Home care agency · Gloucester
First Thought Care Services
Illustrative photo, not of First Thought Care Services- Address
- 164 Hucclecote Road, Gloucester, GL3 3SH
- Run by
- First Thought Care Services Ltd
- Type of provider
- Independent (private company)
- Service
- Home care agency, Supported living
- Dementia
- Not listed as a specialism with CQC; ask the provider
- Registered with CQC
- January 2023 (3 years)
- Registered manager
- Jack Alban Ian Cook
- Company check
- Active, trading since 2020 (6 years), accounts up to date (Companies House 12767299)
- Last CQC check
- 3 Jun 2026
- Typical fees Estimated
- £30–£37 an hour for visiting care, weekdays; live-in £1,450–£1,770 a week. Estimated from prices published locally; not a quote. How we estimate
Regulated activities on its registration: Personal care
More in Gloucester: Home care in Gloucester (107) · Best rated home care agencies in Gloucester · Learning disability care at home in Gloucester · Mental health care at home in Gloucester · Care for adults under 65 at home in Gloucester · Live-in care in Gloucester
Open CQC's full report · CQC location ID 1-14807426692
First Thought Care Services at a glance
First Thought Care Services is a CQC-registered home care agency that also provides supported living in Gloucester, run by First Thought Care Services Ltd. Its CQC registration covers adults under 65 and children, including people living with learning disabilities and mental health conditions.
At its most recent rating, CQC judged it Good overall (June 2024). It is one of 107 CQC-registered home care agencies that have an office within 7 miles of Gloucester; 56 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.
How it fits locally
Choice is wide here: the 25 nearest other agencies are all within 3 miles, 16 of them rated Good or Outstanding, and the closest is ProVirtue Healthcare Services Ltd, 0.8 miles away.
It is registered for needs that fewer services nearby cover: children (8 of the nearest 25).
4 of the 17 nearest rated agencies have a more recent rating than this one.
It sits in Churchdown Brookfield with Hucclecote ward, classed by ONS as urban (nearer to a major town or city), among the 40% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. NHS services here are planned by NHS Gloucestershire ICB.
Strengths and weak spots in the ratings
All five areas CQC looks at are rated Good for First Thought Care Services: no single area stands out above or below the rest.
For leadership (Well-led), it shares its Good rating with 82 of the 128 other agencies in Gloucestershire that CQC has rated.
Under CQC's newer scoring, its strongest area is Caring at 85% and its lowest is Safe at 75%, averaging 78% overall.
Who the service is registered for
Specialisms as registered with CQC.
The five key questions
- Safe75% score106 of 129 in Gloucestershire
- Effective75% score116 of 129 in Gloucestershire
- Caring85% score113 of 129 in Gloucestershire
- Responsive75% score115 of 129 in Gloucestershire
- Well-led82% score83 of 129 in Gloucestershire
Ratings from CQC's most recent report, published 5 June 2024. Under each rating: how many agencies in Gloucestershire share it.
Budgeting for this agency
We estimate visits from First Thought Care Services at £30–£37 an hour (visiting care, weekdays), based on published prices in the region. As an example, an hour each morning and a 30-minute evening call comes to about £350 a week.
Live-in arrangements here usually cost £1,450–£1,770 weekly.
Gloucestershire Council can help with costs for people with savings under £23,250, starting with a free assessment.
History with CQC
Registered in January 2023, it has 3 years on the CQC register.
CQC has rated it once overall, as Good, in June 2024.
From the latest CQC inspection
- This assessment took place between 16 March and 9 April 2026.
- We visited the registered office on 18 March and 1 April 2026.
- First Thought Care Services is a homecare service, providing care and support to adults who live with mental health difficulties, learning disabilities and autism.
- They said staff were trained and committed to understand people’s emotional, physical and social needs.
Supporting 4 people at the time. In CQC's words, from its published findings (Open Government Licence). Read the full report.
Who runs it
First Thought Care Services is run by First Thought Care Services Ltd (company 12767299), incorporated in 2020, 2 years before this service registered with CQC.
At Companies House, the company is listed as active, its accounts are filed on time, it has 1 active director and there is no insolvency history.
Its registered business activity is care for people with learning disabilities, mental health problems or substance misuse, social work without accommodation for older and disabled people (which includes home care) and other social work without accommodation.
Percentage scores by area
CQC's single assessment framework gives every quality statement a score out of 4, then reports each key question as a percentage. Averaged across the five areas, First Thought Care Services scores 78%.
