Aldercar Residential Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 16 June 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Dates of assessment: 12 May 2026 to 20 May 2026. This assessment was carried out due to the age of the rating. Aldercar Residential Care Home can support up to 28 people, at the time of the assessment there were 19 people, some of whom were living with dementia and/or had mental health needs. The service was not consistently safe, effective, responsive or well-led, and significant shortfalls were identified across all areas of care. A weak safety culture was evident, with incidents not always recorded, investigated or shared appropriately, and no effective systems in place to identify trends or embed learning. Safeguarding processes were not consistently followed, staff were not fully trained, and risks to people’s safety, health and wellbeing were not always recognised or managed.

Staffing levels, skills and training were not always sufficient to meet people’s needs, and some safe recruitment checks had not been completed. Medicines management and infection prevention practices were not consistently safe.

Care planning and risk assessments were either not available or incomplete, meaning staff did not have clear guidance to deliver safe, person-centred care. People were not consistently involved in decisions about their care and told us they had limited choice, control and independence.

Governance and oversight were ineffective, with audits failing to identify or address concerns, and records were often incomplete or not securely stored. The provider was not meeting key legal requirements, including those related to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

A period of management instability had negatively impacted staff morale and the overall culture. However, a new management team had recently been appointed and had begun to make improvements. Staff and people spoke positively about these changes, noting a more open and supportive approach. While some caring interactions were observed and feedback about staff kindness was positive, these improvements had not yet resulted in consistent, safe or high-quality care.

We identified 5 breaches of regulation relating to risk management, medicines, person-centred care, consent, safeguarding and governance.

This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we use our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.

In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.