- Care home
Muscliff Nursing Home
Assessment report published 14 November 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Muscliff Nursing Home is registered to provide accommodation for people who require nursing or personal care. The service can accommodate up to 41 people. At the time of our inspection 28 people were living at the service. The inspection took place between 28 September and 8 October 2025. The service supported people living with dementia and people with a learning disability. We expect health and social care providers to guarantee 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. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance the Care Quality Commission (CQC) follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.
At our previous inspection, we found the provider was in breach of the legal regulations in relation to dignity and respect, safeguarding, safe care and treatment, and good governance. This inspection was targeted to check if the provider had made improvements in relation to safe care and treatment. We found the provider failed to consistently protect people from abuse and avoidable harm.
The provider failed to recognise hazards and adverse events, which meant people had experienced avoidable harm. We raised 2 safeguarding alerts with the local authority safeguarding team. The provider failed to consistently work in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) when managing risks. People were unlawfully deprived of their liberty, and their rights were not always respected. A person told us, “I keep telling staff, I'd just like some freedom back.”
While the provider was working to make improvements, they were not always effective and did not always result in consistently good outcomes for people. We found a continued breach of the regulation, safe care and treatment.
People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment when this is in their best interests and legally authorised under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). In care homes, this is usually through MCA application procedures called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The service was not consistently working in accordance with the principles of the MCA and had introduced additional restrictive practices without assessing people’s capacity to make a decision in the first instance.
Muscliff Nursing Home remains in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.
In response to shortfalls we identified, the provider has committed to producing an action plan outlining improvements they will make. The provider continued to engage with organisations, and have been proactive in seeking support from an external care consultancy to drive improvements.
People's experience of this service
While most people expressed general satisfaction with their care, we found care was not always delivered in line with published good practice guidance and regulatory requirements.
When we asked people what could be improved at the service, a person said, “I can't manage like I used to, so I must be here but it's simple things. I asked staff for something to help me with my communication. They went off to ask the manager, but no one knows where I can buy the item, they say it's not for them to do which is fair enough, but if they don't let me leave to go to the shops, how can I get one myself? I'm left waiting.”
Comments from people’s relatives included, “I am satisfied the local authority and the Care Quality Commission have visited. My stance is clear; Muscliff Nursing Home is well maintained, I’ve met the new manager, and I’ve never seen any poor care here.” Another relative said, “There are a lot of changes here, yes, I can't always keep up with them all. You know, silly things like knowing the new codes to get in and out.”