Oxendon House Care Home

What families say

Families describe a calm, supportive atmosphere that helps residents feel settled. The environment strikes visitors as genuinely welcoming, with a warmth that extends throughout daily life in the home.

Based on 11 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-02-03 · Report published 2023-02-03 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good, representing an improvement from a previous Requires Improvement finding. The published report does not contain specific detail about what inspectors observed in relation to safety. There is no recorded information about staffing levels, falls management, medicines administration, infection control practices, or agency staff usage. The home is registered to support 45 adults over 65, including people with dementia, and holds a current registration with no dormancy concerns.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in the Safe domain is genuinely reassuring: it means inspectors found that whatever concerns existed previously had been addressed. However, because the published findings contain no specific observations, you cannot yet know whether night staffing is adequate, how often agency staff are used, or how the home logs and learns from falls and incidents. Good Practice research identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in residential dementia care, and agency reliance as a key factor that undermines consistency. You will need to ask these questions directly on a visit rather than relying on the published report alone.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies night staffing ratios and learning from incidents as the two most reliable indicators of sustained safety in residential dementia care.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count the number of permanent staff versus agency staff on night shifts, and ask how many carers are on duty overnight for the 45 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, up from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The published report does not include specific findings about care plan quality, review frequency, dementia training, GP access, medicines management, or food and nutrition. No record reviews or staff training records are described in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective means inspectors were satisfied that the home knows what it is doing in terms of planning and delivering care. What it does not tell you is whether your parent's care plan would be a living document that is updated as their needs change, or a form completed on arrival and rarely revisited. Good Practice research consistently finds that care plans which include personal history, preferred routines, and communication preferences lead to better outcomes for people with dementia. Food quality is also a marker of genuine care: it appears in 20.9% of the positive family reviews in our data. Ask specifically about how dietary preferences are identified, recorded, and acted on.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (61 studies, 2026) found that dementia-specific training content, particularly around non-verbal communication and person-centred approaches, is a stronger predictor of effective care than generic mandatory training completion rates.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if necessary) and check whether it includes the person's preferred name, daily routine before moving into the home, food preferences, and who to contact in a health emergency. Ask how often plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection. The published report does not include inspector observations of staff interactions, resident wellbeing, use of preferred names, or responses to distress. No resident or relative quotes are recorded in the published text. The home specialises in dementia care alongside general older adult residential care.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity appear in 55.2%. These are the things families notice first and remember longest. The inspection confirms a Good rating for Caring, but because there are no recorded observations or quotes in the published report, you cannot yet picture what daily kindness looks like in this home. On your visit, pay attention to how staff speak to residents in corridors and communal areas, whether they knock before entering rooms, and whether they address your parent by their preferred name without being prompted.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication, including tone, pace, and physical proximity, matters as much as words for people living with dementia, and that unhurried, familiar staff interactions are associated with lower rates of distress behaviours.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit quietly in a communal space for at least 15 minutes and observe how staff interact with residents who are not asking for anything. Note whether interactions are initiated by staff, whether staff crouch to eye level when speaking to seated residents, and whether anyone is being rushed."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, an improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The published report contains no specific detail about the activities programme, individual engagement for people who cannot join group activities, end-of-life care planning, or how the home responds to changing needs. No complaints or compliments are described in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Responsive means inspectors were satisfied that the home tries to meet individual needs rather than fitting people into a standard routine. However, activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness is cited in 27.1%. These are areas families care deeply about, particularly for a parent with advancing dementia who may not be able to join a group activity. Good Practice research shows that one-to-one activities based on a person's life history, and the inclusion of familiar household tasks, are more effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group programmes alone. Ask specifically what happens for your parent on a day when the group activity is not suited to them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and life-history approaches to individual engagement significantly reduce distress and increase moments of connection for people with advanced dementia, but these require staff time and planning beyond standard group activity rosters.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident with moderate dementia who prefers not to join group activities. Ask whether there is a named person responsible for one-to-one engagement and how many hours per week that person is available."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, again an improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The home is led by a named registered manager, Mrs Rebecca May Franks, with Mr Christopher Dean Clark listed as nominated individual. The published report does not describe the manager's tenure, visibility within the home, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home communicates with families and acts on feedback.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes, according to Good Practice research: homes where the manager is well known to staff and residents, and where staff feel able to raise concerns, consistently outperform homes with high leadership turnover. The fact that a named manager is in post and the home has improved from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests active leadership has made a difference. Communication with families appears in 11.5% of positive reviews in our data, and families frequently identify the manager's accessibility as a key factor in their confidence. Ask directly how long the current manager has been in post and what has changed since the previous inspection.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability and a culture where staff can speak up without fear as the two factors most strongly associated with sustained improvement in care home quality over time.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in post, and what specific changes did you make after the previous inspection? A confident, specific answer is a positive sign. Vague or defensive responses are worth noting."}

  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 specialist dementia care alongside general support for adults over 65. Their approach includes close coordination with mental health services when needed.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff here understand the clinical side of dementia care — adjusting medications, managing challenging behaviours, and helping reduce agitation. Families particularly value how the team prepares them for changes in the disease while maintaining dignity through every stage. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.