Poppy Lodge Care Home

What families say

Families who've spent time here describe the staff as genuinely kind and caring. It's the sort of place where family members feel reassured after visits, knowing their loved ones are in good hands.

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
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-07-25 · Report published 2018-07-25 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This means inspectors did not identify significant concerns related to staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, or the physical safety of the environment. The home cares for up to 16 people, which is a small caseload that can support closer individual monitoring. Beyond the Good rating, the published report does not include specific observations, staffing ratios, or detail on how incidents and accidents are reviewed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but for a home specialising in dementia care, the details behind that rating matter a great deal. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is where safety most often slips in smaller homes: two carers for 16 residents overnight is broadly adequate, but you need to confirm this figure directly. Agency staff usage is another key question: research from the IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that people living with dementia depend on. The published findings do not tell us either figure, so you will need to ask.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the most reliable early indicators of whether a care home's safety record will hold over time, particularly in dementia specialist settings.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent staff names appear on night shifts versus agency staff. For 16 residents, you should expect at least two staff on overnight, with a senior carer always present."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This covers how well the home uses training, care planning, and healthcare access to deliver good outcomes. The home is registered as a dementia specialist, which implies a level of staff training and environmental adaptation. The published report does not detail which dementia training framework is used, how often care plans are reviewed, or how the home works with GPs and other healthcare professionals.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for someone living with dementia is not simply about meeting basic needs. It requires staff who know your parent as an individual, care plans that are updated as needs change, and reliable access to GPs and specialist services. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least monthly for people with progressing dementia, and family involvement in those reviews is linked to better outcomes. The inspection gives us a Good rating but no detail on any of these specifics. Food quality is also part of this domain: mealtime experience is one of the strongest signals of genuine attentiveness in dementia care, and it is worth observing directly during your visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (2026) found that dementia-specific training, particularly in non-verbal communication and de-escalation, is strongly associated with better daily wellbeing outcomes, but training quality varies widely even within homes holding a Good rating.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if necessary) and check whether it contains the person's life history, preferred routines, communication preferences, and a named GP. Then ask when it was last reviewed and who was involved in that review."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This domain covers how staff treat the people who live here, including warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. A Good rating means inspectors were satisfied that the culture of care met the standard. The published summary does not include direct quotes from residents or relatives, inspector observations of staff interactions, or specific examples of how dignity is upheld in daily practice.","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 compassionate treatment appears in 55.2%. What families describe is not grand gestures but small, observable moments: staff using your mum's preferred name without being reminded, sitting with her when she is unsettled rather than moving on to the next task, and knocking before entering her room. These are the things that matter most, and they are also the things you can observe directly during a visit. The inspection gives us a confirmed Good rating here, but no specific examples to point to. Your own eyes on a visit will tell you more than the rating alone.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication for people living with advanced dementia, and that staff who know a resident's personal history deliver measurably warmer interactions. Knowing the person is the foundation of kind care.","watch_out":"Arrive for your visit at an unscheduled time if possible, ideally around a mealtime or mid-morning when residents are up and about. Watch how staff move through communal spaces: do they make eye contact with residents, use names, and stop briefly to connect? Or do they move quickly between tasks without engaging? This is the most honest signal of the caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This covers whether the home meets individuals' needs, provides meaningful activities, and supports people to maintain their identity and independence. The home is registered to care for people living with dementia, which requires a more tailored approach to responsiveness than a standard residential setting. The published report does not describe the activities programme, individual engagement approaches, or how the home supports residents who cannot participate in group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Responsive means the inspection found the home was meeting individual needs at a satisfactory level, but for someone living with dementia, the detail matters more than the label. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that group activities alone are insufficient: people with moderate to advanced dementia often need one-to-one engagement, and approaches such as Montessori-based activities or familiar household tasks have strong evidence behind them. With only 16 residents, there is real potential for a more personalised approach here, but you need to ask how it actually works in practice. Activities (21.4%) and resident happiness (27.1%) are both significant drivers of family satisfaction in our review data.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (2026) found that tailored individual activities, rather than group-only programmes, are associated with significantly lower agitation and better wellbeing in people living with dementia, particularly in smaller homes where staffing allows for more personalised attention.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual activity records from the past four weeks, not the planned timetable. Look for evidence of one-to-one engagement and ask specifically what would happen on a day when your parent could not or would not join a group session."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. The home is operated by Poppy Lodge Care Residential Homes Limited, with Mrs Zoe Woods as the registered manager and Mrs Drinder Kaur as the nominated individual. Having a named, registered manager is a positive baseline indicator. The published report does not describe management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home responds to complaints or incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to our Good Practice evidence base. A home where the registered manager is known by name to staff and residents, is visible on the floor rather than office-bound, and where staff feel able to raise concerns openly, tends to sustain its standards between inspections. Our family review data shows that communication with families (present in 11.5% of positive reviews) is a key marker of good leadership: families want to hear from the home proactively, not only when something goes wrong. The inspection confirms a Good rating and names the manager, but gives no further detail on any of these indicators.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (2026) found that leadership stability and a culture of bottom-up staff empowerment are among the most reliable predictors of sustained care quality, particularly in small residential homes where the manager's personal presence shapes the daily culture directly.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask to meet Mrs Zoe Woods in person and note whether she is on the premises and known by name to the staff you encounter. Ask her directly: how long have you been in post here, and what is the biggest change you have made to improve care in the past year? The specificity of her answer will tell you a great deal about how engaged she is with the day-to-day reality of the home."}

  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 cares for adults over 65 and has experience supporting people with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff here understand the specific needs of residents living with dementia. The team works to create a supportive environment where people with dementia can feel secure and well-cared for. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.