- Care home
Archived: Milestone House
Assessment report published 13 August 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 28 May 2025 to 27 June 2025. 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 follow up enforcement action we issued after our last assessment where significant shortfalls had been found. We found the provider had not taken 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 following these guidelines. We found 4 continued breaches of regulation in relation to person-centred care, safe care and treatment, staffing and good governance. We found new breaches of regulations in relation to need for consent, maintaining equipment and the premises and notifying CQC of events that occur in the service. People continued to be placed at risk of harm. The oversight and management of the service had not improved. Registered persons had only attended the service 8 times in 2025 and lacked oversight.
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 is being placed 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.
People's experience of this service
We observed people’s experience of care and support during our onsite visits. We carried out a short observational framework for inspection (SOFI) and observed staff engaging with people in a kind and patient way. SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. 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 did not always receive support following their choices and preferences. 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 been improved and decorated since our last visit, however a person’s flooring had not been replaced. The lounge flooring was also stained and dirty. People’s rooms had been furnished or decorated following their likes or dislikes. Some people had been accessing the community regularly; a person told us they had been out to the hairdressers and has their hair cut. However, this was not the case for all people living at the service. People were not consistently supported to take part in activities they enjoyed. Despite our observations, people told us they liked living at the service. Comments included, “I like it at Milestone”; “I love living here. I feel safe” and “It’s alright here I get treated well and I’m well looked after.” Relatives told us; “It is a lovely home, and I am very happy with the standard of care she receives”; “I am pleased with his care and that all is being done to make his life as good as it can be”; “It is homely, and staff provide the care she needs.”