- Care home
Whitehaven Residential Home
Assessment report published 12 September 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 21 May to 24 June 2025. This was a responsive inspection of all 5 key questions triggered by our ongoing monitoring of the service. This service is a residential care home for up to 15 people, providing support for older people who may be living with dementia. At the time of the inspection there were 11 people living at the service.
We found improvements were needed in many aspects of the service for people’s safety, welfare and rights. These included governance, record keeping, management of risks relating to people, safety of the environment, medicine management, safe staffing, and consent. Management oversight, governance systems and audits were either not in place or had not been used effectively to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. Staff did not have access to people’s care plans for a period of 2 weeks after the service changed over their care planning IT system. Care plans adapted after our site visits, and in response to our feedback, still did not always reflect people’s assessed needs or always contain sufficient information for staff. We found occasions when the provider had not kept all the required records in relation to staff’s recruitment.
We observed there were sufficient staff available to support people. Staff knew people’s needs, preferences and life histories well. This enabled staff to support people in a person-centred and respectful way.
Staff and the provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. We found staff responded to people’s needs as they occurred and acted to minimise any discomfort or concern.
At the inspection we identified 6 breaches of regulations in relation to consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, safety of the premises, governance and notifications.
In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to one of the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
People and relatives were positive about the service. Feedback gathered during the inspection showed people and relatives were happy about the care and support provided. Comments from people included, “I love it here” and the staff are “very nice”.
Relatives expressed confidence about the care their loved ones received. One relative told us,“It’s excellent here”, another said, “It’s so friendly and homely”.
Some people could not directly tell us about their experiences. We spent time at the service and 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 saw people being included and listened to, and staff interactions with people were positive. People appeared relaxed and happy in the company of staff.
Relatives told us the service communicated well with them. One relative told us, “Whenever I need to be told something, I’m told”. Another said, “I have regular reviews with [the provider] and they keep me up to date”.
Relatives confirmed they were able to visit whenever they wanted and were made to feel welcome.
Although the people and relatives we spoke to expressed, they were happy with the care and how the service was managed, we found the governance of the service was not always effective and did not meet the expected standards.