St James Court
- Home care
- Dementia care
- Registered since 2025
- Buckinghamshire, South East
Requires improvement
Rated on
Rating from the Care Quality Commission.
At a glance
3 ratings
Its last inspection moved it down from Good to Requires improvement.
1 month
since the latest rating was published.
12 of 67
rated home care services in Buckinghamshire are rated Requires improvement, like this one.
St James Court: inspection record
Rated Requires improvement in September 2026, down from Good.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | ||||||||||||
| Safe | ||||||||||||
| Effective | ||||||||||||
| Caring | ||||||||||||
| Responsive | ||||||||||||
| Well-led |
Ratings published by the Care Quality Commission.
Compare nearby
Nearest rated Good or Outstanding: Care Resource Bureau Ltd (Good, 1 mile away) and Appleby Care (Good, 1.2 miles away).
Nearest home care services:
- G Care Resource Bureau Ltd Good, 1 mile away
- G Appleby Care Good, 1.2 miles away
- – Chiltern Support and Housing No overall rating, 2.1 miles away
- G Hughenden Gardens Good, 2.1 miles away
- – White Leaf Support Not yet rated, 2.4 miles away
What inspectors found
From the Care Quality Commission's assessment published 8 September 2026 (assessment visit 25 June 2026). Quoted under the Open Government Licence.
Date of assessment 4 July to 28 July 2026. We visited the extra care facility on the 16 July 2026. We continued to seek information and clarification from the service until 12 August 2026.
- Safe No rating
- Effective Good
- Caring Good
- Responsive Good
- Well-led No rating
Read the rest of CQC's summary
St James Court is registered to provide support with personal care. The main office is based within an extra care scheme of 12 flats. At the time of the assessment the service provided care and support to 10 people who lived at the scheme. Not everyone who lived at St James Court was receiving the regulated activity of personal care, which is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. We only reviewed the care and support for 2 people who were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.
We found 2 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance at the service.
We found risks to people as a result of their medical conditions, or prescribed medicines were not routinely and consistently assessed or mitigated. This meant staff did not always have guidance on how to mitigate risks to people.
We found improvements were required to ensure medicines were managed safely. We found handwritten medicine administration records did not routinely record who had written the record or if it has been checked for accuracy by a second person as a good practice.
We identified areas for improvement relating to emergency preparedness, including emergency equipment readiness and fire safety training arrangements.
Governance systems were in place; however, they were not always effective in identifying and addressing the concerns found during this assessment.A registered manager was in post however; they were not based at the location. A manager provided oversight to the service; however, systems were not effective in driving improvement. The provider failed to ensure their policies were followed by staff. The provider expected a number of audits to be carried out over a 12-month period. However, we found this was not the case. The manager told us the only audit which was carried out regularly was a medicines audit. The medicines audit had failed to highlight the concerns we identified about medicines management.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
-
Safe
No rating
Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
This is the first assessment for this service since a change of provider in October 2025. This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant some aspects of the service were not always safe and there was limited assurance about safety. There was an increased risk that people could be harmed.
The service was in breach of a legal regulation in relation to people’s safe care and treatment, in respect of how risks were managed and the how people’s medicines were managed.
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Effective
Good
Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.
This is the first assessment for this service since a change of provider in October 2025. This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.
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Caring
Good
Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.
This is the first assessment for this service since a change of provider in October 2025. This key question has been rated good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.
-
Responsive
Good
Responsive – this means we looked for evidence that the provider met people’s needs.
This is the first assessment for this service since a change of provider in October 2025.This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s needs were met through good organisation and delivery.
-
Well-led
No rating
Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture.
This is the first assessment for this service since a change of provider in October 2025.This key question has been rated requires improvement. This meant the management and leadership was inconsistent. Leaders and the culture they created did not always support the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care.
The service was in breach of a legal regulation in relation to governance at the service.
Questions to ask the service
- Safe was rated Requires improvement on 8 September 2026. Ask how medicines are managed, how staffing levels are decided and how incidents are reviewed.
- Well-led was rated Requires improvement on 8 September 2026. Ask about changes in management and what has changed since the report.
- Ask to see the most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) report and what the service did about any points in it.
Registration details
- Registered manager
- Joanne Stewart
- Registered with the CQC since
- What it provides
- Domiciliary care service, Extra Care housing services
- Who it supports
- Dementia, Older People, Physical Disability, Sensory Impairment, Younger Adults
Inspection report
Read the full inspection report (opens the Care Quality Commission website)The rating is the Care Quality Commission's. We show it as published and do not change it.
Who runs it
- Provider
- Agincare Homes (South East) LtdBrand: Agincare
- Ownership type
- Organisation
- Companies House number
- 14657122 (opens Companies House)
Agincare Homes (South East) Ltd runs 15 services in England, 7 of them in the South East. 7 are rated Good or Outstanding, 7 are rated Requires improvement or Inadequate and 1 has no rating yet.
Other services run by Agincare Homes (South East) Ltd
- G Bluegrove House Good. Care home, Southwark, London
- G Greenhive House Good. Care home, Southwark, London
- G Greville House Good. Care home with nursing, Richmond upon Thames, London
- G Hazlemere Lodge Good. Care home with nursing, Buckinghamshire
Getting help from Buckinghamshire Council
The council can assess what care someone needs and tell them what help with the cost they may get.
- Adult social care at Buckinghamshire Council
- Ask for a care needs assessment
- Phone: 01296 383 204
- Support for carers
- Paying for care: Buckinghamshire Council
Checked on the council's website, November 2026.
Common questions
- Does St James Court provide nursing care?
- The Care Quality Commission's register does not list nursing care for St James Court.
- When was St James Court last inspected?
- The Care Quality Commission's latest rating for St James Court was published on 8 September 2026.
- Who runs St James Court?
- St James Court is run by Agincare Homes (South East) Ltd. It runs 15 services in England, 7 of them in the South East.
- What is St James Court's CQC rating?
- Its overall rating from the Care Quality Commission is Requires improvement, published on 8 September 2026.
Contact
- Phone
- 01494 767970
- Address
- Barn Lane,, Hazlemere, High Wycombe, HP15 7DQ Map (opens Google Maps)
Compare nearby
Nearest rated Good or Outstanding: Care Resource Bureau Ltd (Good, 1 mile away) and Appleby Care (Good, 1.2 miles away).
Nearest home care services:
- G Care Resource Bureau Ltd Good, 1 mile away
- G Appleby Care Good, 1.2 miles away
- – Chiltern Support and Housing No overall rating, 2.1 miles away
- G Hughenden Gardens Good, 2.1 miles away
- – White Leaf Support Not yet rated, 2.4 miles away