Highborder Lodge

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

People and their relatives spoke positively about the support they received from staff commenting: “She has settled ok, the staff look after her very well and they love her, they give me a good welcome”, “Some of the staff are wonderful, not valued enough by owners/managers” and another said, “She loves her baths and especially bubble baths and they make sure she gets them” and “I can go to bed early, not a TV fan, I like reading and there is a library. I can shower/bath every morning if I want, my clothes are laundered, all labelled and they do come back.”

We observed staff were kind in their interactions with people and gave time to understanding their needs. The care given was dignified and respectful. People and their relatives told us, “The staff are lovely, she has a choice of when/whether she gets up. She is always clean (as is the home) and has a bath” and “I have nothing but respect for the staff.”

We saw staff approach people calmly and encourage them with support or gentle reminders throughout out visit. People appeared comfortable in the presence of staff.

The provider put on events for people to enjoy with their families, a cheese and wine evening and a Christmas buffet. People and relatives told us these had been a success with good food and time spent with their families celebrating. It had also been an opportunity to meet the new providers senior management team and hear about plans for the service. People living alone in the local community had also been invited to come in for Christmas and were offered a cooked meal.

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

Staff demonstrated a genuine interest in people’s wellbeing and what was important to them. One relative said, “She has made a friend here and I had a quiet word with staff, and they now sit together at lunch. This morning they went off on the bus to the coffee café.” Another person told us about how the provider brought in a drinks machine to make their favourite drink and staff were going to support them to make this for the person to enjoy.

People had the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities and trips out. People we spoke with told us they enjoyed the activity provision in the home commenting: “Last week dancing, quizzes, there are a range of activities in the afternoon; dogs come in and a donkey! Music”, “Two weeks ago wonderful sing song, last week 2 people, 1 with a violin, this week 1 man singing, really enjoying” and “The events staff are very encouraging and get them involved.” We observed some of the activities and saw these were lively well attended events.

People told us their individual food and drink preferences were catered for and gave positive feedback about the meals in the home. People commented, “She raves about the food, especially puddings, she loves the idea she can choose”, “The chef has got to know me, they used to cover my food with gravy, I asked them not to put it all over so they give me a jug (of gravy), so they do take notice when I raise things” and “Food is good, [chef] came and talked to us; said ‘I am here for you, not you for me’ he does roasts, chicken sort of food I like and enjoy.”

The provider did not always promote people’s independence, so people did not always know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The environment was not set up to encourage independence and choice for some people with advanced dementia. One floor of the building had been made into a secure area with keypad entry. This secure area did not afford people any communal space to spend time. This meant people living on this floor had to enlist staff support to leave and spend time in other parts of the home. We saw people remained in their bedrooms unless staff accompanied them down to activities or the downstairs lounges. We saw reference to a ‘dementia lounge’ in a manager letter dated 5 December 2025 which recorded ‘I am aware that some residents used the dementia lounge at night and staff have been disappointed to have this resource removed. I have spoken to our other homes about this where we do not have such a facility. It seems that residents are very happy to have a walk around the home and the corridor and then often to return to bed.’

We observed during our inspection people came to the lounge areas for activities but then were escorted by staff back to their rooms. Although it was undertaken in a kind way, it seemed to be an ingrained practice rather than letting people stay in communal areas. We saw people came to the dining room for main meals.

The provider told us previously everyone stayed in their bedrooms and a lot of work had been done to change this but there was still further progress to be made.

We saw throughout the inspection relatives were able to visit their family members and spend time with them without restriction. These visits took place either around the home or in the privacy of people’s bedroom. Staff were friendly and welcomed visitors into the home. One person told us, “My family visit, the staff are welcoming, he has a rapport with them, and I get on with them too.”

There was no further evidence that people and relatives had been consulted about this or how this met the best interests of people. Despite the letter acknowledging the lounge was used and staff raising disappointment this facility was still removed.

The secure area referred to as the ‘dementia community’, was not following any dementia friendly design principles. There was a lack of way finding, natural light, rest areas, points of interest and space. The provider told us they recognised and agreed this area needed improvements; however, felt it was sufficient that people had access to downstairs communal living with staff support.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

We saw people had pain management care plans to alert staff to monitor for any signs of pain or discomfort and support access to pain relief where required. People and their relatives raised no concerns about how staff responded to their needs and felt listened to.

Although during our visit we did not hear prolonged call bells or people waiting excessive periods of time before staff responded to their needs, we were unable to verify this outside of the visit. We requested the last 3 months of call bell audits but were only provided with 2 weeks for December 2025 as the system was unable to retrieve any more due to a fault. The provider informed us they are upgrading the call bell system.

The provider cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

There had been a lot of changes within the service and staff team, and this was still in the process of settling. The acting manager spoke about how they had worked alongside staff to build trust and confidence saying: “hearing their voices was important to go forward for better ways of working. Having supervision, giving staff opportunity. The team had embraced it well and come forward and it’s about the learning and how we go forward.”

The service offered incentives to celebrate staff success which included a voucher and recognition amongst the team. The acting manager said this would also be included in newsletters and within supervisions staff were encouraged to progress and develop.

New staff received information about the service, but the provider was in the process of revising a staff handbook to collate all this and update information. The provider had a flexible working policy in place.