England

BlackthornsEssex

Illustrative image. Photographs of this home have not yet been added.

Rated:Requires ImprovementResidential

Blackthorns

21-29 Dooley Road, Halstead, Essex, CO9 1JW

01787472170

Care Type

Residential Care

Assessment date

28 February 2024

Provider

Runwood Homes Limited

Beds

62 beds

How this home compares nearby

Of 11 care homes for older people within 5 miles, 7 are rated higher by CQC, 4 are the same and none are lower.

2 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 ImprovementJan 2016
GoodNov 2016
GoodSept 2017
Requires ImprovementJun 2019
GoodMar 2023
Requires ImprovementMar 2025

Rating dropped from Good to Requires Improvement in 2025. CQC has rated this home 6 times since 2016.

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

Costs and who runs this home

Run by Runwood Homes Limited, which runs 58 care homes in England: 1 rated Outstanding, 47 Good and 10 Requires Improvement.

Average care home fees in the East of England: £1,034 a week for residential care and £1,411 for nursing care (2024-25 averages). Self-funders usually pay more. See our care home costs guide.

This home lists dementia care, which usually costs more than standard residential care. See dementia care home costs. NHS Continuing Healthcare may apply where someone's needs are primarily health needs.
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 Blackthorns

Blackthorns is a residential care home in Essex, offering accommodation and personal care for older people and those living with dementia. Full details of the CQC's most recent findings are set out below.

Blackthorns is a purpose-built care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 62 people, including older people and those living with dementia. Following concerns raised, the CQC carried out an assessment and found the home had declined from good to requires improvement, with two breaches identified relating to risk management and oversight, as audits were not effectively picking up safety issues.

Inspectors found staff to be kind and caring, with most people and relatives feeling safe and well supported with medicines and healthcare needs. However, staffing levels and meaningful activity were flagged as areas needing improvement, and the provider's planned changes had not yet been fully embedded to ensure consistently safe care.

Source: CQC assessment, 27 March 2025

Specialist Care

DementiaOlder peoplePhysical disabilitiesSensory impairmentsYounger adults

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: 62 places — this is not a vacancy count
Registration checked: Registered · CO9 1JW

Registered care categories

Caring for adults over 65 yrs; Caring for adults under 65 yrs; Dementia; Physical disabilities; Sensory impairment.

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 27 March 2025. Assessment date recorded: 28 February 2024.

Read CQC's assessment overview

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 27 March 2025. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Blackthorns is a purpose-built residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to 62 people. The service provides support to older people including people living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 53 people living in the service. This assessment was triggered by concerns we had received about the service. The assessment took place between 24 July 2024 and 22 August 2024 and included 2 unannounced site visits on the 24 July 2024 and 7 August 2024. Following feedback, we continued to request and review information to clarify points raised. We spoke with 13 people living in the service, and 15 staff during the site visits, and spoke with 16 people’s relatives/advocates. We also received feedback from 4 health and social care professionals. We assessed a total of 23 quality statements. For the quality statements we did not assess, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection (published March 2023) to calculate the overall rating. At the last inspection, Blackthorns was rated good, after having been previously rated requires improvement (published June 2019). During this assessment we found concerns with the quality and safety of people’s care. We identified 2 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to risks associated with safe care, and management oversight. Risk was not always safely managed. Audits and checks were not independently picking up risk placed people at risk of potential harm. The overall rating of this service has changed to requires improvement. During the assessment, the provider told us what action they were taking to address these concerns. This included recruiting to increase staffing levels, providing extra training for staff, more thorough audits and pre-admission assessments. However, these changes and improvements needed to be embedded to ensure people were consistently receiving safe care.

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

Questions prompted by these ratings

Safe: What changes have been made to medicines, staffing and safeguarding since this rating?
Responsive: How are care plans, activities and complaints adapted to each resident?
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 Blackthorns'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 Blackthorns, consider asking...

1.What specific dementia training do staff receive and how recently?
2.How do you support a resident who becomes distressed or confused?
3.How does the home keep a record of a resident's life history and personal preferences?
4.How do you involve families as dementia progresses and communication becomes harder?
5.What happens when a resident's dementia reaches an advanced stage?

5 Things to Look For on Your Visit

When you visit Blackthorns, look out for...

1.Is the environment calm, uncluttered and easy to navigate?
2.Do staff speak to residents with patience and dignity, even if they repeat themselves?
3.Are there memory cues around the home -- photos, familiar objects, clear signage?
4.Do residents seem settled and safe, or agitated and unsupervised?
5.Is there meaningful activity happening, or are residents just sitting quietly with nothing to do?

Could the NHS fund Blackthorns'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