- Care home
Portelet House Care Home
Assessment report published 16 October 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
About the service
Portelet House is a care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 15 people. At the time of our assessment 15 people were living at the service.
Who the service is for
Portelet House is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for older people, including people living with dementia.
Key findings
We carried out this assessment on 26 September 2026. This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.
People told us they felt safe living at Portelet House. We observed staff undertake their duties to ensure the environment was clean and free from clutter. A staff member commented, “We always maintain good communication among the staff. If someone notices a potential risk, we immediately inform the senior staff member and, if necessary, the registered manager.”
People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found that staff and management worked within the MCA. DoLS authorisations were appropriately applied for and overseen. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions they had choice, control and freedom over their lives.
We observed care was delivered in ways that were person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. Support staff treated people with kindness and respect. We observed staff interact with people in ways that respected their communication preferences.
Staff were confident all concerns would be investigated by the registered manager and the provider. Staff knew of external agencies such as the police and local authority safeguarding team who they could contact in the event the concerns were not acted upon.
People’s support needs were detailed within their care plans and risk assessments on the electronic system. Staff who were responsible for meals knew about people’s needs and information was up to date and available for them on display in the kitchen.
Medicines were ordered, stored at the correct temperature and disposed of securely. Medicines records showed they were given as prescribed for people. We observed staff giving medicines safely and asking if any ‘when required’ medicines were required. We observed people’s individual preferences for how they liked to take their medicines, were respected by staff.
The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. Staff told us they enjoyed their roles. Staff told us they were valued and they felt fully supported to undertake all requirements of their role with guidance from the registered manager. Feedback from the team included, “Portelet House has a good atmosphere to come into work and feels like a second home to me” and, “The registered manager’s enthusiasm is always contagious, and I am very grateful to work alongside them. The commitment and dedication that is shown every day with the staff team and people living here is admirable.”
Staff told us they were proud to work at Portelet House. A staff member said, “All the team and registered manager work together to support our people.” This was echoed by feedback from a health and social care professional who told us, “Staff know people well, they always seem a real team there.”
The provider highlighted the importance in developing their workforce and contributing to learning across the care sector. Portelet House had recently participated in a nationally recognised study focused on older adult’s nutrition in care homes.
People's experience of this service
People told us they were “happy” and “comfortable” living at Portelet House. People and their relatives said they felt able to communicate easily with the management team and staff on duty if they had any concerns.
A relative told us, “The staff are always working very hard to get my loved one to eat, everyone knows how they take their coffee because that’s what matters most to them. My relative is very happy and what we love about Portelet House is that their friends can visit anytime too.”
Comments from people included, “It’s good to live here”
Another person told us about the efforts made by staff to celebrate other cultures and events, “I like when they do it to the food. We get good food here.”
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. We observed staff understood people’s individual ways of communicating and this enabled people to be listened to and supported in ways that met their specific and individual needs.