Updated 3 September 2025
This inspection was undertaken with site visits between 30 September and 13 October 2025.
Riverside Care Home provides accommodation, nursing and residential care for up to 90people who may be living with dementia, physical disability or require nursing care. The home is located in a residential area of Tameside and caters for young people over the age of 18 as well as older adults. There were 85 people using the service at the time of the inspection. This inspection was brought forward due to concerns around the use of bed rails. We found no evidence of concerns around the use of bed rails or safety equipment to mange people at risk of falls from bed.
We found shortfalls in the management of people’s medicines but there was no evidence that people had come to harm, and the provider was responsive and addressed our concerns during the inspection. Care plans and risk assessments were in place but varied in quality and did not always contain enough information about how risk should be managed. People felt safe and where concerns were raised these were investigated appropriately with lessons learnt being undertaken and shared with staff. However, further work was needed to ensure where people lacked capacity and were subject to restrictions that these restrictions were always considered in line with the mental capacity act in relation to use of covert medicines, although other aspects of restriction were appropriately assessed.
People were supported to access health care services where needed and staff knew people well and were able to identify when people were becoming unwell. Further work was needed to ensure accurate records were being maintained to ensure appropriate monitoring of people’s care.
People and families generally spoke highly of the care they received, and we saw some positive examples of how people were supported. Choice was promoted and people were encouraged to remain independent where possible. The staff team generally felt well support by the registered manager and provider.
Care plans were not always as detailed and as person centred as possible. Work was underway to address this matter. People were encouraged to feedback their views about the service through meetings and surveys and a ‘resident of the day’ scheme encouraged people and family’s involvement in care planning but was not yet fully embedded.
The registered manager understood the requirements of their role and processes were in place to drive improvement. Ongoing work was underway in relation to the environment and records system. Audits and checks were in place to identify any areas of concern, but these had not always identified some of the issues we found at this inspection. The registered manager and management team were very responsive to any feedback shared and issues were immediately addressed.