CQC rates The Haven on Harwich Road inadequate and puts it in special measures: a blocked fire escape, an unreported death and a serious medication error.
A Colchester care home has been rated inadequate and placed in special measures. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its assessment of The Haven on Tuesday 6 October. The home’s overall rating has dropped from good to inadequate.
The Haven is at 84 Harwich Road, in the CO4 postcode. It is run by Comfort Care Services (Colchester) Limited and is registered for up to 32 people over 65, including people with dementia. There were 29 residents when inspectors visited on 20 and 22 July 2026.
Inspectors found a fire escape route blocked by combustible waste and a padlocked gate, a resident’s death that had not been reported to the regulator, and a serious medication error. They also found a bed that had been broken for seven months.
The report is careful to say that residents were “supported by a caring and committed staff team who knew them well”. Its criticism is aimed at the leadership, governance and oversight of the home.
The ratings
CQC rates a service on five questions. The Haven’s new ratings, with the previous ones in brackets, are:
- Safe: inadequate (requires improvement)
- Effective: requires improvement (good)
- Caring: requires improvement (good)
- Responsive: requires improvement (good)
- Well-led: inadequate (good)
Each question also gets a score out of 100. The Haven scored 38 for safe, 50 for effective, 50 for caring, 61 for responsive and 36 for well-led.
The home’s last full report, published in August 2023, rated it good overall. Only the “safe” question was marked down then, to requires improvement.
The fire escape
The most serious environmental finding concerns a side escape route. An external fire risk assessment in April 2025 had found the route being used to store waste, “with numerous combustible items left against the property”. The assessment said the area must be cleared immediately and kept clear at all times.
The provider cleared it. By July 2026 it had filled up again. Inspectors found “a significant amount of waste and hazardous items along the same escape route” and a gate on the same route secured with a padlock. The report says this “meant people would not be able to swiftly exit and would be at increased risk of injury”.
The provider cleared the area during the inspection, removed the lock and put up new signage. CQC’s conclusion is that the home “could not consistently demonstrate that learning was embedded into practice”.
The unreported death
Care providers must notify CQC when a resident dies. Inspectors identified one death that had not been reported. The registered manager told them: “I was not aware I needed to complete a notification if the person died in hospital.” The manager said they would back-date notifications for other residents who had died in hospital without CQC being told.
Not every fall was investigated either. Falls where staff had helped a person to the floor were not looked into. The manager said: “I would only investigate if the person had sustained an injury or if I felt more staff training was needed.”
Medicines
A serious medication error had already happened before the inspection. One resident was given too much medication, and the wrong dose. Inspectors reviewed the measures put in place afterwards and found them insufficient. The new staff checklist told staff to check the person’s details on their wristband. Residents at The Haven do not wear wristbands.
During the inspection a staff member brought a box of 12 tablets to the office. They had been found in an empty bedroom. A GP had stopped the medicine 14 days earlier. The tablets had not been booked out for return to the pharmacy and had not been recorded as missing.
The report also lists:
- medication records that did not show where medicines had been stopped by a GP, “putting people at increased risk of medicines being administered after a GP had stopped them”
- poor records for pain patches, which have to be moved around the body to protect the skin
- medicines marked for return that were not stored safely
Seven months with a broken bed
One resident with Parkinson’s, who is at risk of falls, had a bed reported broken on 14 November 2025. Only one end could be raised, so the person could not lift the bed to help them stand. On 20 July 2026 the bed was still broken. The replacement part identified in November had not been ordered. Inspectors asked for the bed to be swapped with a vacant one, which had been done by their second visit on 22 July.
Other risks the inspectors recorded:
- wheelchair users being pushed over a door threshold to reach the garden, with “a significant risk of them falling forwards out of the wheelchair”
- denture cleaning tablets left in the room of a person with dementia, and a tub of thickening powder in an unlocked kitchenette cupboard
- an unlocked maintenance shed giving “unrestricted access to tools, including power tools”
- garden areas outside the central enclosed garden “poorly maintained, containing accumulations of waste and unused furniture”
- dirty toilet brush holders, denture pots and light pull cords, a cracking mattress cover and a made bed with dirty sheets and crumbs
- Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisations that had expired before the home applied for new ones
The home was also supporting one person with a learning disability. The registered manager had not heard of Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, the statutory guidance CQC uses for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
What residents, families and staff said
Feedback was mixed. One family member said: “The care is good, although I don’t think there is enough staff and often people are left alone whilst staff are supporting others.” A stakeholder said: “On the whole I have no major concerns, they have a high level of people with advanced dementia, and this is difficult at times, the senior team are extremely caring.”
Residents praised the food. One said: “I get on well with the chef, we talk about football, we get a good choice of foods.” Several people said there was nowhere private to sit with visitors. One said: “When I have a visitor, I sit on my bed so they can use the armchair.”
Staff were split. One said training was “vast, far greater than I have received almost anywhere else”. Another said: “Things seem to work better when inspections are due, or after they have been completed.”
The report records one episode in the home’s favour. A resident under a council guardianship order died with no one able to make decisions for them. The home worked with the council and the person’s extended family so that people who knew them could attend the funeral, rather than the council-funded funeral with no mourners that had first been arranged. CQC scored the home three out of four on that question.
What happens now
CQC served a warning notice on Comfort Care Services (Colchester) Limited on 12 August 2026 for failing to meet the regulations on safe care and treatment and good governance. It has asked the provider for an action plan.
The home is in special measures. CQC says the purpose “is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements” within a set timeframe, with its enforcement powers available if they do not.
The report found breaches of the regulations on person-centred care, infection prevention, medicines, risk management, premises and equipment, and good governance. It also says that where CQC begins regulatory action, it may publish details “after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded”. The provider has the right to make those representations. The Colchester Post has not spoken to the provider; the manager’s comments above are as recorded by the inspectors.
What it means for you
If a relative lives at The Haven, the home remains open and registered. The report records that the provider acted on the urgent concerns during the inspection, and that staff were caring and knew residents well. The failings it describes are about systems: medicines records, risk assessments, maintenance and reporting. Ask the manager for the action plan CQC has requested and what has changed since July.
If you have concerns about any care home, you can tell CQC directly through its Give feedback on care page. Safeguarding concerns about an adult in Essex go to Essex County Council’s adult social care team.
If you are choosing a care home, check the current rating and the date of the last report on the CQC website. The Haven’s previous rating of good was based on an inspection in July 2023, more than three years before this one.
Sources
- The Haven: assessment report, published 6 October 2026, Care Quality Commission
- The Haven: ratings, warning notice and registration, Care Quality Commission
- All inspection reports for The Haven, Care Quality Commission
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