- Care home
Clarence House Care Home
Assessment report published 13 November 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 14 August to 2 September 2025. Clarence House Care Home is a nursing home which provides personal care and nursing care to adults, some of whom were living with dementia or physical disabilities. Up to 78 people can reside at the service. At the time of the inspection 65 people were living at the service. We inspected the service due to concerns shared with CQC about the quality of care being delivered. We carried out a comprehensive assessment of the service covering all 5 key questions and all quality statements. We found breaches of legal regulations in relation to good governance and safe and effective staffing.Feedback from people, their relatives and staff indicated that staffing was an issue at the service. There was a lack of oversight of care taking place and staff did not consistently receive supervision in line with the provider’s supervision policy.There were issues with the safety of the environment and infection prevention and control measures within the home, which staff and leaders within the service had not recognised. This included cleaning products not being locked away, furniture stored in stairways and rusty equipment. Care and support were not always delivered to a consistently high standard. Observations of care showed that some staff offered, kind and compassionate care to people, delivered patiently. However, some observations showed some staff not engaging with people or engaging in a task focussed manner. There was very little social stimulation or activity taking place in the service. Some people were observed to have very minimal interaction with people throughout the day. An activities coordinator was in place, however this was insufficient to meet the well-being and social needs of the service. The provider had recognised this and was in the process of recruiting more staff to the activities role. People’s care plans did not always contain information that was accurate or up to date despite records having been reviewed by staff. Recorded observations of care, for example food and fluid charts, were not always completed in line with professional advice. Governance and auditing within the home, although taking place, had failed to identify and address the concerns we found at our site visit. Following the site visit the provider has undertaken a number of immediate actions to address the concerns and has taken steps to gather feedback from people and strengthen leadership and oversight within the service. These improvements will take time to implement and embed.
People's experience of this service
We found several compliance concerns, including concerns about the environment and care provided to people. This meant we could not be assured people always received safe, high quality care and support. Feedback from people and their relatives about the care delivered was mixed. People were able to identify individual staff members who they found were kind, caring and compassionate. A person told us, “[staff name] is brilliant, they won’t let me be down in the dumps for long.” However, people also gave examples which were less positive. A person told us, “[Staff] come in and do their jobs, they don’t chat.”
Relatives did not always feel informed about or involved in the care their loved ones received. People and relatives complained there was a lack of meaningful activity. Relatives told us, “Nobody does anything with my [relative]. They stay in bed 24/7. They don’t offer any stimulation” and “They only get [my relative] up very occasionally as they don’t have enough staff.” Relatives did not always feel confident that if they raised concerns, these would be actioned or investigated appropriately. Relatives told us, “When I complain nothing seems to happen. When I have raised that [my relative] is in someone else’s clothes they blame someone else” and “ I have made complaints and they investigate and say it didn’t happen, but I have photos to prove it did.”