Hickling House

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

Date of inspection: 06 May 2026 to 06 July 2026.

Hickling House is a residential care home providing personal care for up to 29 people. It provides support for older people and people living with a dementia. At the time of our inspection, there were 25 people living in the service. We completed a comprehensive inspection due to the length of time since the last inspection. This included 2 unannounced site visits. We observed the environment, spoke with people living in the service and interacted with staff. Offsite we gained feedback from people’s relatives, healthcare professionals and spoke with staff. We found the provider was in breach of the regulation relating to governance and have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this inspection. We found that care documents were not always recorded in detail and quality assurance tools and informative guidance was not always monitored, accurately recorded or updated and acted upon.

However, people were generally well cared for, safe and treated with kindness and dignity. Feedback from people and relatives was overwhelmingly positive. People felt protected from abuse and avoidable harm and risks were generally identified. There was appropriate involvement with healthcare professionals when people’s needs changed. Care was effective and responsive, and people were supported to access health care services where professionals spoke positively about how staff communicated and worked in partnership with them. Medicines were managed safely, infection risks were mostly controlled, and the environment was generally clean and well maintained.

People were assisted to meet their nutritional and wellbeing needs, including participating in activities and social interaction. Staff understood people’s needs well and ensured people could express views and make choices. People and families were included in decisions about their care, and families and professionals told us they felt listened to and praised staff that have acted quickly when concerns arose.