Updated 20 January 2026
Date of Assessment: 19 to 25 February 2026. Bramble Homecare LTD - Cinderford is a homecare agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of our inspection there were 54 people using the service. At our last assessment, the rating was requires improvement. The provider was previously in breach of the legal regulation relating to good governance. At this assessment, improvements were found, the provider was no longer in breach of this regulation, however the rating has remained requires improvement.
The service is registered to support older people and younger adults with dementia, eating disorders, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. Not everyone using the service received a regulated activity (personal care). CQC only inspects for those people receiving personal care.
We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. At the time of the assessment, the service was not providing a regulated activity to any autistic people or people with a learning disability, but the provider had regard to ‘Right support, right care, right culture’.
The service had a proactive and positive culture of safety. They investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.
There were robust and safe recruitment practices in place to make sure all staff, were suitably experienced, competent, and able to carry out their role.
People knew how to give feedback, and staff told us they felt supported and encouraged to speak up. The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff. The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them.
At the time of our assessment there was not a registered manager in place. The manager had recently been recruited.
Staff did not always assess risks to people's health and safety or mitigate them where identified.
Whilst the service ensured staff received training appropriate to their role, they needed to further train and develop their staff in dignity and person-centred care.
The service did not always ensure medicines were managed safely.
People did not always have robust care plans to guide safe practice.
Governance systems and audits were in place but had recently been implemented and therefore had not been effective in identifying or addressing all areas for improvement.