Agenda item

Consideration was given to the latest quarterly summary regarding Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections for services operating within the Borough (Appendix 1).  Four inspection reports were published during this period (July to September 2025 (inclusive)), with attention drawn to the following Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (SBC) contracted providers:

Providers rated ‘Good’ overall (1)

·       The Beeches Care Home was upgraded to ‘Good’ overall, reflecting an upturn in the ‘Safe’, ‘Effective’ and ‘Well-Led’ domains which were rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ in the previous report published in October 2022.

Providers rated ‘Requires Improvement’ overall (2)

·       Mandale Care Home was downgraded from ‘Good’ to ‘Requires Improvement’ overall due to identified shortfalls in the ‘Safe’ domain.  This latest focused inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service sustained a serious injury, and concerns were subsequently found in relation to record-keeping, understanding / managing risk, and systems of accountability for oversight and good governance.

·       Ingleby Care Home retained its overall ‘Requires Improvement’ status despite advances in the ‘Effective’ and ‘Caring’ domains (upgraded from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’), as well as the ‘Well-Led’ domain (upgraded from ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Requires Improvement’).  Whilst sufficient improvements had been made to meet three of the breaches identified during the previous inspection (published in November 2024), there remained a breach in relation to good governance as the provider had not made sufficient progress in relation to assessing, monitoring and improving the quality of the service.

Following confirmation that the serious incident at Mandale Care Home earlier in 2025 was the primary reason for the CQCs prompt re-inspection of the service after publishing its previous report in January 2025, the Committee asked if Ingleby Care Home was being used as an unregistered setting due to the lack of a Registered Manager since December 2023.  The SBC Quality Assurance and Compliance (QuAC) Manager stated that a Registered Manager was now in post, though work was still required to address the home’s good governance breach.  Members again raised the practice of the best managers being moved between a provider’s individual services in order to get a better CQC outcome, though it was noted that the regulator had conducted an organisational check of three T.L. Care Limited premises in recent months (with The Beeches Care Home doing well), and that management of these services had become more stable of late, with a good Area Manager also overseeing the provider’s offer.

The remaining report was in relation to a non-contracted provider, with primary medical care service, Identity Dental Care deemed to be meeting regulations in all five inspection domains.

Focus turned to the section on Provider Assessment and Market Management Solutions (PAMMS) inspections (Appendix 2), of which there were nine reports published during this period (July to September 2025 (inclusive)):

·       Windsor Court Residential Home, Ayresome Court, Millbeck, Highfield (Stockton), Piper Court, Reuben Manor, and Primrose Court Nursing Home maintained an overall rating of ‘Good’ – the same grading all seven services achieved following their previous inspections.  Ayresome Court was deemed ‘Excellent’ in the ‘Involvement and Information’ domain (upgraded from ‘Good’ when last inspected), though Reuben Manor saw its ‘Safeguarding and Safety’ domain downgraded to ‘Requires Improvement’ (this was previously rated ‘Excellent’ when its last report was published in August 2024).

·       Roseworth Lodge Care Home was upgraded to ‘Good’ overall following the ‘Requires Improvement’ judgement it had received after its previous inspection (published in August 2024).  All domains were now deemed to be of a ‘Good’ standard.

·       Churchview Nursing and Residential Home had been downgraded to an overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ due to identified shortfalls in both the ‘Involvement and Information’ and ‘Personalised Care / Support’ domains.  Issues were found with care planning (also raised during the service’s previous inspection in December 2024), where improvements made since the turn of the year had not been sustained.

Thanking SBC officers for the latest update, the Committee noted several references to ‘resident of the day’ and asked what this entailed.  In response, it was stated that the term involved a specific personal focus on an individual within a setting to ensure their information (e.g. care plan) was still accurate / relevant.

The item concluded with the SBC QuAC Manager highlighting the continuing positive trend of PAMMS inspection outcomes across the Borough, with more services receiving improved ratings as a result of the work of the QuAC Team.  Following this, the Committee’s attention was drawn to a recent BBC investigation which revealed that many care homes in England rated as inadequate or requiring improvement were not being re-inspected for over a year (raising concerns about the effectiveness of the CQCs inspection processes).

AGREED that the CQC / PAMMS Inspection Results – Quarterly Summary (Q2 2025-2026) report be noted.