Fern Brook Lodge
Fern Brook Lane, Gillingham, SP8 4QD · Dorset · South West
What the record says
Rated Good overall, but the rating is 6 years old.
- Age of rating
- 6 years old — published 4 Mar 2020, and no newer rating had been published by 1 Sep 2026. A re-inspection could move it in either direction.
- This operator's rated services
- Of Care South's 16 rated services, none are below Good — including this one. See the operator.
Verbatim CQC ratings, each dated · data as at 1 Sep 2026 · source: CQC
- Care type
- Care home with nursing
- Beds
- 75
- Registered with CQC
- 22 Apr 2015
- Run by
- Care South
- Part of
- Care South · 16 services
- Phone
- 01747834020
Contact details as recorded by CQC — we don’t hold fees, vacancies or waiting lists, so those are worth asking about directly.
Who this service supports
The groups this service is registered with CQC to support. Registration says who a service may care for — it is not a quality judgement, and it is not a recommendation.
Select a group to see other services registered for it in Dorset.
Care home with nursing
Looking for services registered for a particular need? Find care that fits in Dorset.
Data as published by CQC to 1 Sep 2026 · source: CQC
The five key questions
| Key question | Rating | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | Goodrating 3+ yrs old | 4 Mar 2020 |
| Effective | Goodrating 3+ yrs old | 4 Mar 2020 |
| Caring | Goodrating 3+ yrs old | 4 Mar 2020 |
| Responsive | Goodrating 3+ yrs old | 4 Mar 2020 |
| Well-led | Goodrating 3+ yrs old | 4 Mar 2020 |
Ratings verbatim as published by CQC. Key questions can carry different dates when CQC re-inspects only part of a service.
Data as published by CQC to 1 Sep 2026 · source: CQC
Same operator — 15 other locations
Other active services registered to Care South. The verdict above reads across this operator's whole rated portfolio.
| Name | Overall rating (published) | Local authority |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandra House | Good, published 17 Jul 2024 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Beauchamp House Nursing Home | Good, published 9 Sep 2022rating 3+ yrs old | Somerset |
| Buxton House | Good, published 23 Sep 2025 | Dorset |
| Care South Home Care Services Dorset | Good, published 8 Dec 2025 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Care South Home Care Services Somerset | Good, published 18 May 2018rating 3+ yrs old | Somerset |
| Castle Dene | Good, published 14 Nov 2024 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Dorset House | Good, published 1 Sep 2022rating 3+ yrs old | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Elizabeth House | Good, published 29 May 2024 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Fairlawn | Good, published 16 Jan 2021rating 3+ yrs old | Dorset |
| Kenwith Castle Country House Care | Good, published 24 Feb 2023rating 3+ yrs old | Devon |
| Maiden Castle House | Good, published 6 Nov 2025 | Dorset |
| Marjorie House | Good, published 17 Feb 2026 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
…and 3 more. See the full group view.
Data as published by CQC to 1 Sep 2026 · source: CQC
CQC publishes registrations and ratings. It holds nothing at all about fees, current vacancies, staffing levels, or the building itself — there is no field anywhere for door widths, hoists, wet rooms or ground-floor rooms. So no site, including this one, can tell you those. They are worth asking directly — the number is above.
- What are the fees, and what do they not include?
- Do you have a vacancy now, and would you hold a room?
- How many staff are on at night, and how are transfers staffed?
- What change in someone’s needs would mean they had to move, and can I see that in the contract?
More on what to look for and ask on a visit —including what an occupational therapist would check for particular needs — at choosing a care home.
- Take the visit checklistWhat to look for and the questions to ask when you visit — the things a rating cannot tell you.
- Coming out of hospitalIf this follows a hospital stay: the discharge decision, reablement, and what to ask the ward.
- Ask the council for a needs assessmentFree, whatever the savings, and the formal route to arranged care and funding.
- Understand who paysThe means test, what happens to the home, and NHS Continuing Healthcare.
- How to read this ratingWhat the words mean, the five key questions, and why the date matters.
Need this on paper? The single-site diligence pack on Fern Brook Lodge adds full rating history, inspection failure themes quoted verbatim, the operator's whole-portfolio record and Companies House linkage — hand-reviewed, every figure dated. £149 · delivered within 48 hours.
See a sample and order →Similar services nearby
Nearest first — a place to look around, not a ranking. Other care homes with nursing within 10 miles, registered for at least one of the same groups this service supports. Distance is straight line between registered addresses. Not an assessment of anyone’s needs.
- The Mellowes Care Homeabout 1.3 miles · Gillingham · 45 bedsGood, published 27 May 2022rating 3+ yrs oldinherited from a previous registration
- The Cedars Nursing Homeabout 3.2 miles · Shaftesbury · 32 bedsGood, published 19 May 2023rating 3+ yrs oldinherited from a previous registration
- Hays House Nursing Homeabout 3.7 miles · Shaftesbury · 43 bedsGood, published 27 Apr 2018rating 3+ yrs old
- The Bridlesabout 7.2 miles · Wincanton · 74 bedsNot yet rated
- Sector
- Social Care Org
- On CQC’s site
- cqc.org.uk/location/1-2027666173
Every rating on this page is shown verbatim as CQC published it, each with its own publication date. Data as at 1 Sep 2026 — as published by CQC, bulk files of 01 Sep 2026 · source: CQC · data & methods.