Hillside Lodge

Hillside Lodge is a small residential care home that currently supports a single resident with learning disabilities and autism, providing a highly personalized environment tailored to their specific sensory and physical needs. The service focuses on giving the resident maximum choice, independence, and access to the local community through a consistent and skilled staff team. While the home demonstrates strong standards in daily support and safety, the inspection highlighted that there was no registered manager in post at the time of the visit, meaning management oversight relies on a temporary locality manager.

Staff understand individual risks well and actively practice a positive risk-taking approach to help the resident maintain independence, while maintaining a clean, hygienic environment with effective infection control measures in place.

The team delivers tailored care based on thorough pre-admission assessments and comprehensive training, though health professionals noted that timely communication from the service has only recently improved under new management.

Staff treat the resident with notable warmth, respect, and compassion, paying close attention to sensory sensitivities and communication preferences to ensure daily life remains meaningful.

The service successfully organizes activities and routines that reflect the resident's personal wishes and aspirations, keeping the environment responsive to changing needs.

Although the home operates with dedicated staff and strong external professional partnerships, the absence of a permanent registered manager means leadership and governance require ongoing attention to sustain these positive standards.