- Care home
Hamilton House Care Home
Assessment report published 20 October 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 9 September to 25 September 2025.
Hamilton House Care Home is a nursing home providing personal and nursing care for up to 46 people. At the time of the assessment there were 36 people living at the service. The service was over 3 floors all accessed by a lift. Some bedrooms were en-suite there were communal bathrooms and toilets available for people without en-suite.
The assessment was planned as a result of concerns we had received. We carried out a comprehensive assessment in February 2023 and the care home was rated good. At this assessment, we found the provider was in breach of legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. As a result, the rating has changed to requires improvement.
People were not routinely protected from potential harm, risks were not always identified and mitigated in a timely manner. People were at increased risk of infection or ill health due to poor environmental hygiene and safe food storage. People were at increased risk of receiving the wrong care as care plans contained contradictory information. Records relating to people’s care did not always demonstrate they were supported in line with care plans to ensure they were not exposed to greater risk of harm.
We found the manager and provider had not routinely identified some of the concerns we did. Although some risk assessments had been completed, they did not mitigate all risks to people. In addition, where audits were carried out and action was identified this was not always completed in a timely manner or if completed was repeated at a later date. We found learning from events needed to be fully embedded to ensure people were safe and protected from potential harm.
However, the manager of the service was respected by people, their relatives and staff. People received personalised care and they were able to make their bedroom homely.
People were supported by staff who had been recruited safely and had a good understanding on how to protect people from abuse. However, we found records regarding recruitment needed improvement to ensure the home held all the required documentation on safe recruitment.
People were supported with their prescribed medicines and referred to external healthcare professionals in a timely manner.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
We spent time speaking with people while at the service and made telephone calls to relatives after the site visit. The feedback from people and relatives was mainly positive, with both people and their relatives confirming they felt safe living at Hamilton House Care Home. We discussed some areas of improvement identified from people and their relatives with the manager and provider. They were responsive to our feedback. One person told us “I feel very safe because I have people and my friends around, it is good to sit in this lovely room and have few friendly faces to chat with, we all feel in the same boat and share this space.”
People consistently described staff as kind, compassionate, and respectful. People gave us examples of how they have received emotional support, telling us staff offered comfort during personal struggles or low moods. Comments from people included “extremely kind” and "Staff never boss me. They [staff] listen."
People were keen to tell us how Hamilton House Care Home felt like home. Comments included "It feels like home… I feel very safe” and “I like my room, and I made it my home…”
People told us their privacy and dignity were generally respected. One person told us “Staff leave me and are just there when I need them.”
People had access to a wide range of activities, many people told us how they enjoyed the variety of activities on offer. Comments from people included, “We do go out,3 times this summer, we went to car boot sale, that was fun, we went to the garden centre for coffee, came back for lunch” and “Activities are plenty, really plenty of things, exercises, making things, I like them all and I participate all the time, we went swimming, that was fun. Garden centre and coffee shops, we go out more than if I am on my own at home.”
People told us they had trust in the management. Most people knew who the manager was. People and their relatives told us the management responded to concerns or queries quickly.
One relative told us “We found a solution immediately. They[manager] were very accommodating and understanding” after raising a concern, another relative told us “We have good working relationship with Hamilton House Care Home, we know [family member] is safe and well looked after, [family member] has everything [they] need and attention and care nobody else could offer.”