A care home in Spalding has been rated as requiring improvement after a Care Quality Commission inspection identified concerns about safety, effectiveness, caring and leadership.
St John’s Care Home, on Hawthorn Bank, supports older people and people living with dementia. The service was rated good for responsiveness, meaning residents were supported to access help when required, but the overall assessment found several areas where improvements were needed.
Concerns about risks and records
The assessment found that risks were not always fully assessed, recorded or reviewed. The report also said staff knowledge of some health conditions was inconsistent, while lessons from incidents were not always embedded in the service’s practice.
Records did not always contain enough detail to support safe care consistently. Care plans were not always sufficiently personalised or regularly updated, so they did not always give staff clear guidance about how to meet individual residents’ needs.
The report said there was not always a positive learning culture at the home. It identified missed opportunities to improve people’s safety through shared learning and said the provider was in breach of three regulations.
Positive feedback about staff
The findings also included positive comments about the care residents received day to day. Staff were consistently described as kind, caring and compassionate, and were said generally to know people well and support them with warmth and respect.
People and relatives told the service that residents were safe and that staff responded when support was needed. Staff understood how to report concerns, and residents were supported to access healthcare services.
“People and relatives told us people were safe and staff responded when support was needed. Staff understood how to report concerns and people were supported to access healthcare services.”
Transitions into the home and between healthcare services were described as planned and coordinated. Systems were in place to manage referrals and help residents access healthcare professionals.
Dignity and person-centred care
However, the assessment found that dignity was not always promoted. Some records were not person-centred, and residents’ preferences, rights and individuality were not always fully reflected in care planning and decision-making.
The report therefore presents a mixed picture: residents gave positive feedback about their everyday experiences and described staff as supportive, while the inspection identified weaknesses in risk management, documentation, care planning and organisational learning.
It also said that care plans were not always personalised or updated often enough to guide staff clearly. These issues have practical implications for how consistently the home can identify changing needs, record decisions and share learning after incidents.
Provider must submit action plan
The provider must now submit an action plan in response to the concerns identified during the assessment. The supplied report does not state a deadline for that action plan or provide further details about the measures planned.
The inspection information was published on September 23, 2026. The material supplied does not state when the inspection itself took place.