- Care home
Highborder Lodge
Assessment report published 17 March 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment 12 January 2026 to 22 January 2026. Highborder Lodge is a care home supporting older people some of whom live with a dementia. At the time of our assessment there were 33 people living at the care home.
The care home was taken over by a new provider in June 2025. The service has not been inspected since their registration; therefore, we assessed all quality statements across the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions.
The overall rating of this service was requires improvement.
During the assessment, we identified a breach of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment as the provider failed to ensure risks to people were well managed. We also identified a breach in good governance as the provider did not always have consistent effective systems to monitor and improve the service. We found concerns with medicine storage, records, and administration. We found some people lacked appropriate risk assessments and care plans. The service’s governance systems were not always effective in identifying shortfalls in the home. However, the provider started to address our concerns during the assessment process.
An assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. 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.
The provider also provided a home care agency from the same registered location as Highborder Lodge. During our assessment, we established this service was not currently delivering the regulated activity of personal care for people. Therefore, we are unable to report on this. The provider told us they plan to make the home care agency service operational in the future.
However, the care home had an onsite chef who catered for people’s nutritional needs. Kitchen staff were knowledgeable about people’s dietary needs. The interim manager was experienced and knowledgeable, they were supporting the home through a big transition. The internal environment had improved with the provider investing in new décor and furniture throughout.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
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 this service
Despite the concerns we found during our assessment, people and their relatives were positive about the changes the new provider had made. People had access to a range of activities and regularly went out on the minibus. The activities coordinator provided activities that supported people’s mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. People were spending much more time outside of their bedrooms and in communal since the new provider took over last year.
People and their relatives talked positively about the care they received, the marked improvements with the environment and people’s access to activities. People told us they felt safe and the home was well managed. One person told us, “I feel safe, wouldn’t have said yes to be here otherwise.” And another resident said, “I can choose to go to the dining room for meals – like the company. The meals are lovely, very good, I clear my plate, I get a choice.”