Red Brick House

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

Date of assessment: 9 September to 8 October 2025.

Red Brick House is a care home providing accommodation, personal and nursing care to a maximum of 50 older people, including people who may live with dementia. At the time of our unannounced visit, 40 people were using the service.

There was a manager in place who had applied to become registered as manager with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager is legally responsible to ensure that the service is compliant with legal and regulatory requirements.

The service was flexible and adapted to people's changing needs and wishes and promoted their independence. Improvements had been made to care records for the management of risk to ensure people received safe care. Care records were detailed, person-centred and reflected people's care needs. Accidents and incidents were investigated, action taken, and lessons were learned.

There were sufficient trained staff who worked with other professionals to ensure people's needs were met in a safe and timely way. Staff treated people with kindness and compassion. However, we discussed with the registered manager the improvements that were needed with how some staff engaged with people.

Infection prevention control was mostly effective. The environment was maintained to keep people safe, however areas of the home were showing signs of wear and tear. We also signposted the provider to ensure that information was advertised in an accessible format to keep people informed and involved in decision making.

People's diversity as unique individuals with their own needs, was well-respected by staff. The staff team knew people well and provided support discreetly and with compassion. People’s privacy was respected, and people were supported to maintain contact with relatives and friends. The culture of the service was friendly, open and transparent where people's and staff’s voices were listened to in order to continually improve the quality of care. People, relatives and staff were confident about approaching the registered manager if they needed to. They recognised that their views and feedback were valued and respected and consistently used to support quality service development.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the service and management. Governance was mostly effective, however we advised more frequent audits, and spot checks of the environment and people’s dining experience to ensure and maintain the quality and safety of service provision.

People's experience of this service

Relatives, people and professionals told us how kind, caring and supportive the staff were.People said they were happy living at the service. People and relatives’ comments included, “The staff in here are lovely and very organised”, “This might not be the most palatial place, but it is clean, the location is fantastic, there is no smell, it is fine”, “We get plenty of opportunities to chat with people” and “I am quite happy here, there isn’t anywhere better.” People felt safe with staff support their comments included, “[Name] does their own thing, there is always someone around” ,“The big thing is they are concerned about you falling over here, if I fall over, I get checked out” and “Staff seem to know what they are doing, I have never found fault.” People received a varied diet and changes had been made to menus as a result of people’s feedback. A person told us, “There is plenty of food, it is too nice, I have put on weight. I have asked to have a salad.” People told us they were listened to; they were supported to make choices and were involved in decision making about their care and support. A person commented, “Staff know what I like, I decide what I do.” People had access to activities and entertainment to support their health and well-being. A person commented, “I have chats with the activities person.” A staff member told us, “I get the opportunity to join in some of the activity events, such as singing and dancing, I have fun with residents.”