Archived: Milestone House

Updated 2 March 2026

Date of assessment: 04 March 2026 to 21 April 2026. Milestone House is a residential care home providing accommodation for persons who require personal care for up to 13 people. The service is registered to provide support to people with learning disabilities and autistic people, people with physical disabilities and for people with sensory impairments. There were 9 people living at the service, some of whom had complex health needs.

We completed this assessment to check whether the provider had taken action to improve the service since our last assessment. We found the provider had not taken enough action to improve the service. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements 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. We found the provider had failed to meet these expectations and did not always provide support in line with this guidance. We found 7 continued breaches of regulation in relation to person-centred care, safe care and treatment, consent, maintaining equipment and the premises, staffing, good governance and notifying CQC of events that occur in the service. We found new breaches of regulations in relation to safeguarding people from abuse and recruitment of staff. People continued to be placed at risk of harm. The oversight and management of the service had not improved.

In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.

This service 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.

Updated 2 March 2026

We observed people’s experience of care and support during our onsite visits. People were not always safe living at the service, and some people continued to be at risk of harm, their experience of living at the service was not always good. People had not been supported to achieve their goals and aspirations. People received support with their basic needs. We observed good interaction from staff with people at this assessment and people appeared to enjoy the stimulation and company.

Some people did not have the same positive experiences as their sensory needs were not met. People were not consistently supported to take part in activities they enjoyed. People did not always receive support following healthcare professionals’ guidance. Some of the environment had improved since our last visit, the lounge and hallway floor had been replaced. Other flooring in some people’s rooms was still awaiting replacement. A new fire alarm system had been installed. People’s rooms had been furnished or decorated following their likes or dislikes. A person told us, “I am waiting for [staff] to come to put my new flooring in my room and paint the walls. I want it blue, like the colour in [person’s] room.”

Some people were accessing the community regularly; a person told us they had been out to the hairdressers and had their hair cut. Another person had also been to the hairdressers and had been to the dentist. However, this was not the case for all people living at the service. Some people had had some of their health appointments cancelled by the provider because they had transport issues as the provider’s vehicle had been out of service for 10 months. The provider had not always arranged alternative means of transport to appointments to ensure their health needs were met. People were not consistently supported to take part in activities they enjoyed. Despite our observations, people told us they liked living at the service. We observed people were relaxed and happy around the staff.

Relatives told us, “I feel my brother is happy to be there. He isn’t withdrawn”, “I was there last month, and he jumped up and left the room. He went for his cup of tea. It was nice to see he had a routine, I think they have encouraged that with him”, “I think they are doing a good job he is well kept and groomed. His room is tidy and there are always materials to deal with his needs”, “They do consult us with things with our daughter” and “We are happy with everything they do.”