England

Rated:Requires ImprovementResidential

Abbeyfield Lear House

Lear House, 17 Darmonds Green, West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, CH48 5DT

01516251883

Care Type

Residential Care

Assessment date

4 April 2025

Provider

Abbeyfield Hoylake & West Kirby Society Limited

Beds

33 beds

How this home compares nearby

Of 21 care homes for older people within 5 miles, 12 are rated higher by CQC, 7 are the same and 2 are lower.

4 of these nearby homes have been inspected more recently than this one.

Based on CQC ratings, updated 24 October 2026. How we compare homes | See the nearby homes

Rating history

Requires ImprovementDec 2015
Requires ImprovementMay 2017
Requires ImprovementMay 2018
GoodJun 2019
Requires ImprovementAug 2025

Rating dropped from Good to Requires Improvement in 2025. CQC has rated this home 5 times since 2015.

Source: CQC inspection reports. Contains CQC data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Costs and who runs this home

This is the only care home Abbeyfield Hoylake & West Kirby Society Limited runs in England.

Average care home fees in the North West: £882 a week for residential care and £1,196 for nursing care (2024-25 averages). Self-funders usually pay more. See our care home costs guide.

How to pay for a care home explains the council means test, what counts as capital and the funding you can ask to be assessed for.

About Abbeyfield Lear House

Abbeyfield Lear House is a residential care home in Wirral, offering accommodation and personal care for older people. Full details of the CQC's most recent findings are set out below.

Abbeyfield Lear House provides accommodation and personal care for up to 33 people, with 21 people living there at the time of the assessment. The CQC rated the service as requires improvement overall, identifying breaches relating to medicines management, infection prevention and control, and safer recruitment. Inspectors found that risk management and governance arrangements were not effective, with limited oversight meaning some risks, such as unwitnessed falls, were not consistently addressed.

Despite these concerns, staff were found to be kind, respectful and attentive, and people spoke warmly about their care. Residents and families described feeling safe, valued and well looked after, with several praising the compassion shown by the team.

Source: CQC assessment, 26 August 2025

Specialist Care

Older people

Facilities & Amenities

GardenActivities ProgrammeParkingDining Room

Photographs of the home

Practical details from the provider

Residents can use a snug, a first-floor lounge and a garden room with kitchenette facilities.
An enclosed sensory garden includes a patio area.

Published on the provider's website, checked 20 September 2026. Confirm arrangements with the home before deciding.

Fees and availability

We have not verified a current weekly fee for this home. Ask for a written quote based on the room and care needed, including any extra charges.

Check current vacancies, the admission assessment and visiting arrangements directly with the home.

Care and inspection details

Checked against the CQC register on 20 September 2026. This is a check of published information, not a visit to the home.

Registered service: Care home service without nursing
Registered capacity: 33 places — this is not a vacancy count
Registration checked: Registered · CH48 5DT

Registered care categories

Caring for adults over 65 yrs.

These describe the registration. The home must assess whether it can meet the individual person's needs and whether a place is available.

CQC ratings in more detail

Overall rating shown by CQC: Requires Improvement.

Assessment published 26 August 2025. Assessment date recorded: 4 April 2025.

Read CQC's assessment overview

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 26 August 2025. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

The assessment of Abbeyfield Lear House took place between 23 April and 14 May 2025. Abbeyfield Lear House is a care home that provides accommodation and personal care for up to 33 people. At the time of the assessment, 21 people were living at the home. Site visits were conducted on 23 and 24 April 2025, with the remainder of the assessment completed offsite. This was a planned comprehensive assessment carried out as part of the Care Quality Commission’s routine schedule of assessments.
During the assessment, two breaches of legal regulations were identified in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. These breaches were specifically related to failures in medicines management, infection prevention and control, and safer recruitment practices which posed a risk to people's safety and demonstrated a lack of effective oversight and quality assurance processes. Systems designed to manage risk were not operating effectively, and governance arrangements required improvement. There was limited managerial oversight and accountability, which impacted the service’s ability to consistently identify, monitor, and respond to key risks in a timely manner. For example, the provider had been advised by the falls team to implement a chair sensor for one person to help prevent unwitnessed falls. However, this was not actioned, and the person continued to experience unwitnessed falls. Consequently, the provider was unable to consistently demonstrate that people received safe care and treatment.
As a result of these findings, the overall rating for the service is requires improvement. In instances where CQC has decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, this information will be published on the CQC website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded.
Staff were observed to be kind and respectful, and people appeared comfortable in their surroundings.

Safe: Requires Improvement
Effective: Requires Improvement
Caring: Good
Responsive: Good
Well-led: Requires Improvement

Questions prompted by these ratings

Safe: What changes have been made to medicines, staffing and safeguarding since this rating?
Effective: How are staff training, nutrition and health outcomes checked now?
Well-led: What has changed in management, checks and oversight since this rating?

These are questions for your visit, not a claim about conditions today.

Read Abbeyfield Lear House's CQC record and reports.

Contains Care Quality Commission information under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Ratings and registration details can change after the date checked.

5 Questions to Ask on Your Visit

When visiting Abbeyfield Lear House, consider asking...

1.What happens if my relative's care needs increase significantly -- will they have to move?
2.How do you handle concerns or complaints from families?
3.What does the monthly fee cover and what will cost extra?
4.How do you keep families informed about their relative's day-to-day wellbeing?
5.What happens if my relative is unhappy here?

5 Things to Look For on Your Visit

When you visit Abbeyfield Lear House, look out for...

1.Do staff greet residents by name and stop to chat?
2.Are residents dressed, up and occupied, or sitting alone in front of a TV?
3.Does the home smell fresh and feel clean without being clinical?
4.Do residents look comfortable and at ease, or anxious and withdrawn?
5.Does the manager answer your questions openly or deflect?

Could the NHS fund Abbeyfield Lear House's fees?

The average nursing home costs £1,535 per week. That's £79,820 a year. NHS Continuing Healthcare could cover all of it. No means test, no contribution from you.

Find out if the NHS could fund these fees