Luxury care home vows swift improvement after ratings downgrade

A Cookham Dean care home manager said it takes its new ‘Requires improvement’ rating from the watchdog ‘extremely seriously’ and is working on an improvement plan.

Harwood House in Spring Lane is a care home providing support and nursing care to older people. There were 27 people living there at the time of its latest inspection.

After a visit from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in November, it has been rated Requires improvement in two key areas, namely how safe and well-led it is – bringing the overall score down.

It is lower than where it was when it was last graded in 2019, when it received a Good rating.

The CQC said this assessment was prompted by concerns raised regarding management of medicines.

The provider ‘was in breach of the legal regulations’ relating to the management of medicines, recruitment, duty of candour and good governance, they wrote.

People were ‘at risk of harm and [at risk of] not receiving care they needed’, the watchdog said.

It found Harwood House did not inform the CQC and the local authority about ‘some of the notifiable incidents’ in a timely manner, they wrote.

Moreover, it ‘did not always ensure staff kept clear and complete records’ of people’s care, treatment and risks.

In addition, Harwood House ‘needed to make improvements’ to ensure the environment was developed to meet the needs of people living with dementia.

There were also issues with transparency – the setting was not always meeting its duty of candour towards people in its care.

However, feedback from residents and families was positive. They felt staff knew residents well and understood how to meet their needs.

“People and relatives … were happy with the management of the service and knew they could speak to the staff or the manager if they had any problems they wanted to raise,” CQC wrote.

“[They] felt they had good communication and relationships with the management and staff.”

Staff were found to be ‘kind, caring and respectful.’

One relative said: “The staff will fall over backwards to make [the person] feel welcome at the home – It’s a very well-run home, it’s warm and happy and [the person] is in a good place.

Another said: “It’s a tough job and [staff] do really nice things. I only have positive things to say about this home.”

Responding to the result, Harwood House’s registered manager, Rebecca Laing, said:

“We take the CQC’s findings extremely seriously. Our six‑month improvement programme is already well underway, and many actions started during the inspection itself.

“Our focus is straightforward: strengthening clinical systems, enhancing training, and ensuring consistent oversight across the home.”

“The home’s improvement plan includes strengthened medicines procedures, refreshed mandatory training, enhanced governance checks, more consistent care documentation, and updates to elements of the physical environment to support residents living with dementia.”

“Our priority is, and will remain, the safety, dignity and wellbeing of every resident,” Ms Laing added.

“We are confident the changes already in progress will allow us to demonstrate clear and measurable improvement at the next CQC review.”

Families or partners wishing to discuss the report or the improvement programme are invited to contact the registered manager directly.