- Care home
Swanton House Care Centre Also known as 1-126608129
Listen to an audio version of the inspection report summary on Swanton House Care Centre that we published on 21 September 2017
Assessment report published 6 November 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We started a comprehensive assessment of Swanton House care centre on 21 and 27 May 2025, conducting an unannounced site visit and then continuing to gather information. The reason for our assessment was due to the age of the service rating. CQC last inspected this service on 05 February 2020 and 07 February 2020 and rated it good (report published 26 February 2020). Since then, we have received information of concern, so we wanted assurances that people were receiving safe care.
Swanton House Care Centre can accommodate up to 49 people in 3 separate units who may have mental health condition, disability, physical disability and, or autism and who require residential and nursing care. During our latest assessment we identified 2 breaches of regulation, Regulation 12 Safe care and treatment and Regulation 17: Good governance.
We were concerned about management oversight of such a large service and discrepancies in care across the units which meant some people received poorer outcomes. We found care records and assessments were not as robust as we would expect, and they did not fully consider people’s needs and risks associated with their care. Whilst reviews were taking place, these did not always identify changes in people’s needs, to ensure people’s ongoing care could be met by the service. We found care plans did not reflect people’s individual needs in terms of their preferences and aspirations and did not clearly show people had been involved in planning their care. Whilst external activities were taking place, people had limited access to the community due to staff and driver availability. This meant we were not assured by the registered manager or records we viewed that people’s care was sufficiently personalized.
Hospital admissions over time had occurred and we found poor planning in relation to thinking ahead and how people might wish to be cared for should they become seriously ill or dying. Hospital passports help ensure continuity of care between different care settings. We found these to be out of date or not containing essential health information.
We have assessed the service against 'Right support, Right care, Right culture’ guidance to make judgments about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Both the environment and scope of daily living opportunities did not assure us that the service was meeting the best practice guidance and although the registered manager told us “People were thriving,” we did not see evidence to support this.
We found there was a consistent team of staff who were provided with care and support to the people using the service and knew their needs well. Staff worked under the leadership of a registered manager and individual unit managers and team leaders. People and their families were happy with the service provided, and people had consistency of support. A team of ancillary staff and maintenance staff ensured the environment was clean and well maintained. On-site activities were good but not fully inclusive given the wide range of needs. There were spacious grounds, a community hub, and other facilities for people to enjoy. The registered GP and other health care professionals had a good relationship with the provider and told us they kept people’s health care needs under review. Our medicines inspector found good medicine practices which ensured people received their medicines safely.
People's experience of this service
During our assessment we observed how people were supported to ensure their needs were met. We spoke with them throughout the day, and we used an expert by experience to gain family members’ views. Most of the feedback was positive and we saw that staff knew people well and anticipated their needs. However a lot of these positive interactions and fluctuations in people's well being were not recorded by staff. Whilst there was an activity planner it was difficult to facilitate everyone's needs given the diverse range of needs, meaning some people were more engaged than others . Whilst some people went to the social hub for activities, and staff provided other activities to people on their individual units. We observed some people were not regularly engaged in any activity and we observed that some people were in their rooms for most of the day and interactions around mealtimes varied from unit to unit. Two people commented that staffing levels were at times insufficient, which was echoed in residents’ meetings minutes and people told us they wanted to see more activities and be supported to attend activities. One person said, “Yes I get choices, but I don’t get to go out and I would like to.”
People also told us they had not been involved in developing or reviewing their care plans. We received mixed feedback about wider communication and some, but not all relatives said they were involved in care planning or reviews.
People told us they were happy with their environment and 1 person showed us around and explained they were happy with their room. We observed that the environment was clean and homely. Following our assessment, we spoke with 4 people via video call, and their view of the service was good with staff supporting them well. People said they were happy with their care and support. One person said, “I love living here, I don't want to change here.” Another person said, “I am very happy with things, perhaps there may be more games that involve everybody. The place is fabulous and better than some hotels.”
Relatives were positive about the staff’s responsiveness and felt welcome at the service. Some relatives were actively involved in their family members care and supported their social needs. The manager told us they were looking to extend the activity provision