Raleigh Mead Nursing Care Home

What families say

The staff here show real patience and kindness in their daily interactions. Families mention how carers pay attention to what makes each person comfortable, remembering individual preferences and taking time to ensure residents feel heard.

Based on 9 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
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership65
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-02-20 · Report published 2021-02-20 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This is an improvement on the previous inspection, where concerns had been identified. A Good Safe rating means inspectors were satisfied that the home was managing risks, medicines, and staffing at an acceptable standard. No specific detail about falls management, infection control practice, or night staffing numbers is reproduced in the published summary. The home lists a registered manager and a nominated individual, suggesting governance oversight was in place.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in Safety is the most reassuring data point in this inspection. It suggests the home identified what was going wrong and fixed it. However, Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most often slips in care homes, and the published text gives no detail about overnight ratios for a 62-bed home with dementia and nursing specialisms. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive family reviews in our data, and again the inspection text provides nothing specific here. You will need to observe the environment yourself and ask direct questions about night cover before you can feel genuinely confident.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance and reduced night staffing are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. The published inspection does not address either of these factors, so they remain important unknowns.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and specifically ask how many staff are on duty on the dementia unit after 10pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This domain covers care planning, training, healthcare access, nutrition, and hydration. No specific examples of care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or dementia training content are reproduced in the published summary. The home's specialisms include dementia, learning disabilities, and nursing care, which implies a need for a broad and well-maintained staff training programme. The published text does not confirm what that training looks like in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you that inspectors found the foundations of good care, including care plans and health monitoring, to be in place. Food quality drives 20.9% of positive family reviews in our data, and dementia-specific care is mentioned in 12.7% of positive reviews, yet neither topic is addressed in specific terms in the published findings. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies highlights that care plans need to be living documents, updated with family input and reflecting the person's current preferences, not written once and filed away. Ask specifically whether families can contribute to care plan reviews and how often plans are updated.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular, meaningful family involvement in care planning as one of the strongest markers of genuinely person-centred care. A Good rating confirms inspectors were satisfied, but it does not confirm this involvement is happening consistently.","watch_out":"Ask to see a blank copy of the home's care plan template and ask how often plans are reviewed. Then ask whether families are invited to attend or contribute to those reviews, and what happens when a person's needs change significantly between scheduled reviews."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, privacy, and respect for independence. No direct observations of staff interactions, no quotes from people living in the home, and no specific examples of dignified care practice are reproduced in the published summary. The home's previous Requires Improvement rating makes the improvement here meaningful, but the lack of detail means it is impossible to know from the published text alone what inspectors specifically saw.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive family reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good Caring rating tells you inspectors were not concerned. It does not tell you whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they sit down when talking to someone rather than standing over them, or whether they respond calmly when someone becomes distressed. These are the things Good Practice research identifies as the real markers of person-centred care, and they are only visible in person. The absence of inspection quotes here is genuinely limiting.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research across 61 studies confirms that non-verbal communication, unhurried pace, and use of a person's preferred name are among the most reliable observable indicators of a genuinely caring environment for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch how a member of staff approaches someone who seems unsettled or confused. Do they crouch down, make eye contact, and speak quietly? Or do they speak from a standing position and move on quickly? This single interaction will tell you more than any rating."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The home lists dementia among its specialisms, which means responsive care for people with advanced dementia, including one-to-one engagement when group activities are not possible, should be part of its offer. No specific activities, programmes, or individual examples of responsive care are described in the published summary. End-of-life planning is not mentioned.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good Responsive rating confirms inspectors were satisfied, but the published text gives you nothing to picture: no description of what a Tuesday afternoon looks like, no mention of whether activities are tailored to individuals or are group-only, and no information about how the home supports someone whose dementia means they can no longer participate in structured sessions. Good Practice research is clear that tailored one-to-one engagement, drawing on a person's life history, significantly improves wellbeing for people with advanced dementia. Ask specifically about this.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and life-history-informed approaches to individual activity, rather than generic group programmes, produce the strongest wellbeing outcomes for people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happens on a typical day for someone who can no longer join group sessions. Ask whether one-to-one activity time is recorded in care plans and whether it is allocated on every shift or only when a dedicated activities worker is present."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. The inspection record names Miss Kelly Jane Baker as registered manager and Mrs Kirstie Leigh Barnes as nominated individual, indicating a clear accountability structure. A move from Requires Improvement to Good in Well-led is significant: it suggests the leadership team identified failings, put improvements in place, and sustained them long enough to satisfy inspectors. No specific detail about staff culture, complaint handling, or governance systems is reproduced in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and communication with families for 11.5%. The improvement in this domain is the most important structural signal in this inspection: Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns are the strongest predictors of sustained quality. The fact that this home moved from Requires Improvement to Good suggests the manager was effective. What matters now is whether that manager is still in post, given the inspection was in January 2021, and whether the improvements have been embedded rather than performed for the visit.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies leadership tenure and a bottom-up culture where frontline staff can speak up as the two strongest predictors of whether a care home maintains or improves its quality over time, especially following a period of underperformance.","watch_out":"Ask directly whether Miss Kelly Jane Baker is still the registered manager and how long she has been in post. Then ask what specific changes were made after the previous Requires Improvement rating, and how the home checks that those changes are still being followed today."}

  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 Raleigh Mead cares for younger adults as well as those over 65, supporting people with dementia, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and sensory impairments.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home provides dementia care as part of its range of support services. Staff show patience and understanding when working with residents who have dementia, paying attention to individual comfort and preferences. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.