The Meadows

Updated 8 December 2025

Date of assessment: 08 to 22 December 2025. The Meadows is a care home registered to provide accommodation and personal care. The service provides care and support to up to 54 older people. At the time of the assessment there were 49 people using the service. At our last assessment, published September 2023, the service was rated requires improvement. The provider was in breach of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and governance. We carried out this assessment to review actions taken by the provider following our last assessment. Improvements were found, and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations. We assessed 14 quality statements in safe and well led. At this assessment the rating for the safe and well led key question has changed to good. The ratings for the quality statements we did not assess remain unchanged. This means the overall rating for the service has changed to good.

Our observations of the care provided were positive, overall people and their relatives told us they were satisfied with the service. Health professionals told us they had good communication and positive working relationships with the service. Staff spoke positively of their work and felt supported by the management team. The home was clean and tidy, and people were protected against the risk of infection by safe systems and good standards.

Medicines were managed safely. People were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. Systems for safeguarding, risk management, infection control were effective. Staff were well-trained and knew people well, which built trust with the people they supported. Effective systems were in place to ensure necessary recruitment checks were carried out. Staff told us they received induction and supervision; however, records showed some supervisions were not always taking place in line with policy and procedure. This had been identified in the registered managers audit, and a plan was in place to address this.

Leadership was strong, inclusive and focused on continuous improvement. There was a positive culture of openness and learning, supported by clear governance systems and effective partnership working. However, although safeguarding referrals were submitted to the local authority, they were not reported to the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager and nominated individual acknowledged this oversight and took prompt action to address it. Staff felt supported, able to speak up, and valued within an inclusive culture.

Updated 8 December 2025

People who used the service and relatives told us the service was safe and that enough staff were available. Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. We used a structured observation tool to assess whether they received good care. From this we saw people were comfortable, safe and supported by staff. Staff knew people well and were good at responding to people’s immediate needs.

People received the support they needed to eat and drink. One person said to us, “We have a choice of where to have breakfast I like to go to the dining room, I have pureed food, for breakfast I can have cornflakes but have to have hot milk so it goes soft.” People felt medicines were managed appropriately.

Everybody we spoke with made positive comments about the care provided and said the staff and management team treated people in a kind and respectful way. People were treated with dignity and respect and were able to retain their independence where possible. One person said, “The staff are really caring to my father and to me and my sister. There are regular staff and we know them.” Another relative said “I am happy with the home; it was the best move for her. The staff are very good, I have no complaints, they were kind to her.”