During an assessment under our new approach
Date of Assessment: 7 to 8 October 2025. Woodley Hall Care Home is a 21 bedroomed care home in a residential area in the north of Newcastle. It provides care for up to 21 older people including people living with dementia. There were 19 people living at the home at the time of the assessment. The assessment was unannounced.
We assessed all of the quality statements from the key questions. The service was in breach of regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, good governance and had failed to notify CQC of notifications as required by legislation.
We have combined the scores for these areas with scores from the last inspection to give the rating for this assessment. The service has been rated requires improvement following this assessment.
Although systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service and identify improvements, the audits and checks carried out by the provider had not identified the shortfalls we found during this assessment. Additionally, the provider had failed to submit required notifications to the CQC regarding safeguarding events at the service.
Care plans did not always include detailed information about the specific support individuals required. For example, while some plans stated that staff should promote people's independence, they did not provide guidance on how this should be achieved. In addition, there were no care plans in place for individuals dependent on alcohol, outlining the support they needed to manage this.
The provider failed to ensure that effective systems were in place for assessing and managing the risk of prevention and control of the spread of infections.
The service had appropriate systems to ensure that medicines were stored, administered, and disposed of safely. The service collaborated effectively with health and social care professionals to support people’s access to healthcare, helping them maintain their overall well-being.
People had access to specialist diets where required, such as fortified meals or texture-modified diets. Where individuals had specific dietary needs, these were clearly recorded in their care plans to ensure staff were aware of the support required.
Staff described a supportive and open culture. They spoke positively about the management team, said they felt valued, and were proud to work at Woodley Hall. Staff told us they were encouraged to share ideas and raise concerns during regular meetings and discussions.