St Mary's Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 23 April 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of Assessment: 4 February to 10 March 2026.

The service is a nursing home providing support to adults of all ages living with learning and physical disabilities. It also supports older people and people living with a dementia.

This assessment was carried out because of the rating and breach of legal regulation found at our previous visit. These breaches related to the good governance and management of the service and person-centred care. At this latest assessment we found a breach of legal regulation in relation to consent and a continuing breach of regulation in relation to good governance.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

The environment did not yet reflect best practice for smaller, homely settings and the current size and layout remained inconsistent with ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance. Action was being taken to address this, but it had not been embedded when we visited. Premises safety was not always assured and we found shortfalls in mental capacity and best interests decisions, including a serious incident where a person left the home unsupervised overnight. Governance systems had not consistently identified or addressed all concerns. Training on supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people was not yet at the required level for all staff, but action was taken to address this during the assessment.

People, relatives and staff were overwhelmingly positive about the day‑to‑day support, describing kind and caring staff, strong relationships and a culture where the registered manager and deputy were visible and approachable. People were supported to attend college, do voluntary work and take part in a wide range of activities, including work to develop independent living skills. External professionals reported notable improvements for some individuals and local authority reviewers and learning disability teams described a vibrant, friendly atmosphere.