Enter and view: Market Lavington Care Home

Healthwatch Wiltshire carried out an Enter and View visit to Market Lavington Care Home on 21 April 2026. The home, operated by HC-One, provides nursing and personal care for older adults, including people living with dementia and physical disabilities. During the visit, Healthwatch representatives spoke with residents, relatives, managers and staff, and observed care delivery and the home environment.

Overall, the home was found to be calm, welcoming, clean and well maintained. Staff were described as friendly, visible and engaged, and appeared to know residents well. Healthwatch observed a strong emphasis on dignity, person-centred care and respecting residents' independence and personal choices. Residents were encouraged to personalise their rooms and doors with photographs, ornaments and furniture from home, helping to create a homely atmosphere. 

The care home is divided across two buildings, The Old Vicarage and Vicarage Gardens, and provides accommodation across several units, including a dedicated dementia unit. Both buildings were observed to be modern, tidy and well presented. Essential maintenance work was being carried out during the visit but caused minimal disruption to residents. 

Management explained that the home had successfully embedded a new digital care planning system, allowing staff to record care and handovers in real time through mobile devices. The home has also faced challenges recruiting staff because of limited local transport links, but has introduced a minibus service to support recruitment and retention. 

Healthwatch found many positive examples of supporting resident choice and independence. Residents could decide how much assistance they wanted with personal care, choose their own clothing, decide whether to participate in activities, and select meals through visual presentation of food options. Staff were observed respecting residents' preferences while ensuring support was available whenever required. 

The quality of food and dining support was viewed positively. Menus were available, meals appeared appetising, and staff used visual choices to help residents decide what they would like to eat. Most residents were complimentary about the food, although one person felt meals could be bland.

Residents generally spoke positively about their experiences living in the home. They reported feeling reassured by ongoing medical support, valued continuity of care and appreciated staff assistance. Some residents expressed a desire for greater independence and more opportunities to take part in communal activities as their health improved. Relatives also highlighted the importance of maintaining the outdoor environment and suggested that garden maintenance could be improved. 

The activities programme was varied and included arts and crafts, exercise sessions, social events, themed activities, visiting attractions and one-to-one sessions. However, Healthwatch found that activity schedules were not consistently displayed throughout the home, meaning some residents may not have been fully aware of what was available. Staff also reported difficulties achieving high participation levels in some activities. 

Healthwatch identified a number of opportunities for improvement. These included ensuring that the visitor feedback screen is operational, making key information and activity schedules more visible and accessible, increasing awareness and participation in activities, and improving maintenance and access to outdoor spaces. At the same time, the report recognised the home's strong person-centred culture and recommended that this approach continue.

Overall, Healthwatch concluded that Market Lavington Care Home provides a positive, caring and well-managed environment where residents are treated with dignity and respect. The home was praised for its welcoming atmosphere, attentive staff, personalised care and promotion of independence. The recommendations focused primarily on improving communication about activities and feedback opportunities, and enhancing residents' access to outdoor spaces. 

The provider responded positively to all recommendations, confirming that information boards and activity timetables had been reviewed and updated, activity schedules were now displayed more widely, residents were receiving reminders about activities, outdoor areas had been tidied, and investigations into the visitor feedback screen were underway.