The Care Quality Commission
  • Care Home
  • Care home

Lavender Fields

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

High Street, Seal, Sevenoaks, TN15 0AE (01732) 755630

Provided and run by:
Greensleeves Homes Trust

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 21 July to 31 July 2026. The service is a residential home providing accommodation and personal care for older people and people living with dementia. The service can support 75 people across 3 floors. There were 48 people living in the service at the time of assessment.
This assessment was undertaken to follow up on enforcement action taken following our previous assessment when the service was rated inadequate (published 16 October 2025). At the last assessment, we found the provider was in breach of 7 legal regulations. These related to person-centred care, dignity and respect, need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding from abuse and improper treatment, good governance and staffing. We checked to confirm if the provider had made the required improvements and the enforcement action taken had been complied with.
At this assessment we found a number of improvements had been made and although some further improvement was necessary, we were confident the provider was working towards full compliance with regulations. Stable leadership was now in place with a registered manager supported by a revised senior management structure. Staff training, safeguarding processes, care planning, maintaining people’s dignity and respect, healthcare engagement and staffing arrangements had all improved. People, relatives and staff consistently described a more positive culture, improved communication and a better quality of care. Care plans were more person-centred, healthcare needs were better managed, and safeguarding concerns were appropriately recognised and referred. Staff morale had improved and there was evidence of a stronger focus on people's individual needs and outcomes.
However, some improvements were not yet fully embedded. Medicines management remained an area of concern and systems were not always effective in ensuring medicines were managed safely. Processes to evidence compliance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 had improved but remained inconsistent. People who lacked capacity to make specific decisions could not always be assured decisions affecting them were supported by sufficiently robust assessments and best-interest processes. Governance systems had improved but were not yet consistently effective in identifying and addressing issues relating to medicines management, the quality of care planning and individual risk assessment and learning from incidents.

There continued to be breaches of regulation in relation to the safe management of medicines, implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) in relation to people’s rights and consent, and effective governance systems.

This service has been in Special Measures since 16 October 2025. The provider demonstrated improvements have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
 

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 18 June to 8 July 2025. The service is a residential home providing accommodation and personal care for older people and people living with dementia. The service can support 75 people across three different floors. There were 69 people living in the service at the time of inspection.

This inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury. This incident is subject to further investigation by CQC as to whether any regulatory action should be taken. As a result, this inspection did not examine the circumstances of the incident.

However, the information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the management of risk. This inspection examined those risks. We found the provider was in breach of 7 legal regulations. These related to person-centred care, consent to care and treatment, dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, safeguarding from abuse, good governance and staffing.

Potential risks to people’s health and welfare had not been consistently assessed and there was not always guidance for staff to follow. The provider was not following the Mental Capacity Act when assessing people’s capacity and ability to make decisions. People were not safeguarded from abuse. The systems to monitor the quality of the service were not effective. When shortfalls had been identified, action had not been taken to make improvements and the shortfalls continued.

We sent a letter to the provider on 19 June 2025 requesting they take immediate action in relation to the most serious concerns we found on the day of the first site visit, 18 June 2025. The provider sent an action plan on 20 June 2025 setting out the action they would take to keep people safe. When we returned on 25 June 2025 some of their actions had been completed but some had not.

In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.


This service is being placed into special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a time frame within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

 

29 April 2021

During an inspection looking at part of the service

About the service

Lavender Fields is a care home providing personal care for up to 75 older people and people living with dementia in one purpose-built building. There were 54 people living in the service at the time of inspection. The accommodation is arranged over three floors with 25 rooms on each floor. People had their own rooms with ensuite bathrooms.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People told us, and their relatives agreed, that they felt safe living in the service. One relative said, “Yes, she is very safe, I am very grateful”. Risk assessments and care plans were thorough and up to date and provided staff with enough detail to support people safely. People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and received safe care and treatment. There were enough staff to meet peoples’ needs. The home was clean and uncluttered. Medicines were managed in line with national guidance. Lessons were learned when things went wrong.

Peoples’ care and support was personalised to meet their individual needs and people told us they had been involved in planning their care. Staff were knowledgeable about the people they were supporting. Staff had received training to equip them for the role. One staff member told us, “I feel I have had enough training, if I needed more, I know I could have more”.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People told us they were treated with dignity and respect and we saw that peoples’ privacy was maintained.

People told us that the quality and variety of food was inconsistent. This has been fed back to the registered manager in residents and relative’s meetings at the start of the year, but there had been no sustainable improvement. The provider had plans in place to improve this.

The range of activities had been limited during COVID-19 and relatives told us this has impacted on peoples’ wellbeing. The registered manager was aware of this and had an action plan in place to address these concerns.

Quality assurance processes were in place to monitor the service. Staff and relatives told us that the manager was approachable, and staff were confident that action would be taken if they raised concerns.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 4 September 2019) and there were multiple breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found enough improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was carried out to follow up on action we told the provider to take at the last inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

10 July 2019

During a routine inspection

About the service

Lavender Fields Residential Home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to 62 older people at the time of the inspection. Lavender Fields accommodates up to 75 people a purpose built building.

People's experience of using this service and what we found

People told us they felt safe living at the service, however, potential risks to people's health and welfare had not been consistently assessed. Staff did not have guidance to mitigate risks and keep people safe with consistent care.

Accidents and incidents had not been consistently recorded and analysed to identify patterns and trends to reduce the risk of them happening again.

Care plans were not always completed to reflect the care being given to people. However, staff knew people well and people told us staff supported them in the way they preferred. Some audits had been completed but they did not cover all aspects of the service. The audits completed had not identified the shortfalls found at this inspection.

People's end of life wishes were not always discussed or recorded, this meant that people may not have been receiving the care they wanted at the end of their life. However, staff worked with the GP and district nurses to support people at the end of their life.

Medicines were administered, stored and managed safely. Audits identified no errors in the months before the inspection.

There were sufficient numbers of staff on duty. Staff had been recruited safely with all the appropriate checks in place.

People had choice over their care and support and their choice, dignity and privacy was respected by staff. People told us staff were kind and caring and treated them well.

People met with the registered manager before they moved into service to check staff could meet their needs. People were supported to eat a balanced diet, people had a choice of meals, people's dietary needs were catered for. However, people told us that the food within the service was not always as good as it could be and improvements could be made.

Staff supported people to be as independent as possible and express their views about the service and their care. People's health was monitored, and they were referred to health professionals when required.

The service was clean, tidy and homely and suited to the needs of people living there. People had individualised rooms with their personal items and favourite colours and chose their decoration.

There was an open and transparent culture within the service, people and staff were asked for their views and opinions about the service and these were acted on. There had been no formal complaints in the last year, but people told us they knew how to complain.

Rating at last inspection:

This service was registered with us on 16th July 2018 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected:

Scheduled inspection based on timescale for unrated services.

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to consent to care, safe care and treatment and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.