Updated 18 September 2025
Date of assessment: 21 October 2025
Firtree House Nursing Home is a service that offers accommodation and nursing for up to 35 people. This included people with physical and mental health conditions, which included people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection, 31 people were living at the service.
The service had 2 registered managers in post and during this report we refer to them as ‘management’.
People received the medicines they required, but storage of medicines did not always follow best practice. In addition, we found some people’s air mattresses were not on the correct settings and 1 person’s thickener powder was left out in their room. We also found that, although the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 were being taken into account, this was not always in a consistent way. Management has ensured there were sufficient staff on duty, but recruitment processes required improvement as we found gaps in the employment history of some staff. Following our inspection, management provided us with evidence of immediate action addressing areas we had highlighted to them.
Staff were happy working at the service and told us they felt supported and listen to by management. There was a good culture within the service. Lessons learnt from accidents and incidents were shared with staff and staff were aware of how to keep people safe.
Staff worked closely with external professionals, both health and social to help ensure they provided the most appropriate care to people.
Staff received appropriate training and supervision for their role and they were confident if they spoke up, they would be listened to.
Governance arrangements were robust and management and staff looked for ways to continually improve the service.