- Care home
St Martins Residential Home
Assessment report published 27 February 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
St Martins Residential Home is a care home for up to 26 individuals, providing personal care and accommodation to older people and including those living with dementia. There were 26 people using the service at the time of our assessment. We undertook an unannounced assessment on 3 December to 16 December 2025, with onsite activity on the 3 and 4 December. The accommodation for people was over 3 floors with access to a large garden and easy access to the local community.
At the last assessment the service was rated requires improvement and 4 breaches of regulation were found relating to person centred care, consent, risk management in safe care and treatment and governance. We assessed the quality statements from all the key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. At this assessment we identified 2 continued breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.
During the assessment, we found that quality assurance processes and audits were not always robust and embedded enough for the service to identify shortfalls and therefore unable to identify areas for improvement. We found that people’s care plans did not always reflect the support they required and whilst risk assessments were in place, they did not always provide staff with enough detail to mitigate risks.
Staff knew the people they cared for and treated people with kindness. Staff received appropriate support, including induction, supervision and appraisal. Training records showed staff had completed training to safely carry out their roles, with updates provided to ensure their skills remained current. Staff knew how to recognise and report safeguarding concerns.
There was enough staff to meet people’s needs in a timely way. People had enough to eat and drink. They were supported to access external agencies when needed, including medical professionals.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
During this assessment we spoke with people who lived at the service, their relatives, staff, the registered manager, nominated individual and sought feedback from external healthcare professionals. People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager of the service, who they said was approachable and supportive. One person told us, “The manager is excellent and she chats to me anytime.”
People told us they felt the service was safe. One person told us, “I do feel safe here and I think I still have my independence.” Another person told us, “I have never felt unsafe here.” Relatives also felt their loved ones were safe and cared for. A relative said, “I breathe easily as I know she is safe there.”
We observed interactions between the staff and people at the service and people appeared comfortable with staff. A relative told us, “I speak to all the staff, they are very nice people.” Another relative said, “They treat [relatives name] with respect, they love her and I have confidence when I stand at the door and I can hear staff laughing and caring for her, they make her feel loved.”
Whilst the people who use the service and their relatives told us they were happy with their care, our assessment found some areas did not meet the expected standards.