Home Instead – Eastbourne and Hailsham

Updated 12 September 2025

Date of assessment: 18 September to 17 October 2025. Home Instead - Eastbourne and Hailsham is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults of all ages in their homes. At the time of our assessment, 24 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care. Although this service specialises in supporting older people living with dementia, they are also registered to provide support to autistic people and people with a learning disability. At the time of our assessment, the service was not providing support to people whose primary care need was as a result of their learning disability or autism. However, we still assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider could guarantee 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 had regard to ‘Right support, right care, right culture’. Evidence and feedback demonstrated that the service consistently met the needs of the people they supported.

The service had a strong, proactive and positive culture, which empowered people to reduce risks to their safety. There was an open and transparent culture at the service and staff had a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement. Challenges were seen as opportunities and not obstacles, which showed a true commitment to people’s health and wellbeing. Staff were trained and supported in their roles. All staff spoke highly about the providers values of genuinely caring and valuing them as a team which ensured they delivered high-quality care to people.

People’s care was planned in an exceptionally personalised and holistic way. Leaders and staff worked diligently to ensure people’s emotional wellbeing and health needs were met. The provider matched people with staff who shared similar interests, experiences and values to ensure people had significantly positive experiences of care. They welcomed contact from people and their relatives and wanted to ensure everyone who contacted the service had a positive outcome.

Staff and leaders were exceptional at treating people with kindness, empathy, and compassion. They respected people’s dignity and privacy and understood the importance of supporting people to maintain their independence. The provider not only valued people using their service, but their individual support networks too.

There was a very strong emphasis on the provision of activities and reducing social isolation which were meaningful to people. The provider was pro-active in sourcing innovative ways to enhance people’s support and experiences in the wider community which was notably beneficial to their wellbeing.

Staff excelled in identifying when people needed additional support from other agencies and supported them to access these without delay. They demonstrated exceptional values of putting people first and advocating on their behalf to ensure they did not experience any barriers to care. Professionals spoke highly of staff’s proactive and compassionate approach.

Updated 12 September 2025

People gave excellent feedback about the provider, leaders, and staff. They consistently described staff as warm, patient and genuinely caring about them “as a person not a task”. A person said, “I really value the contact with them. They take the time to natter to me which makes my day.” Relatives felt involved in their family members care and were included as part of the support team. People and relatives described the care delivered as “over and above” and were overwhelmed by the difference staff and leaders had made to people’s circumstances and care. A person told us, “Staff are always reassuring. They always make me laugh which brightens up my day. Sometimes when I feel low, they take me out which lifts my spirits. It makes me feel happy and more positive. I am extremely grateful to staff.” A relative said, “Without their care, [person] would not be able to live at home. Staff do more than they need to do. They bring little bits in for [person] because they’re always thinking of them. That comes from the leadership and recruitment, they pick the right people. I don't feel there is anything [registered manager] can improve on. Right from the beginning, I thought ‘this is someone I can trust’.” We saw many examples of how the provider supported people to achieve positive outcomes and continue doing the things that were important to them. People and their relatives felt at ease to raise concerns and were assured they would be listened to. People and relatives felt staff were punctual and very reliable, arriving to provide support at the agreed times.People had dedicated staff teams who knew and supported them exceptionally well. Relatives told us how the consistent support had been vital for people living with dementia to reduce their anxiety and distress. They described how staff quickly noticed when something changed and acted straight away to provide reassurance or support. They told us how the provider had gone above and beyond to support them when they experienced barriers to getting care and treatment from other services