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CQC report explained · a residential care home, run by North Bay Group

Riverside View Care Home

Hutton Avenue, Darlington, DL1 2AQ

Goodpublished 30 July 2025, 13 months ago

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

The latest report, explained

What inspectors found, November 2023

Rated Requires Improvement; inspectors found unsafe medicines management and weaknesses in oversight, although people generally felt safe and well cared for.

This was an unannounced focused inspection on 6 and 7 November 2023. Inspectors included a pharmacist and an Expert by Experience. They spoke with people, relatives, staff and health professionals, and reviewed medicine records, care plans, recruitment records and management information.

Inspectors found problems with medicines. Records and guidance did not always show that patches, topical medicines, ‘when required’ medicines and prescribed thickeners were given safely and as prescribed. Medicines audits had not found these problems.

People told inspectors they felt safe and were happy with their care. The home was clean, staffing levels met people's needs, risks were assessed, and staff understood safeguarding. However, there was no registered manager at the inspection, and the provider's governance arrangements were not consistently strong.

The overall rating changed from Good to Requires Improvement. Safe and Well-led were both rated Requires Improvement. The other areas were not inspected during this visit, so their previous ratings were used in the overall rating.

What inspectors praised

  • People felt safe

    People and relatives spoke positively about the care and said they felt safe. Staff knew how to recognise and report safeguarding concerns.

    “People and relatives felt the service was safe and spoke positively about the care provided.” from the report

  • Enough staff

    Inspectors found enough staff to meet people's needs promptly. Staff were described as calm, kind and professional.

    “There were enough staff to meet people's needs promptly. Staff supported people in a calm, kind and professional way.” from the report

  • Risk and fire safety

    People's risks were identified in care plans, and fire safety checks and emergency evacuation plans were in place.

    “Each person had a personal emergency evacuation plan (PEEP) which contained details about their individual needs in the event of an emergency.” from the report

  • Clean environment

    The home was clean and personal protective equipment was available and used appropriately.

    “The home was clean, and PPE was readily available, which staff used appropriately.” from the report

  • Positive relationships with professionals

    Staff worked with health and social care professionals to support people's needs and health.

    “Staff worked effectively with a range of other services and professionals to support people's needs.” from the report
What inspectors were concerned about

  • Medicines were not consistently safe

    serious

    Inspectors could not be sure that some people received patches and topical medicines as prescribed. Guidance and records for ‘when required’ medicines and thickeners were also incomplete.

    “We could not be sure that people received their topical medicines or patches as prescribed.” from the report

  • Audits missed problems

    serious

    The medicines audit system did not identify the problems found during the inspection. This led to a breach of the medicines regulation.

    “A medicines audit system was in place, but this had not picked up the issues we found during this inspection.” from the report

  • Minor infection control gap

    minor

    Most staff followed infection control practices, but a small minority were not bare below the elbow. The management team said this would be addressed.

    “We saw a small minority of staff who were not 'bare below the elbow,' which is best practice for enabling thorough hand washing and preventing infection.” from the report
Questions to ask them, based on this report
  1. 01What action has been taken to make sure patches and topical medicines are given and recorded as prescribed?
  2. 02How are ‘when required’ medicines now documented, including the reason for giving them and whether they worked?
  3. 03How are prescribed thickeners recorded so staff have clear instructions and complete records accurately?
  4. 04Who is currently managing the home, and has the new manager applied to become the registered manager?
  5. 05How will the provider check that its medicines audits identify problems promptly?

This was an unannounced focused inspection of Safe and Well-led only; the other key question ratings were carried forward from the previous inspection. This explanation was written from the published report of 29 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 Riverside View Care Home

3 rated inspections over 2 years: the service has held its Requires improvement rating throughout.

  1. November 2023Requires improvementcurrent ratingdown from Good
    Safe: Requires improvementEffective: GoodCaring: GoodResponsive: GoodWell-led: Requires improvement

    Read what inspectors found at Riverside View Care Home →

  2. March 2023Goodup from Requires improvement
    Safe: GoodWell-led: Good

    We are reading this report · the original is on cqc.org.uk

  3. October 2021Requires improvement
    Safe: Requires improvementEffective: Requires improvementResponsive: Requires improvementWell-led: Requires improvement

    Read this report on cqc.org.uk

  4. August 2020

    Registered with the Care Quality Commission on 6 August 2020.

Ratings and report dates from the Care Quality Commission. A service can also be visited without a new rating being published, so the timeline shows published inspections, not every contact the CQC has had with the service.

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