• Care Home
  • Care home

The Beeches Nursing and Residential Care Home

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Church Lane, Kelloe, County Durham, DH6 4PT (0191) 377 3004

Provided and run by:
Sunny Okukpolor Humphreys

Assessment report published 25 June 2025

Ratings

  • Overall

    Requires improvement

  • Safe

    Requires improvement

  • Effective

    Good

  • Caring

    Good

  • Responsive

    Good

  • Well-led

    Requires improvement

Our view of the service

Date of Assessment: 17 March to 10 April 2025.

The Beeches Nursing and Residential Care Home provides accommodation with nursing and personal care for up to 31 people. The service provides support to older people, some of whom are living with dementia. There were 8 people living at the home when we visited. This unannounced assessment was partly due to concerns about staffing and safeguarding. We visited the home on 17 and 25 March 2025. We requested further information, which was reviewed remotely following these visits. We found 2 breaches of the regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. Fire safety in the home was not robust and we could not be assured plans were effective in the event of a fire. This placed people at risk of harm. Management oversight had been inconsistent, and systems to support quality and improvement were incomplete. There were some omissions around medicines records that needed improvement. Safeguarding practices and reporting had been inconsistent and needed to improve.

There had recently been a new manager appointed, and they were making improvements alongside the operations manager and Nominated Individual. The management team were aware of the shortfalls in the home and had plans in place to help them prioritise improvements. They had already identified areas for development and were working on these prior to this assessment.

Staff told us there had been recent improvements in terms of management and culture and they spoke positively about current practices in the home. Staff felt supported even though formal supervisions and appraisals were not always taking place as per the provider’s policy. Staff had opportunity to give feedback on the home.

People received personalised care delivered by caring, competent staff. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs and promote choice. Staff worked well with professionals and relatives to provide consistent care and good outcomes for people.

People's experience of this service

People and relatives told us they were happy with the care provided at The Beeches Nursing and Residential Care Home. They described staff as caring. One person told us, “It's good living here” and another told us about how a staff member was “lovely” and their “good friend”. We observed positive interactions and people being supported safely. However, the shortfalls we found during our assessment impacted on the quality of people’s experience of living at the home.