Care home · Reading
Austen House
Typical fee here £1,660–£2,030 a week Estimate
Free · 2 minutes · No obligation · 34,334 registered providers compared
Illustrative photo, not of Austen House- Address
- Kilnsea Drive, Lower Earley, Reading, RG6 3UJ
- Run by
- Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited (165 services)
- Type of provider
- Independent (private company)
- Service
- Nursing home
- Beds
- 79 (registered with CQC)
- Nursing care
- Yes, registered as a nursing home (CQC registration)
- Dementia
- Registered with CQC to support people living with dementia
- Registered with CQC
- February 2011 (15 years)
- Part of
- Barchester Healthcare
- Registered manager
- Katherine Louise Mahoney
- Company check
- Active, trading since 1993 (33 years), accounts up to date (Companies House 02849519)
- Last CQC check
- 4 Oct 2022
- Typical fees Estimated
- £1,660–£2,030 a week for nursing care (dementia). Estimate only, from published local rates. How we estimate
Registered to provide: Accommodation for persons who require nursing or personal care · Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
More in Winnersh: Care homes in Winnersh (4) · Care homes for dementia care in Winnersh · Care homes for elderly care in Winnersh · Care homes for care for adults under 65 in Winnersh
See this service on the CQC website · CQC location ID 1-125862259
About Austen House
Austen House in Reading is registered with the Care Quality Commission as a nursing home, run by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited. The service is registered to support adults of all ages and lists dementia among its specialisms.
CQC rated it Requires improvement overall (October 2022). Safe, Effective and Well-led were rated Requires improvement. It is one of 4 CQC-registered care homes in and around Winnersh; 3 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.
What it may cost
We estimate Austen House at £1,660–£2,030 a week for nursing care (dementia), based on published prices in the region. Over a year that is roughly £86k–£106k.
For residents assessed as needing nursing, a weekly NHS contribution goes straight to the home towards the fee, whoever pays the rest.
Council help is possible below £23,250 in savings: ask Wokingham Council for a free care needs assessment.
Past CQC ratings
- Apr 2015
- Dec 2015
- Oct 2017
- Oct 2018
- Nov 2019
- Oct 2022
- Today Rating 4 years old
CQC rating timeline for this address. The latest rating is lower than the one before.
CQC documents
- CQC inspection report 4 October 2022
- CQC inspection report 14 November 2019
- CQC inspection report 16 October 2018
- CQC inspection report 31 October 2017
- CQC inspection report 4 December 2015
- CQC inspection report 14 April 2015
The kitchen's hygiene score
The kitchen has a food hygiene rating of 3 (generally satisfactory), from an inspection on 5 September 2025 by Wokingham. Meals matter in a care home: ask to see a menu and whether residents can choose.
From the Food Standards Agency (listed as "Austen Nursing Home"). Open Government Licence.
Finding it
- Ward
- Hawkedon
- Council
- Wokingham Borough Council · paying for care
- Parliamentary constituency
- Earley and Woodley
- NHS area (integrated care board)
- NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board
- Type of area
- Urban, nearer to a major town or city
- Neighbourhood deprivation
- Among the 20% least deprived areas in England
- Postcode district
- Care homes in RG6 (5)
View on OpenStreetMap · How to get there · Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors
Close by
- Bus stop 140 m (2 min walk) · 20 stops within 600 m
- Railway station Earley, 1.6 km
- GP surgery Brookside Surgery, 630 m (8 min walk)
- Pharmacy 280 m (3 min walk)
- Shop Sainsbury's Local, 300 m (4 min walk)
- Park 380 m (5 min walk)
- Place of worship Lower Earley Baptist Church, 480 m (6 min walk)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). These are direct-line distances, so real walking routes, and times, will be longer.
Area details from ONS and NHS postcode data via postcodes.io (Open Government Licence).
The local picture
There are 24 other care homes within 3 miles, 20 of them rated Good or Outstanding; the nearest is Loddon Court, 1.0 miles away.
6 of the 24 nearest rated care homes have a more recent rating than this one.
It sits in Hawkedon ward, classed by ONS as urban (nearer to a major town or city), among the 20% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. NHS services here are planned by NHS Thames Valley ICB.
Within about a 10-minute walk there is a GP surgery (8 min), a pharmacy (3 min), a shop (4 min), a park (5 min) and a bus stop (2 min), which matters for residents who can go out and for visiting family.
Specialisms
As listed with the regulator.
The registered provider
Austen House is run by Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited (company 02849519), incorporated in 1993, 17 years before this service registered with CQC.
At Companies House, the company is listed as active, its accounts are filed on time, it has 5 active directors and there is no insolvency history.
Its registered business activity is other human health activities.
Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited runs 165 CQC-registered services across 73 council areas; 116 of the 129 with a rating are Good or Outstanding (90%), against 83% for the same mix of services across England.
2 of its services are in Wokingham.
It trades under the Barchester Healthcare brand, which covers 165 services run by 1 registered provider.
How long it has been running
Registered in February 2011, it has 15 years on the CQC register.
CQC has published 6 overall ratings for it (2015–2022), starting at Requires improvement; it has gone up 2 and down 2 times, and is now Requires improvement.
The rating is 4 years old. CQC decides when to return based on risk, so age alone is not a warning sign; still, ask who the manager is now.
6 reports have been published for this location, most recently on 4 October 2022.
Inspection findings in brief
- People and staff felt there were not always enough staff deployed and the provider had not ensured sufficient staffing levels in order to safely meet the needs of people.
- The provider had not ensured risks and actions identified in relation to fire had been undertaken.
- Staff understood their responsibilities to raise concerns and report incidents or allegations of abuse.
- People were not always supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff did not support them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service did not always support this practice.
Inspected 12 August 2022; report published 4 October 2022; supporting 79 people at the time. In CQC's words, from its published findings (Open Government Licence). Read the full report.
Ratings for safety, care and leadership
- Safe4 of 43 in Wokingham
- Effective7 of 43 in Wokingham
- Caring41 of 43 in Wokingham
- Responsive34 of 43 in Wokingham
- Well-led4 of 43 in Wokingham
Source: CQC, published 4 October 2022. Under each rating: how many care homes in Wokingham share it.
Reading Austen House's CQC ratings
For Austen House, Safe, Effective and Well-led are rated below Good; 2 other areas are Good.
Across Wokingham, 4 of 43 rated care homes are Requires improvement for Safe (9%), while 7 of 43 rated care homes are Requires improvement for Effective (16%), while 4 of 43 rated care homes are Requires improvement for Well-led (9%).
If you are considering it, read the Safe, Effective and Well-led section of the report first and ask what has changed since the inspection.
Family reviews
Nobody has reviewed Austen House here yet. Have you used it? A short, honest review helps the next family decide.
Reviews are separate from CQC ratings. We verify the reviewer's email and never let providers remove reviews. How reviews work.
Where Austen House stands locally
- Rated Requires improvement. Across Wokingham, 93% of the 43 rated care homes are Good or Outstanding and 5 are Outstanding.
- Its rating (October 2022) is more recent than 77% of care home ratings in Wokingham.
- With 79 beds it is larger than 93% of care homes in Wokingham, where the typical home has 16.
- Registered with CQC in 2011: it has been registered longer than 44% of care homes in the area.
- It lists 3 specialisms with CQC; the typical care home in Wokingham lists 3.
- Areas CQC rated below Good: Safe (9% of care homes in Wokingham are also rated below Good here); Effective (16% of care homes in Wokingham are also rated below Good here); Well-led (9% of care homes in Wokingham are also rated below Good here). Ask the provider what has changed since.
Benchmarked against all CQC-registered care homes in Wokingham (Oct 2026).
Closest alternatives
Guides for families
Newer ratings near Winnersh
- Abbeyfield WinnershJun 2025
Questions about Austen House
- Who is the registered provider for Austen House?
- CQC lists Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited as the provider responsible for Austen House.
- How many residents can Austen House take?
- Austen House has 79 registered places. Ask how many are free now and which rooms have en-suites.
- How is Austen House rated for safety and leadership?
- CQC rates five key questions. For Austen House: Safe: Requires improvement; Effective: Requires improvement; Caring: Good; Responsive: Good; Well-led: Requires improvement. Safe and Well-led are the sections most worth your time.
- What are Austen House's fees?
- We don't have published prices from Austen House yet. Residential care home typically costs £1,555 a week (average 2026 self-funder fees in South East). A written quote should spell out weekend, bank holiday and short-notice rates.
- What kind of care can Austen House offer?
- Its CQC registration covers nursing homes. Ask Austen House how it would adapt if needs increase.
- Is Austen House a registered provider?
- It is. The CQC register records Austen House as a care home, location ID 1-125862259 and was rated Requires improvement overall in October 2022.
- What is Austen House's address?
- It is at Kilnsea Drive, Lower Earley, Reading, RG6 3UJ.
- How recent is Austen House's CQC rating?
- 4 October 2022 is when the current rating was published, 4 years ago. Check what has changed since, such as the manager or staffing.
- Is Austen House registered for dementia care?
- Yes, it is registered for dementia. Worth asking: how many staff are trained, and how routines are kept consistent.
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Register data from the Care Quality Commission, refreshed Oct 2026, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Provider-written text is labelled as such. We are an independent directory, not a care provider.