The Rookery Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 12 February 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of assessment: 17 December 2025 to 6 January 2026.

The Rookery Care Home is a residential care home service providing support to older people, people with physical disabilities and people living with dementia. This service is registered to accommodate up to 30 people. At the start of the assessment the service was providing care and support to 24 people at the location. This assessment was unannounced which means the provider was not told an assessment was going to be starting beforehand.

The service was previously inspected and rated requires improvement overall, following a focused inspection carried out on 12 May 2021 (published on 22 June 2021). The report was published following CQC’s old inspection approach using key lines of enquiry (KLOEs), prompts and ratings characteristics.

Throughout our assessment of The Rookery Care Home, we identified shortfalls in the way the service was managed. We identified concerns relating to the environment, safe care and treatment, management of medicines, management of risks, fit and proper persons employed, management of the service and governance. We found the provider was in breach of the legal regulation relating to safe care and treatment and good governance.

An assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. We have 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.

We identified several environmental hazards throughout the service, alongside infection prevention and control issues including the cleanliness of the building. Records showed staff had out-of-date training, and some had not completed essential training in key areas required to keep people safe. The environment did not support the needs of people living with dementia, as it lacked appropriate dementia friendly features. There was limited use of clear signage or orientation aids which would help people maintain their independence.

Quality assurance processes were ineffective. Audits did not identify important shortfalls in care quality or safety, and risks were neither fully assessed nor adequately managed. Strategic priorities for improvement were unclear. This demonstrated a breakdown in the feedback and improvement cycle and limited the service’s ability to make meaningful, sustained progress. Prompt action to address issues was taken during and after our assessment of this service.

In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.