Herondale

Updated 22 May 2025

Herondale is a residential care home providing accommodation with personal care for up to 8 people. The service provides care to older and younger people with mental ill health, people with learning disabilities and autistic people and those who misuse drugs and alcohol. There were 8 people living at the service at the time of our assessment.

We carried out our on-site comprehensive assessment on 10 and 13 June 2025. We looked at all key questions and all quality statements and followed up actions taken from the last assessment where the provider was in breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

The provider continued to be in breach of the regulations in relation to the premises and equipment, and good governance. In addition, there was a breach of the regulation in relation to staffing. Some improvements had been made in the areas of infection prevention and control, involving people and safe care and treatment and was no longer in breach of this regulation.

However, we found environmental risks including fire safety were not well managed or monitored. The bathrooms continued to be in a state of disrepair. Risks to people's safety were not always well documented and updated. There were not sufficient staff arrangements in place to support people effectively. Governance systems and audits had not significantly improved to identify or address the concerns we found at this and the previous assessment. We met with the provider to seek urgent assurance and asked them to provide an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

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. This service is in 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 timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

We have 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 that most people take for granted. At the time of the assessment, the location did not provide care or support to anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right support, right care, right culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this group of people.

Updated 22 May 2025

Most people we spoke with expressed they were happy with their care and support and with the staff supporting them. Whilst some improvements had been made to the cleanliness of the environment and people’s involvement in their care; our assessment found elements of the care did not meet the expected standards. There were not always enough staff to enable people to participate in daily activities which were important to them. People’s health and safety were not always monitored to ensure they were kept safe. People did not have adequate bathroom facilities to meet their personal care needs. People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives as their capacity to make decisions was not always assessed to ensure any restrictions in place were in their best interests.