Springfield House Nursing Home

What families say

Visitors describe a relaxed atmosphere where they feel genuinely welcome to drop by. The staff make time to chat with both residents and their families, creating connections that go beyond basic care. There's a sense that everyone's treated as an individual here, with staff taking the time to know each person's preferences and routines.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-08-10 · Report published 2018-08-10

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at the July 2018 inspection. No specific findings about staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control are recorded in the published report text. A review in July 2023 found no evidence to change this rating. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means a nurse should be available at all times, but the inspection provides no detail about how this works in practice, particularly overnight.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring as a baseline, but the evidence behind it is not detailed in what has been published. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in smaller nursing homes, and agency reliance as a risk factor for consistency of care. For a 27-bed home, you would reasonably expect at least two carers plus one nurse overnight, but this inspection does not confirm that. Ask the manager to show you last week's actual rota, not a template, and count the permanent versus agency names on night shifts.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that learning from incidents, particularly falls, is one of the clearest markers of a safety culture. Homes that review falls patterns and share findings with families demonstrate accountability. Ask how this works at Springfield House.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past seven days. Count how many permanent staff and how many agency staff covered night shifts, and ask what the minimum nurse cover is overnight for the 27 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the July 2018 inspection. No specific detail is recorded in the published findings about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training content, or food and nutrition practices. The home is registered to provide treatment of disease, disorder, or injury, confirming a clinical offer is in place. Beyond that registration fact, the inspection text does not provide enough detail to assess how effectively care is planned and delivered for people with dementia.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care context means that your parent's care plan reflects who they are, not just their diagnosis. It means staff know their history, their preferences, and the things that comfort or unsettle them. It also means regular GP access and dementia-specific training for all staff, not just senior carers. Our Good Practice evidence base found that care plans used as living documents, reviewed with families and updated after any significant change, are one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes. None of this can be confirmed from the published findings here, so these are the questions to bring with you on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research evidence review found that dementia training quality varies significantly between homes, and that training which goes beyond basic awareness to include communication techniques and behaviour understanding produces measurably better outcomes for residents. Ask what the training covers and when staff last completed it.","watch_out":"Ask to see an example care plan, with personal details removed, to check whether it records the person's life history, preferences, and communication style, or whether it reads mainly as a clinical record. Also ask how often care plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to take part."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at the July 2018 inspection. No direct observations of staff interactions, dignity practices, or resident experience are recorded in the published report text. No quotes from residents or relatives are included in the available findings. A Good rating in this domain is a positive signal, but it is not possible from the published material to describe what warmth and dignity look like day to day in this home.","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 come close behind at 55.2%. When families describe what good care looks like, they consistently point to things that are observable on a visit: staff using a person's preferred name without being prompted, moving without hurry, sitting down to speak at eye level, and noticing when someone is unsettled before it escalates. The inspection does not confirm or deny any of these things for Springfield House. Use your visit to observe them yourself, particularly in corridors and at mealtimes when interactions are most visible.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies non-verbal communication as equally important as verbal interaction for people living with dementia. Staff who are trained to read and respond to facial expression, posture, and behaviour provide better emotional support, particularly when verbal communication has become difficult.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit quietly in a communal area for ten minutes and watch how staff speak to residents. Are they crouching or sitting to make eye contact? Are they using names? Are they moving at the resident's pace, or their own? These small observable signals tell you more than any policy document."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at the July 2018 inspection. No specific detail is recorded in the published findings about the activity programme, one-to-one engagement, end-of-life care planning, or how the home responds to individual preferences. The home is registered to care for people with dementia, but the inspection does not describe how this specialism is expressed in practice through tailored activities or personalised care.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is where many families find the gap between a Good rating and a genuinely good experience. Activities matter: 21.4% of positive family reviews specifically mention meaningful engagement, and resident happiness, mentioned in 27.1% of reviews, is closely tied to whether your parent has a life here rather than simply a bed. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not enough, particularly for people with more advanced dementia who may not be able to join in. Ask specifically about one-to-one time and what happens on weekends or when the activities coordinator is off sick.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, folding, sorting, simple cooking, give people with dementia a sense of purpose and continuity. Homes that limit activity to scheduled group sessions miss a significant opportunity to support wellbeing throughout the day.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past two weeks, including weekends. Then ask what happens for residents who cannot join group sessions, and how often they receive one-to-one time from a staff member focused specifically on them rather than on a care task."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for being well-led at the July 2018 inspection. Miss Marie Buys is named as the registered manager. No detail is provided in the published findings about her tenure, visibility on the floor, governance arrangements, or how the home handles complaints and learning from incidents. The July 2023 review found no evidence requiring a change to the rating, but this was a desk-based review rather than a full inspection visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to the Good Practice evidence base. A manager who is known by name to residents and families, who is visible on the floor rather than office-bound, and who creates a culture where staff can raise concerns without fear, produces measurably better outcomes. The last full inspection of this home was in July 2018, more than six years ago. That means the evidence behind the Good rating is now dated. The 2023 review was a data review, not a visit. It is worth asking directly how long the current manager has been in post and how the home has changed since 2018.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University evidence review found that staff empowerment, specifically whether front-line carers feel able to raise concerns and make decisions, is a more reliable indicator of leadership quality than formal governance documents. Ask staff, not just the manager, how they would raise a concern.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long she has been in post at Springfield House and what the biggest change she has made to the home has been. Then, if you get the chance, ask a carer the same question about raising a concern: who would you speak to if you were worried about a resident and what would happen next?"}

  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 home provides nursing care for adults over 65, including those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the consistent routines and familiar faces seem to provide reassurance. The structured activity programme helps maintain engagement, while staff understand the importance of patience and individual connection. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.