Hebburn Court Nursing Home

Date of assessment 23 June 2026. Hebburn Court Nursing Home provides accommodation with nursing and personal care for up to 53 people, some of whom were living with dementia. When we inspected 26 people were living at the service.

This inspection was to follow up on breaches identified at out last assessment. At the last inspection in June 2025, the service was rated requires improvement and was in breach of regulation relating to good governance. At this inspection, we found improvements had been made and rated the service good. The provider was no longer in breach of regulations relating to good governance.

The provider had acted on the shortfalls with oversight of accident and incident and medicines management identified at the last assessment, particularly recording of ‘as required’ medicines. However, further improvements were required to ensure staff accurately recorded when time critical medicines had been administered. The registered manager acted immediately to resolve this.

The provider had systems in place to assess and manage risks, and the environment was clean and well maintained. Regular fire safety checks, including monthly drills, were completed.

Staff supported people well during mealtimes, with people receiving the support they needed to have enough to eat and drink.

People had regular access to a range of health and social care professionals, care plans included recommendations from professionals to help ensure people received appropriate care. Where people lacked capacity, Mental Capacity Act (MCA) assessments and best interest decisions were documented for restrictions placed on them.

The provider’s quality assurance processes were more structured and were now effective in identifying areas for improvement and learning. This included a range of audits to check on falls management, medicines and infection prevention and control (IPC).

Staff received good support and spoke positively about improvements in the service, describing better management support and investment in the home.
 

Date of assessment 12 to 14 May 2025. Hebburn Court is a care home providing nursing and personal care for up to 55 people. When we inspected 22 people were living there.

The provider had made progress since the last inspection and was no longer in breach of regulations relating to safe care and treatment, safe premises, consent to care and duty of candour. There were continuing breaches of regulation relating to person-centred care and good governance. This was due to care plans and risk assessments requiring further development, so they were accurate and fully reflected people’s needs and preferences. There were still inaccuracies in some care records, including medicines records. The consistency and quality of audits had improved. Although audits were identifying areas requiring improvement, they were not always effective as they had not identified the issues we found during the inspection.

Mental Capacity Act (MCA) assessments and best interests decisions had been completed for most decisions where people lacked capacity to consent. However, some were still missing, which the manager addressed straightaway.

The provider now had a structured approach to investigating and analysing incidents and accidents. Management were also starting to identify trends and learning. However, more in-depth analysis was required to identify and address the root cause of incidents. Safeguarding concerns were now being reported and investigated in a timely way.

The provider had addressed most of the environmental risks from the last inspection. However, fire drills and fire alarm tests were inconsistent.

There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s needs. New staff were recruited safely.

Staff said they felt supported and that the service was moving in the right direction.

Risk assessments were now being completed. However, some risk assessments needed further development as the measures to reduce risk were not recorded clearly.

The provision of activities had improved and these were advertised on the notice board in an accessible format.

This service has been in Special Measures since 16 January 2025. The provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.