- Care home
The Old Vicarage
Assessment report published 28 September 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of Assessment: 30 August to 2 September 2026. We undertook multiple sites visits to assess this service including a visit out of hours. The Old Vicarage is a residential care home providing support to younger adults living with learning disabilities and autism, mental health conditions and physical disabilities. At the time of the assessment there were 13 people living at the home. The Old Vicarage was last rated requires improvement (published 18 March 2021). This assessment was prompted by the age of the services previous rating.
We assessed the service against ‘right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
Behaviour support plans reflected people’s preferences, including how they communicated. Staff consistently offered, supported, and promoted choice using person‑centred approaches that encouraged people to remain as independent as possible. The provider and staff supported people to personalise their bedrooms and the wider home environment in line with their needs and wishes. Care plans were person‑centred and clearly detailed how people wished to be supported. People’s preferred activities were well documented. People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and received the appropriate training and development. People had an allocated key worker, which had enabled people to build trusting relationships with staff and work towards person centred goals such as improvement of life skill and holidays. People received their medicines safely. ‘As needed’ medicines were available and staff had clear guidance on how to identify when people may need these such as identifying when people were in distress or pain. Governance and monitoring were effective. Where issues had been identified the registered manager had a clear action plan in place to ensure improvement and people’s ongoing safety.
People's experience of this service
Feedback received from people and their relatives was mixed. Many described experiencing a number of issues and errors prior to the appointment of the current manager. However, there was a consistent view that since the management changes, people felt more reassured, listened to, and included in discussions about the service.
Relatives reported observing improvements in the overall atmosphere of the home and noted that staffing appeared more consistent, with a reduced reliance on agency staff. This was viewed positively, as it helped to promote continuity and familiarity for people using the service.
While people and relatives acknowledged these improvements, they were unable to provide examples of specific positive outcomes, achievements, or personal goals that individuals had attained. This suggested that, although confidence in the service had begun to improve, there was limited evidence that the impact on people's individual quality of life and personal development had been fully recognised.
When asked whether they would recommend the home, responses varied. Some people stated they would now recommend the service due to the positive changes introduced by the new management team. Others remained undecided and expressed a desire to see improvements sustained and fully embedded over time before making a definitive judgement.