Dover House

Ratings

• Overall

  Inadequate

• Safe

  Inadequate

• Effective

  Inadequate

• Caring

  Inadequate

• Responsive

  Inadequate

• Well-led

  Inadequate

Our view of the service

Date of assessment: 26 November to 17 December 2025. The service is a residential home providing accommodation with nursing and personal care for older people and people living with dementia. The service can support 86 people across 4 different floors. There were 72 people living in the service at the time of the assessment.

This assessment was prompted in part by notification of a serious incident involving a person using the service. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this assessment did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk. This assessment examined those risks. We found the provider was in breach of 7 legal regulations. These related to person-centred care, consent to care and treatment, safe care and treatment, safeguarding from abuse, premises and equipment, good governance and staffing.

Potential risks to people’s health and welfare had not been consistently identified and mitigated against with individual guidance for staff to follow. The premises were not always maintained well, and people were living in an unsuitable and undignified environment. People were not protected from the risk of infection. Staffing levels were not always sufficient, and staff did not receive the training they required to provide a good service. The provider was not following the Mental Capacity Act 2005 when assessing people’s capacity and ability to make decisions. People were not safeguarded from abuse. People did not receive care and support that was individual to them. The systems to monitor the quality and safety of the service were not effective. When shortfalls had been identified, action had not been taken to make improvements and the shortfalls continued.

We sought immediate assurances from the provider to take action to significantly improve the service people were provided with. The provider was responsive and developed an action plan to address the improvements required. They brought in extra staff to provide care and support to people, and also to support improvements in relation to clinical and nursing needs.

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 into 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 time frame within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

People's experience of this service

We had mixed feedback from people and relatives about the quality and safety of their care. While some people and their relatives said they felt safe, relatives of other people thought they did not receive care that was safe. Some relatives shared their concerns about the complex needs of other people living at the service and their loved ones had experienced alleged assaults which meant they felt unsafe.

Relatives of people living on floors 1 and 2 told us the smell of urine could be overpowering and leave smells on their clothes if they sat down. However, people and relatives on the ground floor and floor 3 did not experience the same issues, although a relative whose loved one lived on floor 3 commented that the ground floor and floor 3 were clean and tidy, but that floor 1 “Can be a bit pungent.”

There was a marked difference between the environment people lived in on the ground floor and floor 3, and the living arrangements for people living on floors 1 and 2.

While some people and relatives expressed general satisfaction with their care and treatment, our assessment found care failed to meet the expected standards.