Forest Lodge Rest Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 6 August 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of assessment: 13 July to 20 July 2026. This was a focused assessment, following up on areas of concern found at the last assessment where the service was found to be in breach of regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.

Forest Lodge Rest Home is a residential care home, registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to provide care to a maximum of 28 adults with dementia and mental health needs. At the time of this assessment 28 people were living at the service.

At the last inspection in 2024, the service was rated overall as Requires Improvement. At this assessment, the provider had focused on improving the service, which had resulted in an improved rating overall and is no longer in breach of regulation relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.

The provider had strengthened systems and processes to monitor quality, safety and performance. There was a positive culture of learning and improvement, with incidents reviewed and actions taken to improve practice. Staff assessed risks to people's health and safety and mitigated those risks. People had care plans to guide safe practice. There were enough staff to ensure people’s safety and meet their needs. However, people were not always protected from the risks associated with medicines. We identified concerns relating to the storage and review of prescribed medicines. Although the provider took prompt action when these concerns were identified during the assessment, their existing systems had not identified these issues before our inspection.

We also identified areas where improvements were needed in infection prevention and control practices and aspects of the care environment. The provider responded positively to feedback and took action to address the concerns identified.

Overall, the provider had demonstrated a commitment to improving the quality and safety of care since the previous inspection. Further work was needed to ensure medicines were managed safely and that systems in place consistently identified risks and supported sustained improvement.