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CQC report explained · a residential care home

What the CQC found at Airedale Residential & Dementia Home

Goodpublished 18 December 2025, 9 months ago

Rated Good: inspectors found the home performing well and meeting their expectations.

The latest report, explained

What inspectors found, November 2023

Overall rated Requires Improvement, with Safe rated Inadequate; inspectors found unsafe medicines and risks, too few staff, and breaches affecting dignity and governance.

This was the first inspection of the newly registered home. Inspectors carried out unannounced inspection activity from 16 August to 5 September 2023, including visits on 16 and 24 August. They spoke with people, relatives and staff, observed care, and checked care, medicine, staffing and management records.

The main safety concerns were medicines not always being given or recorded safely, risks not being properly assessed, poor cleanliness and not enough staff. Inspectors also found that people's privacy and dignity were not always respected. These issues led to breaches of regulations on safe care and treatment, dignity and respect, staffing, and good governance.

There were also inconsistent experiences with food, activities and person-centred care records. On the positive side, staff generally knew people well and were kind, people had access to healthcare, and recruitment checks were completed. The provider took action during the inspection, but the report says the home's systems had not previously identified or resolved the problems.

What inspectors praised
  • Kind and familiar staff

    People and relatives generally spoke positively about staff. Inspectors saw staff supporting people gently and found that staff knew people well.

    “Overall, we found staff were kind, caring and patient in their interactions with people.” from the report
  • Healthcare access

    Care records showed involvement from healthcare professionals, and people said they were satisfied with the healthcare arrangements.

    “People's care records showed the involvement of healthcare professionals such as the speech and language therapy team (SALT), GP and district nurses.” from the report
  • Safe recruitment

    The home carried out appropriate recruitment checks to help ensure staff were suitable to work with people.

    “Recruitment processes ensured appropriate checks were completed to help ensure staff were suitable and safe to work with people using the service.” from the report
  • Family contact

    People were supported to maintain contact with family and friends, and relatives said they were happy with visiting arrangements.

    “People were supported to keep in touch with family and friends.” from the report
What inspectors were concerned about
  • Medicines and risk management

    serious

    Medicine administration times were not always recorded, creams were not always given or stored correctly, and guidance for as-required medicines was sometimes missing. Other risks included unsafe bed rails, inaccurate risk records and incomplete accident reports.

    “Medicines were not always managed safely which placed people at risk of harm.” from the report
  • Too few staff

    serious

    Staffing levels were not always maintained, with long periods when communal areas had no staff present. People and relatives reported waiting too long for help.

    “There were not enough staff to meet people's needs and keep them safe.” from the report
  • Cleanliness and infection risks

    serious

    The home was initially poorly clean, with strong smells in several areas. Inspectors said some odours remained and that a deep clean was needed.

    “On the first day of inspection cleanliness throughout the home was poor with strong malodours in several areas.” from the report
  • Privacy and dignity

    serious

    Staff discussed personal information in a communal area, some bedroom windows lacked privacy screening, and inspectors saw delays in responding to a person's request to use the toilet.

    “People's privacy and dignity was not always maintained.” from the report
  • Food choices and support

    needs fixing

    People were not always offered a choice of meals or the support they needed. There was no choice for people needing a pureed meal, and a person's halal dietary needs were not properly met.

    “People's nutritional needs were not always met.” from the report
Questions to ask them, based on this report
  1. 01What has changed to make sure every medicine, cream and as-required medicine is given and recorded correctly?
  2. 02How many care, housekeeping and activity staff are now on duty during the day and at night, and how is cover arranged for absences?
  3. 03What action has been completed to improve cleanliness, remove odours and manage infection risks?
  4. 04How are current care plans checked so they accurately describe people's mobility, skin, diet and toileting needs?
  5. 05What changes have been made to protect privacy and dignity, including private staff handovers and bedroom window screening?

This was an unannounced first inspection of the newly registered care home, covering all five key questions, the premises and infection prevention and control; inspection activity ran from 16 August to 5 September 2023. This explanation was written from the published report of 4 November 2023 by an AI system and checked against the report text: every quoted line appears in the report. It is a guide to the report, not a substitute for it. Read the full report on cqc.org.uk.

The story over the years

Every inspection of Airedale Residential & Dementia Home

2 rated inspections over 6 years: the service has slipped, from Good to Requires improvement.

  1. November 2023Requires improvementcurrent ratingdown from Good
    Safe: InadequateEffective: Requires improvementCaring: Requires improvementResponsive: Requires improvementWell-led: Requires improvement

    Read what inspectors found at Airedale Residential & Dementia Home →

  2. December 2017Good
    Safe: GoodEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Requires improvement
  3. December 2021

    Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 14 December 2021.

Ratings and report dates from the Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0. A home can also be visited without a new rating being published, so the timeline shows published inspections.

Next steps

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