Updated 3 April 2025
Date of Assessment:7 to 11 July 2025. The Birches is a residential care home for up to 7 people. At the time of this assessment 5 people were using the service. The service provides care to adults living with mental health conditions and/or physical disabilities. This inspection was carried out following information of concern we had received about the quality of the care in the service. At the time of our inspection, the service was managed by an interim manager, a new manager had been appointed and was undertaking their induction, the provider told us the new manager was applying to register with CQC.
We found people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge of how to recognise signs of abuse and how to safeguard people if they had any concerns. We found people were safely supported to live their day to day lives in line with their choices and preferences and medicines were safely managed. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. The provider fostered a positive culture where people and staff felt able to speak up. The management team demonstrated a good oversight of the service through the systems they had in place which ensured regular audits took place to drive improvement.