Woodlands Care Home

The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 11 December 2025. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.

Date of assessment: 2 December 2025. We carried out an unannounced visit to the service.

Woodlands Care Home is a care home without nursing for up to 32 older people. At the time of our assessment, 14 people were living at the service.

The previous rating for this service was inadequate (published 5 June 2025). The service was placed in special measures. At the last assessment, we identified breaches of legal regulations relating to dignity and respect, safe care and treatment, safeguarding people from abuse, staffing and good governance. We used our powers to take urgent enforcement action.

At this assessment, we found the provider had made the required improvements and was no longer breaching any legal regulations. The service is no longer in special measures.

The provider assessed risks to people’s safety and wellbeing. However, we found that risk assessments were not always detailed and did not include learning from accidents or incidents. Some care plans did not include personalised information. We discussed these areas with the registered manager. They told us they were in the process of updating these records. We were assured staff knew people’s needs. However, the provider needed to improve the assessment and planning processes.

Staff completed training about dementia. But this was basic and did not include learning to help them understand how to manage challenging situations. The registered manager told us they were trying to source this training to ensure staff were equipped to deliver evidence-based care.

There were enough staff but there were times of the day when staffing deployment needed to be reviewed. For example, when staff were busy with individual tasks, there were times when 1 member of staff was left to oversee a group of people. The impact of the way staff were deployed meant some people became anxious and staff were not available to reassure them. We discussed this with the registered manager, and they agreed to review staff deployment at these busy times of the day.

People lived in a safe and clean environment. The provider had improved audits and checks to ensure safety.

Staff treated people with kindness, compassion and respect.

Staff provided a range of social and leisure activities.

Staff worked with other healthcare professionals to monitor and meet people’s needs.

People were able to make choices from a range of freshly prepared, nutritious food.

Staff felt well supported. They had opportunities to discuss their work with the management team and felt valued.

The provider had effective systems for monitoring and improving the quality of the service.