Cherry Tree Nursing Home

What families say

What stands out is how the whole team — from nurses to reception staff — contribute to making residents feel comfortable. People describe a calm, quiet atmosphere where their relatives can relax, and where staff have time to be patient and kind rather than rushed.

Based on 10 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 & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-04-25 · Report published 2019-04-25 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Cherry Tree Nursing Home was rated Good for safety at its March 2019 inspection. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement, so this represents a positive change. Beyond the rating itself, the published inspection text does not include specific detail about what inspectors found in relation to medicines management, falls prevention, infection control, or staffing numbers. A registered manager was in post at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a previous Requires Improvement is genuinely encouraging: it suggests the home identified specific problems and fixed them. However, the Good Practice evidence base from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review is clear that safety risks tend to concentrate at night, when staffing is thinner and oversight is lower. With 52 beds, you need to know how many carers and nurses are present after 8pm. You also need to know whether the home uses a high volume of agency staff, since consistent staffing is one of the strongest predictors of safe care for people with dementia. None of this is answered by the published findings, so you will need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the most reliable indicators of where safety risks emerge in care homes. A Good daytime inspection rating does not automatically tell you what happens at 2am.","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 versus agency staff worked night shifts, and ask what the minimum number of staff on duty overnight is for 52 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Cherry Tree Nursing Home was rated Good for effectiveness at its March 2019 inspection. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside care for older and younger adults requiring nursing. The published inspection text does not include specific findings about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training content, nutritional assessment, or how the home monitors residents' health over time. The rating represents an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Food quality and dementia-specific training are two of the areas families care most about in our review data, and the Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents updated regularly with family input, not paperwork completed on admission and rarely revisited. The published findings give no window into whether either standard is being met here. The home's dementia specialism registration is a starting point, but it tells you little about the depth of training staff actually receive or how frequently they update their knowledge. This is an area where your own questions on a visit will matter more than the published record.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review found that dementia training must go beyond basic awareness to include communication techniques, behavioural understanding, and person-centred care planning. Homes that treat dementia training as a one-off tick-box exercise show poorer outcomes for residents than those where training is ongoing and practically applied.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia training staff receive beyond their initial induction, when it was last updated, and whether you could see a sample care plan (anonymised) to understand how individual preferences and life history are recorded and used."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Cherry Tree Nursing Home was rated Good for caring at its March 2019 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. The published inspection text does not include inspector observations of staff interactions, quotes from residents or relatives about how they are treated, or specific examples of dignified care practice. The Good rating after a previous Requires Improvement suggests improvement took place, but the evidence behind that rating is not visible in the published text.","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 feature in 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities: they show up in observable moments such as whether a staff member knocks before entering a room, uses your parent's preferred name, or pauses to listen rather than hurrying on to the next task. The Good Practice evidence base reinforces that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, and physical gentleness can matter more than words. You cannot assess any of this from the published inspection text. A visit, ideally unannounced or at a less busy time of day, is the only way to form your own view.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice review found that person-centred caring requires staff to know each individual's history, preferences, and communication style. Homes where staff can describe a resident's life before care without consulting a file tend to score significantly better on dignity and wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a staff member passes a resident in a corridor or communal room. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This is one of the most reliable indicators of caring culture that you can observe without any specialist knowledge."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Cherry Tree Nursing Home was rated Good for responsiveness at its March 2019 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The published inspection text does not include specific findings about the activity programme, one-to-one engagement, how individual preferences are accommodated, or the home's approach to end-of-life care. The rating represents an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and resident happiness together account for nearly half the weighting in our family review data, and the Good Practice evidence base is particularly clear on one point: group activities alone are not sufficient for people with dementia, especially those in later stages who cannot easily participate in organised sessions. One-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks, music, or simply sitting with someone, is where meaningful moments tend to happen. The published findings give no detail on whether this home provides that kind of individual engagement. The activities question is worth pressing specifically: ask not just what is on the timetable but what happens for a resident who cannot join a group session.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found strong evidence that Montessori-based and task-oriented individual activities, such as folding, gardening, and handling familiar objects, reduce agitation and increase wellbeing in people with dementia, particularly those who can no longer participate in structured group activities.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator, not just the manager, to describe what a typical day looks like for a resident who stays in their room or who cannot join group sessions. Ask how many hours per week of one-to-one time a resident in that situation would receive."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Cherry Tree Nursing Home was rated Good for well-led at its March 2019 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. A named registered manager and nominated individual are recorded. The published inspection text does not include specific findings about management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, how the home responds to complaints, or how it monitors and improves quality. The improvement from the previous rating suggests that leadership changes or improvements were made before the 2019 inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality and communication with families together account for around 35% of the weighting in our family review data. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability, specifically a manager who has been in post long enough to know residents and staff by name, is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality. The published findings do not tell you how long the current manager has been in post, whether staff feel supported to raise concerns, or how the home handles complaints. Given that the 2019 inspection is now more than six years old, the leadership picture may have changed significantly. Asking about manager tenure and any recent staffing changes should be near the top of your list.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review found that care homes with stable, visible management show better outcomes across all quality domains. High manager turnover is consistently associated with deterioration in care culture, even when individual staff remain the same.","watch_out":"Ask the current manager how long they have been in post at Cherry Tree specifically, and whether there have been any changes to the senior leadership team in the past two years. Then ask how family concerns or complaints are handled and request an example of something that changed as a result of feedback."}

  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 both under and over 65, with particular experience in dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff here understand how dementia changes over time and adapt their approach as needs evolve. Families describe seeing their relatives treated with genuine patience and understanding, with care that responds to each person's changing abilities. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.