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Dover HouseKent

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Rated:Requires ImprovementNursing

Dover House

57 Coombe Valley Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 0EX
01304898989
Care Type

Nursing Care

Assessment date

18 June 2026

Provider

Dover House (GC) Limited

Beds

86 beds

How this home compares nearby

Of 10 care homes for older people within 5 miles, 7 are rated higher by CQC, 3 are the same and none are lower.

1 of these nearby homes has been inspected more recently than this one.

Based on CQC ratings, updated 25 October 2026. How we compare homes | See the nearby homes

Rating history

  1. GoodJun 2018
  2. InadequateJun 2020
  3. Requires ImprovementNov 2020
  4. Requires ImprovementNov 2021
  5. Requires ImprovementFeb 2023
  6. Requires ImprovementJul 2026

Improved from Inadequate to Requires Improvement in 2020. CQC has rated this home 6 times since 2018.

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 Dover House (GC) Limited runs in England.

Average care home fees in the South East: £1,243 a week for residential care and £1,579 for nursing care (2024-25 averages). Self-funders usually pay more. See our care home costs guide.

  • NHS-funded Nursing Care pays £267.68 a week to the home towards registered nursing care for eligible residents (2026/27). A quoted fee may already exclude it.
  • 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 Dover House

Dover House is a nursing home in Kent providing accommodation and personal care for younger and older adults, including people living with dementia. The findings below set out the CQC's most recent assessment of the service.

Dover House, in Kent, is a residential and nursing home providing accommodation and personal care for younger and older people, including those living with dementia. It can support up to 86 people. The CQC rated it Requires Improvement overall, an improvement on its previous inadequate rating, and the home is no longer in special measures.

Inspectors found a safer, cleaner and calmer environment, with more consistent staffing and better person-centred care for those needing one-to-one support. However, breaches remained around safe management of medicines, premises maintenance, proper application of the Mental Capacity Act, and effective governance, and some relatives felt staff training had not fully translated into practice.

Source: CQC assessment, 31 July 2026

Specialist Care

DementiaMental healthOlder 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.

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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 with nursing
Registered capacity
86 places — this is not a vacancy count
Registration checked
Registered · CT17 0EX

Registered care categories

Caring for adults over 65 yrs; Caring for adults under 65 yrs; Dementia; Mental health conditions; 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 31 July 2026. Assessment date recorded: 18 June 2026.

Read CQC's assessment overview

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 31 July 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of assessment: On site visits 30 June and 1 July 2026. The service is a residential and nursing care home providing accommodation and personal care for younger people, older people and people living with dementia. The service can support a maximum of 86 people. There were 47 people living in the service at the time of inspection.The inspection was undertaken to follow up on enforcement action taken following our previous inspection when the service was rated inadequate (published 10 February 2026). At the last inspection, the provider was in breach of regulations in relation to person centred care, need for consent, safe care and treatment, safeguarding, premises and equipment, good governance and staffing. We checked to confirm if the provider had made improvements and the enforcement action taken had been complied with.We found a number of improvements had been made and although some further improvement was necessary, we were confident the provider was working towards full compliance with regulations. The provider and registered manager had developed a service improvement plan following the last inspection and commissioned extra resources to support the immediate changes needed. They worked well with health and social care partners to ensure people’s safety was a priority. An emphasis had been placed on improving the environment people were living in, staff training and upskilling, improved risk management, learning lessons and care planning. We now had no concerns for people’s safety, and the quality of care and the environment people were living in was improving.However, there continued to be breaches of regulation in relation to the safe management of medicines, maintenance and management of the premises, implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) in relation to people’s rights and consent and effective governance systems.This service has been in Special Measures since 10 February 2026. The provider demonstrated improvements that have been made. The service is no longer rated as inadequate overall or in any of the key questions. Therefore, this service is no longer in Special Measures.

Safe
Requires Improvement
Effective
Requires Improvement
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?
  • Effective: How are staff training, nutrition and health outcomes checked now?
  • 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 Dover 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 Dover House, consider asking...

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

5 Things to Look For on Your Visit

When you visit Dover House, look out for...

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

Could the NHS fund Dover 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.

Location

57 Coombe Valley Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 0EX

CQC Logo

Dover House

CQC overall rating

Requires Improvement

Assessment date: 18 June 2026

View full inspection report
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