Alban House Residential Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 19 February 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of assessment:16 December 2025 to 19 January 2026. We visited the service on 16, 17 and 18 December 2025. Alban House is a residential care home providing care and support to a maximum of 23 older people. At the time of our assessment there were 14 people living at the home.

The assessment was carried out to follow up on the breaches in legal regulation. The provider was previously in breach of the legal regulation in relation to safe care and treatment, the need for consent, person-centred care, dignity and respect, staffing and good governance.Improvements were found at this assessment and the provider was no longer in breach of these regulations.

Staff were increasingly adopting a proactive culture regarding health and safety incidents or concerns. However, further work was needed to ensure all concerns were reported and recorded appropriately to ensure people’s safety. This work needed embedding and sustaining in practice.

People’s individual risks were being identified more effectively, and the necessary risk assessment reviews were increasingly carried out to keep people safe. However, further embedding of risk management processes was needed to continually drive improvements in the way staff managed people’s risks. Professionals confirmed improvements had been made with how the service managed people’s identified risks.

The provider undertook regular health and safety checks of the premises as part of their auditing system. This demonstrated closer attention was being paid to the safety of the premises. These improvements needed sustaining and embedding in practice. Fire safety management had improved and protected people and others within the building. Further work was being undertaken to ensure all fire doors were compliant with fire safety regulations. Safety systems and equipment used at the service were maintained and serviced at regular intervals to make sure these remained in good order and safe for use.

The provider had invested in the premises and further investment was planned to ensure people’s individual needs could be met by the adaptation, design, and decoration of the premises.

Infection control practices had improved and there were now measures to ensure people’s safety. Staff followed improved systems and processes to administer, record and store medicines safely. These improvements needed to continue to be sustained and embedded in practice.

Staff were more effectively deployed across the home, so people’s care and support needs could be met in a timely manner. This needed sustaining and embedding in practice to ensure consistency in approach.

Staff were deployed in line with people’s assessed care and support needs. Where additional staff were needed, as far as possible, consistent agency staff were utilised to support continuity of care. The provider had now made sure night staff had received training in how to support people with their medicines, to enable people to access their medicines when required during the night.

On reviewing the staff training matrix, it was evident there were gaps across mandatory training modules. Staff training remained one of the provider’s priorities to ensure staff were equipped with the knowledge and skills to support people in a person-centred way.

The management team were establishing a more effective framework to ensure all performance and conduct issues were formally documented and managed in line with policies and procedures to protect the quality and safety of people’s care and support. For example, addressing any poor staff practice through disciplinaries, with actions taken to mitigate future risks. This work needed sustaining and embedding in practice.

Improvements had been made to how the provider assessed, monitored and improved the quality and safety of the service. Risks were increasingly being mitigated, and governance systems identified areas where improvements were needed. For example, to infection control, medicines management, the safety of the premises and work required to people’s individual care and support plans and risk assessments. These systems and processes needed embedding and sustaining within the service.

The service’s service improvement plan evidenced extensive work undertaken to ensure people received safe, effective and high quality care. This, and positive collaboration with health and social care professionals, including the local authority, demonstrated the provider’s goal to deliver equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. This work needed to continue to be sustained and embedded in practice.

This service has been in Special Measures since 10 September 2025. The provider demonstrated improvements that have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.