The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has raised the rating for St Albans House from inadequate to good after finding improvements in the quality of people’s care, following an inspection in March 2025. The home has also been removed from special measures as a result.
St Albans House, run by Achieve Together Limited, is a care home for up to five autistic people, people with a learning disability, or people with a physical disability. There were four people living in the home at the time of this inspection.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on improvements CQC told leaders to make at their previous inspection, which found they had failed to protect people from risks of abuse or improper treatment.
Since that inspection, a new registered manager has taken over the running of the home. At this inspection, CQC found the service had made sufficient improvements in all aspects and they are no longer in breach of regulations.
CQC has raised the service’s overall rating from inadequate to good, as well as for safe and well-led. CQC has raised the service’s ratings for effective, caring, and responsive from requires improvement to good.
Hazel Roberts, CQC deputy director of operations in the east of England, said:
“When we inspected St Albans House, we were reassured to find a new manager had taken action to significantly improve people’s safety and wellbeing. They did this by working together with their staff and the people living in the home to build an open culture that treated people kindly and as individuals.
“People said their concerns had been ignored in the past, but that now they felt safe and encouraged to speak up by the new manager. They said staff listened to them and took them seriously. We saw staff involved people in planning their care, respected their consent, and considered their views and wishes in all aspects of their day-to-day lives.
“For example, one person was proud to show inspectors their personal room, which staff had arranged just the way they’d asked for.
“Staff were trained, knowledgeable and supported people’s independence. People said they felt comfortable with staff, who understood them and would respond quickly if they needed them.
“We saw the home’s new manager led by example, supported their staff well, and had clear oversight of people’s quality of care. When people gave feedback or things went wrong, they investigated, learned from it, and made changes to improve people’s care in future. They also drove improvements using examples of things that worked well.
“The staff and management should be proud of the improvements they’ve made to this home. We’ve shared our findings with them and will continue to monitor the service to ensure these improvements to people’s care are embedded and sustained.”
Inspectors also found:
- The new manager worked with health professionals to stop the inappropriate medication of some people living in the home, who said the medication had made them feel numb and listless, with no energy or interest in life.
- Staff assessed and managed risks to people’s safety in partnership with them. One person living in the home had taken on the role of fire warden, which they cherished and took seriously.
- Staff actively supported people to maintain relationships with their friends and family, as well as live their lives in the local community and access activities outside the home to support their independence and wellbeing.
- People said they enjoyed the food, and we saw people enjoyed a varied and healthy diet. The manager made homemade mushroom soup for lunch on the day of this inspection.
- Staff gave people information in ways they could understand, so they could make informed decisions about their care.
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.