- Care home
Alexander House
Assessment report published 31 December 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 2 to 10 December 2025.
Alexander House is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 15 people. At the time of our assessment 15 older people resided in the care home, of whom most were living with dementia.
The last rating for this service was good with a breach of regulations relating to governance. We undertook this assessment to check the provider had improved and followed the action plan we required them to complete after we had identified multiple breaches of regulations last time we visited the service. This onsite follow up assessment was unannounced and conducted by 3 adult social care inspectors. We reviewed all 15 quality statements related to the 2 key questions, Is the service safe and well-led? For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at their last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
Based on the findings of this assessment we have changed their overall rating from good to requires improvement. This was because the provider had not made enough improvements since their last assessment and remained in breach of regulations. This included 2 new breaches in relation to how the health and safety of the care homes environment and staff supervisions, work performance appraisals and support were managed. In addition, the provider was still failing to ensure they effectively operated their governance systems, despite this being identified as a breach at their last assessment.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
Despite the above, the service had improved some aspects of the environment since our last assessment. Furthermore, the service now had a suitably skilled, knowledgeable and experienced management team in place including, a newly registered service manager, deputy manager and a director. This new management team were all visible in the care home and had brought some much-needed stability to the service.
People were treated with kindness and compassion. Systems were in place to protect people from risk of abuse. Staff understood and managed risk well. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. The provider continued to undertake checks to make sure staff they recruited were suitable for their role. There were enough staff with the right skills, qualifications and experience. Managers made sure staff were suitably trained and staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Infection risks were managed well and staff followed current best practice. Medicines were safely managed.
The new managers had a shared vision and culture based on listening, learning and trust. They were visible, knowledgeable and supportive, helping staff develop in their roles. Most staff felt more supported by the new management team. People and staff could raise concerns in confidence, and these were listened to and acted upon. Managers investigated incidents and complaints thoroughly. The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership with relevant external health and social care professionals and bodies.
People's experience of this service
During our assessment, we received verbal face-to-face or written email feedback from 2 people living in the care home, 3 relatives and 3 external health and social care professionals. We also spoke to various leaders and staff who worked for the provider including, the service’s newly registered manager, deputy manager, director and 5 care workers.
People living in the care home, their relatives and external health and social care professionals were all positive about the quality of the care provided by the service. People said staff were kind and compassionate and knew what they were doing. People said the care home was a safe place to live. Typical feedback included, “The staff at Alexander House have exceeded my expectations with the care they provide. They have been compassionate, respectful, caring, and patient. My [family member] has a good relationship with the staff and enjoys their company,” “Every time I visit my [family member] they tell me how happy they are living at Alexander House and I see how kind and attentive the staff are to her” and “We find the staff at Alexander House are highly attuned to the needs of our clients. They do care for them very well. I would happily place people there.”
We observed staff treat people with kindness and compassion throughout our inspection. The atmosphere in the care home remained relaxed and calm throughout our assessment. Staff knew how to keep people safe from abuse or harm. People were supported by staff who were skilled and experienced and provided care in line with their choices and preferences.
People spoke positively about the new management team and the positive impact they were starting to have on the service. They said the new managers were approachable, listened to what they had to say and knew what changes needed to be made to improve the service. An external care professional told us, “The new manager [registered] and deputy manager work well together and are keen to turn the care home around, and to ensure the people living there receive the best care. The new managers have a lot of work to do to bring the care home back to what it should be, but I know they are fully aware of this and I’m confident they have the knowledge, skills and experience to make it happen.”
Some people could not directly tell us about their experience. We used a structured observation tool to assess whether they received safe care. This approach showed people were included and listened to and staff consistently interacted positively with them.