbridge Lodge is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 35 people. At the time of this inspection, the service was supporting 30 people, including people living with dementia.
We visited the service on 6 June and 8 June 2025. During this inspection we inspected the quality statements under the key questions of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led to check the provider had followed their action plan to make improvements.
We found the service had made improvements and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. The rating has changed from requires improvement (published 13 January 2023) to good.
People were supported by staff who consistently strived to improve the quality of care people received. Staff understood people’s individual interests, needs, wishes and desires. This enabled people to be heard and promoted active engagement in tasks of daily living. A staff member explained, “Residents here are safe, we protect them, listen to what they have to say. We have a zero tolerance for poor care and focus on residents’ dignity. If a resident needs anything we give them it. They have choice. We respect them like the elders of our own family.”
The service had systems in place to meet needs of people safely. Good partnership working with outside partners and agencies contributed to effective care. People’s rights were respected, their individuality supported. People and visiting professionals had confidence in the management of the service and told us the registered manager was approachable. A person living at the service told us, “I am free to live my life here how I choose, in peace. I can do what I want, and staff are just there in case I need help. They don’t interfere.”
People's experience of this service
People and their relatives told us staff were exceptionally kind and caring, often going above and beyond, some comments were; “I feel safe here as there is nobody here to hurt you”, “I can’t fault the home, they treat me as one of theirs. We are a family”, “There is the perfect balance of my relative being active and able to do things, but of them being kept safe. Staff will swoop in provide comfort, no one is left to struggle or fail.” And “Everyone is always happy here; it's the best place to be.”
We were assured people were safe and their individuality encouraged and celebrated. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us.