Meade Close

Updated 2 October 2025

Date of Assessment: 27 October 2025 to 18 November 2025.

Meade Close is a residential care home for up to 9 people with physical and sensory impairments, communication difficulties, learning disabilities, complex health needs, and/or autism. The home consists of three single-storey buildings and was fully occupied at the time of our assessment.

The inspection was prompted due to concerns received about standards of care, management and administration of medication, staffing levels, leadership and management and a notification of an incident, where an injury was sustained. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this assessment did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

We assessed the service against ‘right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed 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.

Right Support:
Medicines were not managed safely, exposing people to risk. The provider was carrying on a regulated activity without the appropriate registration and clinical oversight. A new management structure had been introduced to support the team. Care records lacked clear information about areas of risk. External healthcare advice was appropriately sought. Aids and adaptations supported people’s physical needs, but the environment required improvement.

Right Care:
Care plans were personalised reflecting people’s individual needs and preferences. Routines were not always flexible, and some staff lacked confidence in engaging people in meaningful activities. Recruitment was safe, further training and development was needed to meet people’s complex care and sensory needs.

Right Culture:
Governance systems were in place and findings informed improvement plans. However, it was unclear how learning was applied and embedded. Staff generally felt able to speak with managers and most of the team worked well together.

In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.

Updated 2 October 2025

People living at Meade Close had limited ability, or were unable, to verbally express their needs and wishes. We spent time observing people’s routines and how staff interacted with them. Whilst records show people have the opportunity to take part in various activities both in and away from the home, during our site visits we found not everyone was seen taking part in activities of their choosing and observations of staff varied in relation to the level of engagement with people.. We were told following our visits additional staffing had been put in place.

Some staff appeared to know people well and were kind and respectful when offering care and support. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained. Feedback from relatives was mixed about areas of support provided. Whilst relatives felt their family members were generally well cared for, they felt some staff were more proactive than others when engaging with people. We saw records were completed by staff to show when people had been supported with their personal care needs, people’s relatives felt their belongings could be treated better and more attention could be given to areas of personal care, such as facial hair, cleaning of nails and oral care.

Relatives said they were able to visit the home regularly and were made welcome by staff. Some relied on staff keeping them informed about their family member. We were told at times communication could be improved as calls were not always answered. This was also supported by professionals we spoke with. Following our visits we were told further telephone handsets had been introduced to improve accessibility and reduce delays in responding to calls.