The Limes Residential Care Home

What families say

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth70
• Compassion & dignity70
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement55
• Food quality55
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-07-20 · Report published 2019-07-20 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good, representing an improvement from the previous inspection where the home was rated Requires Improvement overall. No specific safety concerns are highlighted in the published report text. The home is registered to provide care for adults over 65 and people with dementia, and safety would have been assessed across medicines management, infection control, staffing, and risk management. No detail about how these areas performed individually is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safe rating, following a previous period of concern, tells you the home took its earlier shortcomings seriously and made changes that satisfied inspectors. For your parent, particularly if they are living with dementia, this matters because safety slips most easily at night and when staffing is stretched. The inspection does not tell us what the night staffing ratio is, or how much the home relies on agency workers. Research consistently shows that agency reliance reduces consistency of care, which is especially harmful for people with dementia who depend on familiar faces and routines. The 2023 monitoring review found no new concerns, but that is not a substitute for a fresh inspection or your own eyes.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing levels are the point at which safety most commonly deteriorates in residential dementia care, and that agency staff unfamiliar with individual residents are a contributing factor in falls and medication errors.","watch_out":"Ask the home: how many staff 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 staff rather than permanent employees?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the most recent inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, nutritional support, and how well the home applies its knowledge of each resident's needs. No specific findings about dementia training content, care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or food provision are included in the published report. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied overall at the time of the visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your mum or dad living with dementia, the Effective domain is where the real quality of daily care sits. A Good rating is positive, but without specific detail you cannot yet know whether care plans are genuinely person-centred or template-heavy, whether staff have received meaningful dementia training beyond a basic online module, or whether the GP visits regularly enough to catch early health changes. Our family review data shows that healthcare responsiveness and dementia-specific knowledge are among the themes families raise most often when things go wrong. On your visit, ask to see how a care plan is structured and whether it includes personal history, preferences, and communication cues alongside clinical information.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated at least monthly for people with dementia, with family involvement at each review. Homes that treat care plans as administrative paperwork rather than working tools show measurably worse outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"Ask to look at one care plan (anonymised if needed) and check whether it includes the person's preferred name, their daily routine before moving in, and what helps them when they are anxious or distressed. If it reads like a medical form rather than a life story, ask how that is addressed."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good. This domain is assessed through inspector observations of staff interactions, resident and family testimony, and evidence of respect for dignity, privacy, and independence. No specific quotes from residents or family members are included in the published text, and no direct observations of staff interactions are described. The Good rating indicates that inspectors found the standard of caring interactions to be satisfactory at the time of the June 2019 visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Caring is the domain families weight most heavily in our review data, with staff warmth scoring 57.3% and compassion and dignity scoring 55.2% of what matters most to families choosing a home. A Good rating is reassuring, but the absence of specific observations or quotes means you cannot yet know what the atmosphere felt like on the day, or whether your parent would feel at ease there. For people with dementia, non-verbal warmth, unhurried interactions, and being addressed by their preferred name are as important as any formal care task. Visit at a time when care is happening, not just during a planned tour, and watch how staff speak to residents in corridors and communal areas.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review confirms that for people with advanced dementia who have limited verbal communication, the quality of non-verbal interaction, tone of voice, eye contact, and physical gentleness, is the primary indicator of whether they feel safe and respected.","watch_out":"During your visit, notice whether staff greet your parent (or other residents they pass) by name, make eye contact, and pause to listen. A rushed or task-focused interaction in a corridor tells you more than a formal presentation in a meeting room."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good. This domain covers whether the home offers meaningful activities, responds to individual preferences, supports independence, and plans appropriately for end of life. No specific information about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or end-of-life planning is included in the published summary. The Good rating indicates no significant concerns were identified in this area at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent, particularly if they have dementia, the Responsive domain is about whether they will have a life here, not just be kept safe. Our family review data shows resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of what families value, and activities engagement for 21.4%. The Good rating tells you the inspector was satisfied, but it does not tell you whether activities are group-based only, whether someone in the later stages of dementia would receive one-to-one engagement, or whether your parent's specific interests would be incorporated. Good Practice evidence strongly supports individual, tailored activity over generic group programmes, including familiar household tasks, reminiscence based on personal history, and sensory engagement for people with advanced dementia.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including meaningful everyday tasks such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking, produce significantly better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia than group entertainment activities alone.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: if your parent could no longer join a group session, what would a typical afternoon look like for them? If the answer focuses only on group activities or television, ask how one-to-one time is scheduled and who is responsible for delivering it."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Good, having previously contributed to a Requires Improvement overall rating. The home is operated by Highlands Healthcare Limited, with a named registered manager (Mr Haresh Bhagwath Narain Dhunnoo) and a named nominated individual (Mr Shameem Bye Yatally). The improvement to Good in this domain suggests that governance, accountability, and management culture were assessed positively by inspectors. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, or quality monitoring processes is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality. The fact that the home moved from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains, including Well-led, tells you that someone in a position of responsibility took accountability and drove improvement. That is meaningful. However, the inspection is from 2019. Manager tenure and organisational culture can shift significantly over five years, and our family review data identifies communication with families as a key concern in 11.5% of reviews. You should meet the current registered manager in person, ask how long they have been in post, and ask how the home keeps families informed when their parent's health or behaviour changes.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically a consistent registered manager in post for more than two years, is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in small residential care homes. High manager turnover is associated with staff uncertainty and declining care standards.","watch_out":"Ask directly: how long has the current registered manager been in post, and how does the home communicate with families when something changes, whether that is a fall, a health concern, or a change in a care plan? The specificity and confidence of that answer will tell you a great deal about the culture."}

  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 The team at Limes specialises in caring for people with dementia alongside general residential care for older adults. They provide round-the-clock support for residents who need help with daily living.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the home provides specialised care tailored to individual needs. The team understands the importance of routine and familiarity for people living with memory conditions. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.