Falcon House

What families say

Families describe finding genuinely helpful staff here who respond quickly when residents need assistance. The atmosphere feels cosy and settled, with well-maintained surroundings that help people feel comfortable.

Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare50
• Management & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-02-07 · Report published 2019-02-07 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its February 2021 inspection. The published report does not include specific observations about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control practice. A registered manager was in post at the time of inspection. No concerns were recorded. The monitoring review in July 2023 found nothing to suggest the safety position had deteriorated.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating means inspectors found no significant concerns at the time of the visit, which is a reassuring starting point. However, the inspection evidence base here is general rather than specific, so it is difficult to give you a detailed picture of how safe Falcon House would be for your parent day to day. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the period when safety is most likely to slip, and agency reliance as a factor that undermines consistency. With 29 beds and a dementia specialism, knowing how many permanent staff are present overnight is one of the most important questions you can ask.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that homes with stable, permanent night staffing had significantly fewer serious safety incidents than those relying on agency cover, particularly for residents living with dementia who may become distressed or disoriented during the night.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many night shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and confirm the total number of carers on duty after 10pm for the 29 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at its February 2021 inspection. The published report does not detail the content of care plans, the frequency of GP visits, or the dementia training provided to staff. The home is registered as a residential, not nursing, service, meaning clinical care is delivered by visiting professionals such as GPs and district nurses. No concerns about effectiveness were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a residential home covers how well staff understand your parent's needs and translate that understanding into daily care. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed regularly and written with family input, not filed away after admission. Because this inspection report does not describe care planning or training practice in any detail, you are working with limited information. The fact that the home lists dementia as a specialism is meaningful only if staff have received up-to-date, structured dementia training. This is worth pressing on directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific staff training, particularly covering non-verbal communication and behaviour as communication, was one of the strongest predictors of good care outcomes for people living with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager what structured dementia training every care assistant has completed, when they last did it, and whether it covers recognising distress in people who can no longer communicate verbally. Ask to see the training records if possible."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at its February 2021 inspection. The published report contains no direct observations of staff interactions, no resident quotes, and no description of how dignity and privacy are maintained in practice. No concerns were recorded. The monitoring review in July 2023 found nothing to suggest the caring rating had changed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not soft extras. They are what families remember and what matters most to the people who live in a home. Because the published inspection text records no observations or quotes on this theme, the Good rating here cannot be given the same weight as a report full of specific examples. On your visit, watch how staff speak to residents in corridors and communal areas. Do they use your parent's preferred name? Do they move without hurry? Those are the real signals.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, pace, tone, and physical proximity matters as much as words for people living with dementia. Homes where staff are observed to slow down, make eye contact, and use touch appropriately show measurably better wellbeing outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"During your visit, spend time in a communal area and watch how staff approach residents who are not actively asking for help. Are interactions unhurried and warm, or transactional and brief? Also ask what name your parent would be called and confirm it matches their preference."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at its February 2021 inspection. The published report does not describe the activities programme, arrangements for individual engagement, or how the home responds to residents who can no longer join group activities. No concerns about responsiveness were recorded. The monitoring review in July 2023 found nothing to suggest this had changed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness, which our family review data weights at 27.1%, and activities engagement at 21.4%, are both areas where this report gives you very little to go on. For someone living with dementia, having a life in the home, not just being kept safe, matters enormously. Good Practice research highlights that group activities alone are insufficient: people with more advanced dementia need structured one-to-one engagement built around their individual history and interests. With 29 residents, a smaller home like this can, in principle, offer more individual attention than a large home. Whether it actually does is something you need to establish on a visit.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review identified that Montessori-based and life-history approaches, where activities connect to what a person did and valued before dementia, produce significantly better engagement and reduced distress compared with generic group entertainment programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past month, not a future plan. Then ask specifically what happens for a resident who can no longer join group sessions. Is there a named staff member responsible for one-to-one engagement, and how many hours per week does that typically involve?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for leadership at its February 2021 inspection. A registered manager, Miss Aleksandra Jagoda Lesniewska, was in post, with Mrs Karthika Dhamodararan as nominated individual. The published report does not describe management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home handles complaints and incidents. No leadership concerns were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality over time: homes where the manager stays for more than two years show better outcomes than those with frequent turnover. Our family review data identifies communication with families, mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews, as a key marker of good leadership. Because this inspection is over four years old, leadership continuity is the first thing to check. If the registered manager named in the report has changed, ask who the current manager is, how long they have been in post, and how they keep families informed about changes in their parent's care.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that homes with empowered, visible managers who are present on the floor and known by name to residents had better staff retention, fewer incidents, and higher family satisfaction than those where management was primarily office-based.","watch_out":"Ask the home whether the registered manager named in the 2021 inspection report is still in post. If there has been a change, ask when the current manager started and what their background in dementia care is. Also ask how the home would contact you if there were a significant change in your parent's condition or behaviour."}

  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 provides residential care for adults over 65, with specialist support for people living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home states dementia care as a specialism, specific details about their approach and support programmes would best be discussed during a visit. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.