Safe 75%
- Learning culture3 · Good
- Safe systems, pathways and transitions3 · Good
- Safeguarding3 · Good
- Involving people to manage risks3 · Good
- Safe environments3 · Good
- Safe and effective staffing3 · Good
- Infection prevention and control3 · Good
- Medicines optimisation3 · Good
Effective 75%
- Assessing needs3 · Good
- Delivering evidence-based care and treatment3 · Good
- How staff, teams and services work together3 · Good
- Supporting people to live healthier lives3 · Good
- Monitoring and improving outcomes3 · Good
- Consent to care and treatment3 · Good
Caring 85%
- Kindness, compassion and dignity4 · Exceptional
- Treating people as individuals3 · Good
- Independence, choice and control3 · Good
- Responding to people’s immediate needs3 · Good
- Workforce wellbeing and enablement4 · Exceptional
Responsive 75%
- Person-centred Care3 · Good
- Care provision, Integration and continuity3 · Good
- Providing Information3 · Good
- Listening to and involving people3 · Good
- Equity in access3 · Good
- Equity in experiences and outcomes3 · Good
- Planning for the future3 · Good
Well-led 82%
- Shared direction and culture3 · Good
- Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders4 · Exceptional
- Freedom to speak up3 · Good
- Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion4 · Exceptional
- Governance, management and sustainability3 · Good
- Partnerships and communities3 · Good
- Learning, improvement and innovation3 · Good
Scale: 1 (significant shortfalls) to 4 (exceptional). From CQC, assessed 16 March 2026, published 5 June 2024, Open Government Licence. Statements without a score were not reassessed and their earlier result stands.
Rating history
- Jun 2024
- Today Rating 2 years old
Every overall rating on record for this location, earliest first.
Area and map
- Ward
- Churchdown Brookfield with Hucclecote
- Parliamentary constituency
- North Cotswolds
- NHS area (integrated care board)
- NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
- ONS area type
- Urban: nearer to a major town or city
- Neighbourhood deprivation
- Among the 40% least deprived areas in England
Bigger map · Directions · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Ward, NHS area and deprivation from ONS and NHS postcode data (postcodes.io, Open Government Licence). The office location; ask which streets and villages carers cover.
Family reviews
Nobody has reviewed First Thought Care Services 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.
How First Thought Care Services compares
- Rated Good. Across Gloucestershire, 88% of the 125 rated home care agencies are Good or Outstanding and 9 are Outstanding.
- Its rating (June 2024) is more recent than 73% of agency ratings in Gloucestershire.
- Registered with CQC in 2023: it has been registered longer than 33% of home care agencies in the area.
- It lists 4 specialisms with CQC; the typical agency in Gloucestershire lists 5.
Compared with every CQC-registered home care agency in Gloucestershire. Source: CQC register, Oct 2026.
Closest alternatives
Guides for families
Gloucester: home care agencies inspected recently
- Helping Hands GloucesterMar 2026 · 2.3 miles
- Ultimate Independence Care LtdMar 2026 · 2.4 miles
- Global Caring GloucesterJul 2025 · 2.4 miles
First Thought Care Services questions answered
- How much does care from First Thought Care Services cost?
- First Thought Care Services hasn't shared a price list with us. Visiting care typically costs around £32–£34 an hour (typical 2026 prices across England). A written quote should spell out weekend, bank holiday and short-notice rates.
- How is First Thought Care Services rated for safety and leadership?
- The five CQC areas: Safe: Good; Effective: Good; Caring: Good; Responsive: Good; Well-led: Good. Safe and Well-led are the two to read first in the report.
- What type of care does First Thought Care Services provide?
- CQC lists First Thought Care Services under: homecare agencies, supported living. Check which of these it is actively providing now.
- Which provider runs First Thought Care Services?
- First Thought Care Services Ltd is the registered provider for First Thought Care Services.
- Does First Thought Care Services support people with dementia?
- Not as a registered specialism. Some services still support people with mild dementia, so ask.
- How recent is First Thought Care Services's CQC rating?
- Its current CQC rating dates from 5 June 2024, 2 years ago. Ratings can be several years old; ask what has changed since, such as a new manager.
- What is First Thought Care Services's address?
- Its office is at 164 Hucclecote Road, Gloucester, GL3 3SH. Carers travel to people's homes, so check it covers your street.
- Is First Thought Care Services a registered provider?
- Registered, yes: location 1-14807426692 on the Care Quality Commission register, listed as a home care agency and was rated Good overall in June 2024.
Look further afield
In Gloucestershire
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Built from the CQC register (Oct 2026) under the Open Government Licence v3.0, plus our own calculations. The provider wrote only the parts labelled as its own words. The Care Panel is a directory and does not deliver care.