Harwood House Care Home in Cookham Dean has received the Care Quality Commission’s inspection outcome, with three key areas rated Good: Effective, Caring and Responsive and an overall rating of Requires Improvement.
Inspectors praised the home’s caring and compassionate staff, clean environment, and positive feedback from residents and families, who described Harwood House as warm, welcoming and supportive.
The inspection also identified improvements needed in elements of medicines management, governance processes and some record‑keeping systems. The home had already begun addressing these areas before the inspection, under the leadership of its new Registered Manager, Rebecca Laing, who took up the position in January 2026.
Registered Manager, Rebecca Laing, said: “We take the CQC’s findings extremely seriously. Our six‑month improvement programme is already well underway, and many actions started during the inspection itself. Our focus is straightforward: strengthening clinical systems, enhancing training, and ensuring consistent oversight across the home.”
The home’s improvement plan includes strengthened medicines procedures, refreshed mandatory training, enhanced governance checks, more consistent care documentation, and updates to elements of the physical environment to support residents living with dementia.
“Our priority is, and will remain, the safety, dignity and wellbeing of every resident,” Rebecca Laing added. “We are confident the changes already in progress will allow us to demonstrate clear and measurable improvement at the next CQC review.”
Families or partners wishing to discuss the report or the improvement programme are invited to contact the Registered Manager directly.