Holme Farm Residential Home

What families say

Visitors describe staff who genuinely enjoy chatting with residents and their families. There's a friendliness here that feels natural rather than forced, with team members taking time to connect during daily interactions.

Based on 4 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-09-03 · Report published 2019-09-03 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the July 2019 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and the safety of the physical environment. The home specialises in dementia care for adults over 65 and is registered for 30 beds. No specific findings, observations, or concerns are described in the published report summary. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence to change this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Safe means inspectors were satisfied that your parent would not face immediate or significant risk at this home. However, the published text does not tell you how many staff are on duty overnight, how much the home relies on agency workers, or how it handles falls and incidents. Research into family experience shows that around 14% of positive reviews specifically mention staff attentiveness as a safety factor, and the Good Practice evidence base flags night staffing as the area where safety most commonly slips. The improvement from Requires Improvement is meaningful, but given the 2019 inspection date, it is worth asking the home directly what has changed since then and how they have maintained standards.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that reliance on agency staff undermines care consistency for people with dementia, who benefit from familiar faces and predictable routines. Ask specifically how many of the staff your parent would see regularly are permanent employees.","watch_out":"Ask the home: how many staff members are on duty on the dementia unit between 10pm and 7am, and what proportion of shifts in the last three months were covered by agency or bank staff rather than permanent employees?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the July 2019 inspection. This domain covers how well the home assesses needs, writes and reviews care plans, supports nutrition and hydration, and ensures staff have the training to care for people with dementia. No specific findings or examples are included in the published report summary. The home lists dementia as a specialism, suggesting inspectors were satisfied that relevant skills and processes were in place. A 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to change the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you that inspectors were broadly satisfied with how the home plans and delivers care. What it does not tell you is how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed, whether you would be invited to contribute to it, or what specific dementia training staff have completed. For families, food quality is often a visible indicator of how much genuine care goes into daily life; around 20.9% of positive family reviews mention food as a key theme, yet the inspection text says nothing about mealtimes or dietary support. Ask to see a care plan and a sample menu when you visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated as a person's dementia progresses, not just completed at admission. Homes where families are actively involved in care plan reviews consistently receive higher satisfaction scores from relatives.","watch_out":"Ask the home: how often is your parent's care plan formally reviewed, and will you be contacted and asked to contribute when it is updated?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the July 2019 inspection. This is the domain most directly linked to how staff treat your parent day to day, covering warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or family testimony are included in the published report summary. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating across the whole home is relevant context. The 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to change this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Kindness and dignity are the things families care about most: staff warmth accounts for 57.3% and compassion and dignity for 55.2% of the weight in family satisfaction data. A Good Caring rating is reassuring, but without specific observations in the published report, you cannot rely on the inspection text alone to tell you how staff talk to your parent or how they respond when someone is distressed. On your visit, notice whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether interactions feel unhurried, and whether staff make eye contact and speak directly to residents rather than over them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base emphasises that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia. Staff who crouch to eye level, use gentle touch, and maintain calm body language produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes than those who rely only on words.","watch_out":"During your visit, observe at least one interaction between a staff member and a resident who is not able to communicate easily verbally. Does the staff member slow down, make eye contact, and respond to the resident's emotional tone rather than just the words?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the July 2019 inspection. This domain covers whether the home tailors care to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, responds to complaints, and makes appropriate end-of-life arrangements. No specific activities, examples of person-centred planning, or descriptions of how the home responds to individual preferences are included in the published report summary. The home is registered to provide dementia care, and inspectors were satisfied with responsiveness at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent to have a life at Holme Farm, not just a place to sleep, the activity programme needs to be meaningful and tailored to who they are, not just a weekly bingo session. Around 21.4% of positive family reviews highlight activities as a key reason for satisfaction, and the Good Practice evidence base is clear that for people with advanced dementia, one-to-one engagement is as important as group activities. The published inspection gives no detail on what activities are offered, how often, or whether individual programmes exist for those who cannot join groups. This is one of the most important things to ask about and observe during a visit.","evidence_base":"Research in the Good Practice evidence base identifies Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks (folding, gardening, simple cooking) as particularly effective for people with dementia, supporting a sense of purpose and continuity of identity. Ask whether the home uses these approaches or similar structured individual activities.","watch_out":"Ask the home: what would a typical Tuesday look like for your parent, and how would staff engage them individually if they were having a day when they did not want to join a group activity?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the July 2019 inspection, improving from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The home is owned and managed by Mr and Mrs Steeper, with Mr Anthony Steeper also serving as the Registered Manager. This owner-operator model means the person responsible for day-to-day leadership has a direct personal and financial stake in the home's reputation. No specific examples of governance activity, staff culture, or quality improvement actions are described in the published summary. A monitoring review in 2023 found no evidence requiring a change to the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. The fact that Holme Farm improved from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests the management team took action and sustained change, which is genuinely encouraging. Owner-managed homes of this size (30 beds) often have more consistent leadership than larger corporate providers, which matters for families because it means you are more likely to speak to the same person in charge each time you visit or call. Around 23.4% of family satisfaction is linked to confidence in management. However, the last full inspection was over five years ago, so ask directly about any changes to the management team or senior staff since 2019.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base finds that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with consistent registered managers over three or more years show better outcomes for residents with dementia than those with frequent management changes, even when ratings are similar.","watch_out":"Ask: has the Registered Manager changed since 2019, and have there been any significant changes to the permanent senior staff team in the last two years?"}

  Verified by inspector

Source: CQC inspection report →

What the evidence base says

Against the DCC Good Practice in Dementia Care standards, this home’s evidence aligns most strongly on Holme Farm provides residential care for adults over 65, including those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home welcomes residents with dementia as part of their care provision. For specific details about their dementia care approach and support systems, families are encouraged to ask directly when visiting. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.