• Care Home
  • Care home

Archived: The Chase

Overall: Inadequate read more about inspection ratings

53 Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 3NH (01227) 453483

Provided and run by:
Purelake (Chase) Limited

Important:

We took action to cancel the registration of Purelake (Chase) Limited to provide a regulated activity from this location on 07 August 2026. This action was taken following 8 breaches of legal regulation being identified at an inspection in June 2025. CQC commenced enforcement action to cancel this registration following the inspection.

Latest inspection summary

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Our current view of the service

Inadequate

Updated 1 May 2026

Date of Inspection: 15 June 2026 to 24 June 2026. The Chase is a residential care home registered to support up to 31 older adults. At the time of our inspection 19 people were living at the service.

The inspection was undertaken to follow up breaches of regulation identified at the previous inspection conducted in July 2025. We found the quality of care being delivered continued to expose people to significant risk of harm, was not personalised to their wishes or needs and placed people in undignified or unsafe situations. The service remains in breach of legal regulations in relation to person centred care, dignity and respect, consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, the safety of the environment, governance and safe staffing. A breach of regulation relating to recruitment of fit and proper persons had been met as no new staff had been recruited since the last inspection. The rating of the service remains Inadequate.

People lived in an environment that was not consistently clean or safe. The building smelt heavily of urine during our visit, and there were risks such as trip hazards which had not been resolved appropriately which placed people at risk of harm.

Medications were not managed safely, and the provider had not ensured robust systems to assess the competency of staff who were undertaking these tasks. This included the provision of high-risk medications which could result in life threatening implications if not administered.

Risks to people were not consistently well managed, and there were gaps in staff knowledge, training, risk assessment and environmental safety which increased these risks.

Staff interactions with people were kind, however the overall culture at the service did not promote people’s dignity or quality of life. People were placed in disrespectful situations, were not supported to explore activities that were meaningful to them, and care that was provided was often task based.

Governance systems were not robust to identify or resolve risks to people. Leaders were not consistently knowledgeable about their responsibilities to provide safe care and treatment. There was not a positive safeguarding culture at the service, and safety events were not always appropriately reported or learned from.

Some areas had improved since the previous inspection, including management of certain clinical risks such as diabetes and constipation as well as greater consistency in care records. However consistent improvement had not been sustained across the service and people’s quality of life.

This service remains placed 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. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.

People's experience of the service

Updated 1 May 2026

We received mixed feedback from people and relatives about their experience of care. One person we spoke with told us “Yes it is very good here. I like knowing there is always someone here to care for me”. A relative added “(Person name) loves it there. I can’t think of anything negative to say about them”. However another relative we spoke with told us “I can see my loved one’s hair is not washed. They aren’t encouraging them enough. There isn’t enough activities at the weekend and I worry about people declining”.

Despite the elements of positive feedback, we found people were not receiving care that met their needs or was delivered safely. People were placed in undignified situations, and restrictions on their care that were not appropriately assessed prior to being made. Risks to people were not managed safely which placed people at risk of harm. People were not consistently supported to explore things that were meaningful to them such as activities or cultural and spiritual needs. Appropriate action was not consistently taken following incidents to ensure people’s physical or emotional safety.