The Oakes Care Home

What families say

Families describe how staff take time to really know each resident as an individual. The team's approach to end-of-life care has brought particular comfort to relatives, with staff ensuring residents feel emotionally supported alongside their physical needs. People notice how everyone from housekeeping to care staff treats residents with genuine respect.

Based on 9 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth75
• Compassion & dignity75
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-01-12 · Report published 2023-01-12 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"Safety was the only domain rated Requires Improvement at the November 2022 inspection, despite the overall rating improving to Good. The published findings do not set out in specific detail what drove this rating. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement overall, so this suggests safety remains an area still being resolved. No specific concerns about medicines, falls, or infection control are described in the available report text. The other four domains were all rated Good, suggesting the safety shortfall is contained rather than systemic.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in safety is the single most important thing to investigate before choosing this home for your parent, particularly if they have dementia. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. The absence of detail in the published findings means you cannot know from this report alone what the specific issue was. Research from the IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review confirms that agency staff reliance undermines the consistency of care that people with dementia need. Ask directly, and ask for specifics.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice in Dementia Care evidence review (March 2026) identifies night staffing ratios and over-reliance on agency staff as two of the most consistent predictors of safety failures in care homes. Both are worth investigating directly at The Oakes Care Centre.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template rota. Count permanent staff versus agency workers, particularly on night shifts, and ask what the minimum staffing level is on the dementia unit after 8pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff training, care planning, nutrition and hydration, and healthcare access. A Good rating means inspectors were satisfied that these areas met the required standard. The published findings do not include specific detail about dementia training content, care plan review processes, or how the home works with GPs. The improvement from the previous overall rating of Requires Improvement suggests the home has made real progress in how it delivers and documents care.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in this domain is reassuring, but the lack of published detail means you need to ask the right questions on a visit. Our review data shows that food quality (mentioned in 20.9% of positive family reviews) and healthcare responsiveness (20.2%) are both strong signals of genuine care. The Good Practice evidence base emphasises care plans as living documents, updated regularly and co-produced with families, not just completed at admission. Ask to see a sample care plan and ask when it was last reviewed and whether the family was involved.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans which are regularly updated and reflect the person's current preferences, routines, and communication needs are a key marker of effective dementia care, and that family involvement in those reviews significantly improves outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Then ask to see the activities section of a care plan to check whether it reflects a specific individual's interests rather than a generic list."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how well staff treat the people who live at the home as individuals. A Good rating means inspectors observed positive interactions and were satisfied that dignity and privacy were upheld. The published report does not include direct quotes from residents or relatives, or specific descriptions of individual interactions. The home cares for people over 65, people under 65, and people with dementia, which requires staff to adapt their communication and approach across a range of needs.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews in our data, mentioned in 57.3% of reviews, and compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. A Good rating here is meaningful, but the absence of specific inspector observations means you cannot know from this report alone what interactions actually looked like. When you visit, pay attention to how staff speak to the people who live here in corridors and communal spaces, whether they use preferred names, and whether they seem unhurried. The Good Practice evidence base confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice in Dementia Care evidence review highlights that for people with advanced dementia, how staff approach, touch, and respond to non-verbal signals can determine whether a person feels safe or distressed. A Good rating in Caring is the starting point; observing it yourself on a visit is the confirmation.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff walks past a resident who appears unsettled or confused. Do they stop, make eye contact, and speak calmly? Or do they walk past? That moment tells you more than any rating."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its care and activities to individual people, how it handles complaints, and how it supports people at the end of life. A Good rating means inspectors were satisfied that the home responds to individual needs rather than treating everyone the same. The published findings do not describe the activities programme in specific detail, or confirm whether one-to-one engagement is available for residents who cannot join group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsive care matters enormously for people with dementia, who can become distressed or withdrawn if their days have no structure or meaning. Our family review data shows that activities and engagement are mentioned in 21.4% of positive reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with advanced dementia, and that individual, tailored engagement including familiar household tasks and sensory activities makes a significant difference. Ask specifically what a typical Tuesday afternoon looks like for a resident who does not want to join a group session.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks used as purposeful activity significantly improve wellbeing and reduce distress in people with dementia, particularly those who struggle to engage in group settings.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened yesterday afternoon for a resident who stayed in their room. If the answer is vague or defaults to group sessions only, that is a signal worth taking seriously."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This covers the culture of the home, how the manager supports staff, whether there are effective systems for monitoring quality and safety, and whether the home learns from things that go wrong. A Good rating in Well-led is a meaningful positive, particularly given that the home had previously been rated Requires Improvement overall. The home is run by HC-One Limited and the nominated individual at the time of inspection was Ms Anna Gretchen Selby. The published findings do not include specific detail about the manager's tenure, staff feedback processes, or how quality monitoring is carried out.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to the Good Practice evidence base. A home that has improved from Requires Improvement to Good overall, with a Good in Well-led, suggests the management team has made a genuine effort to address what was not working. Our family review data shows that management and communication with families account for 23.4% and 11.5% of positive review themes respectively. The key unknown here is how long the current manager has been in post and whether the improvement reflects their leadership or was already under way when they arrived. Ask that question directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review identifies leadership stability as a consistent predictor of quality trajectory in care homes. Homes with long-serving managers and empowered staff teams are significantly more likely to sustain improvements than those with high management turnover.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and what the biggest change they have made since joining has been. If they cannot answer specifically, or if the answer reveals they arrived very recently, factor that into your assessment of how durable the improvements are."}

  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 Oakes provides specialised support for adults under 65 with care needs, as well as those over 65. Their dementia care forms a key part of their service provision.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team brings the same individualised approach that characterises their wider care. Staff work to understand each person's unique needs and preferences. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.