- Care home
The Larches - Tiverton
Assessment report published 20 October 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment 02 July to 03 July 2025. We carried out assessment site visits on both days. The Larches Tiverton is a residential care home providing personal care to up to 20 people. The service provides support to people aged 65 and over with a physical disability or dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 16 people living at the service.
At our last inspection, April 2024, the service was rated requires improvement. At this assessment, the service has remained requires improvement.
We assessed this service to follow up on the warning notice we served following our last assessment in April 2024. The provider had met the concerns identified in the warning notice. They are no longer in breach of legal regulation in relation to good governance and safe care and treatment.
The providers management team had worked hard to make the improvements needed and were passionate about doing things right for both people using the service and staff.
Staff felt comfortable raising concerns to the manager and deputy manager.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) were well-managed. DoLS is a legal protection under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), to protect the rights of people in care homes who lack the capacity to consent to their care arrangements, and who may be deprived of their liberty as a result. Staff had access to the information they needed to ensure they supported people appropriately in line with the MCA, however staff were not able to explain what DoLS was to the inspector.
Risks were assessed and monitored, and the service was safe and clean. Regular checks and required maintenance were completed.
Staff received relevant training; however, we found some improvements could be made to how the training matrix was formatted. Recruitment processes were thorough, with all necessary checks completed.
People’s needs were assessed using a dependency tool to ascertain the staffing levels needed. However, we found there were less staff on in the afternoons than the dependency tool recommended which put an extra burden on staff and resulted in longer wait times for call bells to be answered. The provider gave assurances staffing levels would be reviewed.
Staff were kind and respectful. Most call bells were answered quickly, and the managerhad completed monthly audits of call bell response times to ensure they could identify any themes or trends.
Staff handled medicines safely with clear guidance for staff to follow.
Senior staff conducted regular audits and checks. These helped to improve the service.
Staff reviewed incidents and learnt from them, people, their relatives and staff were kept informed and involved.
At the time of the inspection there was no Registered Manager in post, however the manager of the service had submitted their CQC registration application, and it was being processed.
People's experience of this service
People told us they felt safe at the service. One family member told us, “Very much happy with the care and they keep us informed with everything.” Another person told us, “I think all [relative’s] needs are met, [they] have dementia, and [they] will imagine [they] are somewhere else sometimes, but the staff understand how [they] are.” Another person said, “I think we are very well treated.”
People spoke positively about the service they received, and the care and support staff provided. People told us they were supported to live their lives safely and were supported to stay as independent as possible. People told us staff treated them well and they felt able to talk to staff and the management team about their care.