- Care home
Heathcote
Assessment report published 24 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We conducted an inspection of Heathcote on 20 April and 22 April 2026. Heathcote is a residential home registered for 28 older adults without nursing. There were 24 people using the service during our inspection. The service is situated in central Norwich and is owned and managed by Black Swan. We looked at all 5 key questions with all quality statements being assessed.
Everyone arriving at the service received a warm welcome from long standing staff who had built an excellent rapport with people using the service and their visitors. People received timely care and support, and staff helped to enhance people’s day. Staff ensured people had everything they needed including drinks in reach, extra blankets, cushions for comfort and companionship.
Staff worked well as a team and had complimentary skills. Staff had set roles, but some had enhanced skills, or areas of interest such as a medication champion and dignity champion. The wider organisation also had champions who were able to better support staff. All staff spoken with worked outside their main roles at times to ensure the smooth running of the service and prioritise the safety and well-being of people using the service. For example, the registered manager was described as often on the floor helping with medicines or delivering care. Staff on day shift would occasionally cover night shifts when needed by choice as they said this was preferable to agency as they knew their ‘residents.’ Domestic staff said they supported people with laundry, activities and mealtimes where needed. This helped ensure the shift ran smoothly and people spoken with said staff went, "Above and beyond.”
Staff were motivated and supported to develop their skills and competencies with some staff taking the opportunity to seek additional training and progression. Staff nominations every month helped ensure good practice was recognised and rewarded.
The well-being of staff was promoted through safe working practices, robust training, supervision, safe recruitment, and effective quality assurance systems.
There was effective management oversight at all levels. Audits helped to determine where improvements were needed and to assess the safe and effective delivery of the service. The views and wishes of people using the service and the staff delivering the care was paramount.
Incidents, safeguarding concerns, and complaints were recorded and reviewed. However, we found because staff were proactive in meeting people’s needs, they anticipated risk and adjusted peoples care accordingly. Weekly key worker meetings meant that people had clear opportunities to raise any issues about their care and described staff as responsive.
The manager was clear their door was always open, and any concerns were addressed immediately which reduced the need for a formal complaint.
Falls within the service were low and we observed people had appropriate equipment such as sensor mats, personalised alarms, and reviews by appropriate agencies.
Activities were planned and spontaneous. All staff supported people to join in either planned activities or to support people on a one to one to go out either for coffee or shopping, and trips further afield took place annually. Entertainers were booked throughout the year and events such as Easter, Valentine's Day etc were celebrated, which enhanced people’s well-being.
People's experience of this service
People spoken with only had good things to say about the home and our observations showed people were relaxed, able to move round freely and were supported in line with their needs. The property was homely and staff and people using the service referred to it as, ‘home to home.’
We observed one person pouring a large glass of wine to have with lunch and carrying it through into the dining room. Other drinks alcoholic or otherwise were available. Lunch was a pleasant experience with staff on hand to support. They offered people appropriate choices and lunch was enjoyed by those observed sitting in the dining room. Comments were that the food was consistently good and people were supported with appropriate condiments. One person had an extra jug of gravy in line with their preferences.
Whilst there were no planned activities on the day of our inspection, and the music event planned for the afternoon was cancelled at short notice we observed a range of spontaneous activities and a lot of love and laughter. There were several visitors in the home.One relative told us, “They have a mixture of practical and brain-focused activities. My relative really enjoys all the activities and events. They love crosswords and word scrambles. They organise something interesting for the residents every week and celebrate all events like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter.”
A person using the service described staff as, "so friendly. "They spoke positively about outings such as trips to the cathedral, and said they were, "happy with life in general.” This reflected a service where people felt comfortable, valued, and able to maintain independence and well-being. Another person told us: “Nothing is too much trouble, and staff are really helpful mostly young girls they know what they are doing. [Person?] has a key worker who follows things up and ensures they are done.”
This was reiterated by other people who said staff were ‘attentive’ to their needs.