- Care home
Woodlands Care Home
We served a warning notice on Heatherland Health Care Limited on 6 November 2025 for failing to meet the regulations related to good governance at Woodlands Care Home.
Assessment report published 9 December 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
We carried out a responsive assessment of Woodlands care home between 6 October 2025 and 24 October 2025. This assessment was prompted in part due to concerns raised to CQC and the length of time since the last inspection.
During our assessment we observed care and reviewed people’s risk assessments, care plans and medicines administration records. We reviewed policies, procedures, training records, incident records and other relevant documentation.
The provider was in breach of 3 legal regulations related to need for consent, safe care and treatment and good governance of the service.
The provider’s governance processes were not robust, with audits and monitoring not identifying any of the issues we noted during the assessment. There was a lack of effective oversight and monitoring of the service. Quality assurance systems and processes were not effectively implemented to ensure safety and drive improvement.
The provider did not always ensure all potential risks to people were understood and managed. People’s health was not always robustly monitored and people’s care plans lacked guidance in relation to the potential risks associated with their diagnosed specific medical conditions.
The provider did not have robust processes to identify potential health and safety issues. The provider had not ensured all risks to people had been mitigated and managed, for example, water safety, fire safety and window restrictors. Whilst there was a wide range of audits completed, these did not identify all the issues we found.
The provider failed to ensure that medicines were consistently managed and stored safely. Some medicines lacked sufficient guidance about administration to inform staff.
Where people lacked mental capacity to consent to their care and treatment, mental capacity assessments and best interest decisions had not been completed in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The service was clean and safe infection control practices were in place. Staff were positive about working at the service. Staff wellbeing was supported, and they felt able to raise concerns to the management team. Recruitment processes ensured safe recruitment of staff.
Staff were kind, caring, and respectful towards the people in their care. People’s communication needs had been assessed and planned for. Staff worked with all agencies involved in people’s care for the best outcomes.
The management team were actively involved in the day to day running of the service.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment in relation to consent to care and treatment and safe care and treatment.
In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.
People's experience of this service
During the assessment, we received feedback from people who used the service and relatives. Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. For these individuals we used observations including the short observational framework for inspection (SOFI) to help us assess the quality of care they received.
We received positive feedback from people and their relatives about their experiences of the service and the care provided. People and relatives spoke warmly about the care staff delivering care. Feedback we received included, “[Family member] has a lot of time for all the staff and it seems like a family”, “They have all been good and supportive“ and “The staff, they are good people”.
People engaged in a number of activities in the home and were supported to maintain their relationships with friends and family.We made observations of people receiving visitors and engaging in the activities. People, relatives, and visitors were given opportunities to share their experiences of the service. People were treated with kindness and compassion.