- Care home
Heartly Green
Assessment report published 3 September 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 15 May 2026 to 5 June 2026. We visited the home on 20, 21 and 26 May 2026; additional information and evidence were reviewed remotely. We looked at all 5 Key Questions: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led.
The service is a purpose-built residential care home providing support to up to 59 people, older and younger adults, and some with a diagnosis of dementia. At the time of the inspection 56 people were living at the service. Accommodation is provided in 4 separate units over 2 floors.At this inspection we found 3 breaches of legal regulations in relation to medicines management, staffing and good governance. Following this inspection the overall rating has changed from good to requires improvement.
Risks to people were not always assessed, monitored or managed effectively. Environmental safety checks had been less thorough in the absence of the permanent maintenance role; a new employee had been recruited to the role and started on our third day of inspection.Governance systems were not effective enough to identify and address shortfalls, and the provider had limited oversight of risk and quality. Some care plans and risk assessments lacked detailed information to help guide and inform staff about safe and effective care.
We observed staff interacting with people in a warm, caring and respectful way. All the staff we spoke with were kind and compassionate when speaking about the people they supported. The atmosphere in the home was friendly, and people told us they felt safe and happy living there. People were encouraged to maintain relationships with family and friends.
A programme of decoration and improvements to the home was in progress and the environment was clean. Staff worked with external health and social care professionals to support people’s needs, although information sharing wasn’t always consistent. The provider acted quickly when issues were identified and continued to engage with the local authority quality team following this inspection; improvements to governance processes, care plans and record keeping were identified and commenced.
People's experience of this service
Feedback from people, relatives and professionals was mainly positive and indicated that people felt safe and well cared for. Staff had developed trusting relationships with people and demonstrated a good understanding of people’s individual needs. However, observations during the inspection identified more could be done to further promote person-centred care.
Whilst people and their relatives told us that staff were kind and caring, they considered that at times there were not enough staff to meet people’s needs. Residents told us they had activities which they could join in if they wanted to, but a number of residents said there was nothing much to do.
We observed the open plan lounge/dining rooms were very busy and, at times, noisy. People were eating meals, with the radio playing in the kitchen and with televisions on in lounge spaces. From our observations, people did not appear to be watching TV whilst eating. Consideration had not always been given to the sensory needs of people with dementia and the dining experiences we observed were not always calm or relaxing for people.
Whilst people we spoke to expressed that they were generally happy, our assessment found that elements of care did not meet the expected standards, especially in relation to the administration of medication, staffing levels and governance of the service, all of which are identified areas for improvement.