- Care home
Whittington House Nursing Home
We served a warning notice on Summerfield Medical Limited on 08 September 2026 for failing to meet the regulations related to safe care and treatment and governance and oversight processes at Whittington House.
Assessment report published 2 November 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment 22 July 2026 to 24 August 2026. We visited the service on 22, 23 and 29 July. Whittington House is a residential care home that provides accommodation for people who require nursing or personal care for up to 66 people.
There was a registered manager in post at the time of the assessment.
We assessed all quality statements, across safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led key questions.
The provider did not consistently promote a proactive and positive culture of safety. At the time of the assessment, systems were not effective in evidencing how themes were identified, analysed, and
used to drive learning and improvement. This meant opportunities to embed good practice were not consistently demonstrated.
The provider did not always ensure medicines were managed and disposed of safely and in line with their medicines policy. Medicines audits were ineffective and did not provide sufficient oversight of all areas requiring review, to minimise the risk of errors. Although the provider had systems and processes to support medicine administration these were not always followed.
Although leaders had some awareness of key issues and priorities within the service, overall oversight and governance was not effective. Governance systems did not consistently identify or address risks, and as a result, failed to identify the concerns found during this assessment.
This assessment identified breaches of the legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to our concerns.
Where CQC takes regulatory action, information may be published on our website following the conclusion of any representations or appeals, should the action be taken forward.
People's experience of this service
Not everyone using the service was able to speak with us directly due to factors such as health needs, cognitive impairment, or dementia, which can limit a person’s ability to communicate their views verbally. To ensure people’s experience was understood and represented, we used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI allows inspectors to observe care, interactions, and the environment to gain insight into the quality of people’s experiences when they are unable to describe them themselves. Through this approach, we were able to see how staff supported individuals.
Observations through this method and general observations provided us with a mixed view of how people were supported. Whilst some staff showed kindness and interacted well with people, we observed sometimes staff were task focussed, and did not always engage with people
Feedback gathered from people and their relatives during the assessment was mixed. Some people and their relatives were positive about their experiences at the home and felt they or their loved ones were well cared for. However, other feedback told us people and their relatives did not think there were enough staff to safely support people.