This guide summarises what’s publicly known about Willowbrook Homecare, a long-established domiciliary home-care agency based in Oswaldtwistle near Accrington, for families considering it for a relative. Sources are linked at the end.
The basics
- Service type: Home-care service (visits people in their own homes)
- Provider: Willowbrook (Hyndburn) Limited
- Registered office: 188–190 Union Road, Oswaldtwistle, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 3EG
- Telephone: (01254) 390347
- Areas covered: Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale (East Lancashire)
- Founded: December 2000 (over two decades of operation)
CQC rating
- Overall: Good
- Latest full inspection: 17 April 2018 (report published 22 May 2018)
- Latest review: 6 July 2023 — CQC reviewed available information and found no evidence the rating needed reassessment at that stage
Source: Willowbrook Homecare CQC profile.
A practical point: as with many smaller domiciliary providers, the rating is several years old. CQC’s 2023 review confirmed it remained valid, but no fresh full inspection has been published. Worth asking the agency directly what has changed since 2018, particularly around management and visit volume.
Who runs it
- Registered Managers: Mrs Mary Elizabeth Noone and Mrs Victoria Leeann Yates
- Nominated Individual: Mrs Victoria Leeann Yates
Both registered managers are publicly named in CQC’s records (link above).
What inspectors and reviewers say
The CQC inspection rated the service Good overall. The provider has been operating since 2000, which is a long tenure for a small domiciliary agency.
Willowbrook has an additional independent presence on homecare.co.uk, the UK’s main directory of domiciliary care reviews. As of recent checks:
- Review score: 7.5 / 10
- Reviews in last 2 years: 3
- Reviews over all time: 4
That’s a relatively small sample — typical for a regional agency — so each review is worth reading in full rather than judging from the headline number alone. The agency directs its clients to leave reviews on homecare.co.uk, which is normal practice in the sector and improves the rating’s representativeness.
How to use this guide
If you’re considering Willowbrook Homecare for a relative:
- Read the CQC profile end-to-end
- Read the homecare.co.uk reviews — small sample but each one is detailed
- Call the agency on (01254) 390347 and speak to one of the registered managers
- Ask the questions in our guide on knowing if a home carer attended a visit before agreeing to start
Specific questions worth asking given the rating’s age:
“Since the 2018 inspection, has the management or ownership structure changed? Has visit volume grown significantly? What systems do you use now to record visit attendance, and can families access that record?”
What this profile doesn’t tell you
A CQC profile, even with a homecare.co.uk page alongside it, is a partial picture. It doesn’t tell you:
- What individual carers are like
- Whether visits this week are being delivered on time
- Whether records you’d want to see (visit logs, daily notes) are produced cleanly on request
- Whether the service has scaled cleanly across its four covered districts (Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle, Rossendale)
For all these you need direct contact with the agency and ideally a conversation with someone currently using the service.
Related reading: how to read a CQC inspection report for families, how to know if your home carer attended a visit.
All factual claims above are sourced from the public CQC profile for Willowbrook Homecare and the publicly visible homecare.co.uk listing. This guide is independent and not affiliated with Willowbrook Homecare. Corrections welcome at john@homecarefamily.co.uk.
Sources: