- Care home
Fennell Court
Assessment report published 12 August 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Dates of assessment: 25 June to 9 July 2026. Fennell Court is registered to provide accommodation and personal care for up to 8 people with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection 7 people were living at the service. Each person has an individual apartment with their own kitchen, lounge, bedroom and bathroom and access to a communal lounge, kitchen and garden area.
We 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 most people take for granted. We found people received care and support in accordance with this guidance.
This provider was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of ‘Right support, right care, right culture’.
The assessment was carried out in line with CQC’s assessment priorities and was unannounced.
People received good, kind, compassionate and person-centred care from staff who knew them well and consistently treated them with dignity, respect and empathy. They treated them as individuals and supported their preferences. People had choice in their care and were encouraged to maintain relationships with family and friends. Staff responded to people in a timely way. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs without delay.
Individual apartments had been adapted to enable greater independence for people where needed and people were supported to access the local community and had access to a range of activities in line with their individual likes and dislikes.
Quality assurance processes were operated effectively and the registered manager provided robust oversight of the service to support effective monitoring and improvement.
The provider demonstrated lessons learned from incidents and shared these through team meetings to ensure improvement.
Since our last inspection the service had improved their understanding and application of The Mental Capacity Act and staff were able to explain the principles of the Act.
We received mixed views from staff in relation to being supported and treated equally, however staff consistently told us they felt able to raise any concerns with the registered manager. The provider was implementing a range of actions following the feedback to support staff well-being and enable staff to speak up.
People's experience of this service
People were happy at the service, and we observed staff supporting people to do activities that they enjoyed in the community or undertaking different activities within the home. People were supported to clean their apartments and do their own laundry where able. People were supported to menu plan and encouraged to help prepare their food. People’s different dietary needs were catered for, for example Halal foods.
Each person’s apartment was person-centred and took account of individual’s likes and dislikes. Adaptations were made where needed to support people’s independence.
We used a short observational tool to observe how staff interacted with people. This showed that people received positive interactions and engagement from staff who understood people’s needs.
Relatives told us people were safely supported and were assisted to access other services when needed. Relatives confirmed there were always enough staff on duty although the service had issues in the past with staff leaving and agency staff being used until other staff were recruited.