Stone House Residential Home Ltd

What families say

Families talk about feeling properly included here, not just visiting but being part of the care journey. There's a warmth that comes through in how staff interact with everyone — residents settle well and seem content in their surroundings. The atmosphere stays calm and welcoming even during difficult periods.

Based on 12 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity60
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership35
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-12-03 · Report published 2022-12-03 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2022 inspection. Beyond this rating, the published inspection text does not provide specific narrative detail about staffing levels, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices at Stone House Residential Home. A Good rating indicates inspectors did not find significant concerns in this area at the time of their visit. The home has 35 beds and cares for people living with dementia, a group for whom consistent, attentive staffing matters most. Without detailed findings, it is not possible to describe specific safe practices in place.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Safety is the baseline you want to see, but it tells you relatively little on its own without the supporting detail. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is one of the most common places where safety slips in residential homes, and that over-reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that people with dementia depend on. Because the inspection text does not describe staffing ratios, medicines processes, or how incidents are recorded and learned from, you will need to press the home on these points yourself. The absence of detail is not a red flag, but it does mean you cannot take the Good rating as a complete picture.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that consistent, familiar staffing is one of the strongest predictors of safety for people living with dementia. Frequent staff changes, including reliance on agency workers, are linked to increased distress and poorer monitoring of subtle health changes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask specifically how many carers are on duty overnight for the 35 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether staff have the training and knowledge to meet your parent's needs, whether care plans are used as practical, living documents, and whether healthcare access including GP visits and medication reviews is well managed. The published inspection text does not include narrative detail on any of these specific areas for Stone House Residential Home. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which means the home has declared an intention to meet the needs of people living with dementia, but the inspection text does not describe what that looks like in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Food quality is mentioned in 20.9% of positive family reviews in our data, and healthcare access in 20.2%, making these two of the most practically important areas for families. The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should reflect your parent's current preferences, routines, and communication needs, not just a checklist completed on admission. Because the inspection text does not describe care plan quality, dementia training content, or food provision at this home, you are working with limited information. Ask to see a sample care plan structure on your visit and ask the home how it records and acts on changes in your parent's condition.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, particularly training that covers non-verbal communication and behavioural expressions of unmet need, significantly improves care quality and reduces the use of inappropriate responses to distress.","watch_out":"Ask what dementia training every member of staff completes before working unsupervised with residents, how often that training is refreshed, and whether it includes recognising pain or distress in people who cannot communicate verbally."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether staff treat your parent with genuine warmth, whether dignity and privacy are respected in everyday routines, and whether your parent is supported to maintain as much independence as possible. The published inspection text does not include specific observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or descriptions of staff interactions at Stone House Residential Home. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but without the detail it is not possible to describe what that looked like in 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 compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not soft measures. They describe whether your parent is addressed by their preferred name, whether staff pause and listen rather than rushing through tasks, and whether personal care is carried out with respect. The Good rating here is encouraging, but because the inspection text does not include specific observations or resident testimony, you cannot rely on it alone. Your own visit, watching how staff move through the building and interact with residents in corridors and communal spaces, will tell you more than any rating.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies non-verbal communication as equally important as verbal communication for people living with dementia. Staff who make eye contact, use a calm tone, and approach without rushing produce measurably lower levels of distress in residents, regardless of the stage of dementia.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit in a communal area for 20 minutes and watch how staff interact with residents. Note whether staff crouch to eye level, use names, and move without hurry. If you see staff walking past a distressed resident without stopping, that is a concern worth raising."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether your parent will have a meaningful daily life at the home, including access to activities that suit their individual interests and abilities, support for independence, and whether end-of-life wishes are recorded and respected. The published inspection text does not include detail about the activity programme, how individual preferences are recorded, or how the home supports people with advanced dementia who cannot join group activities. Dementia is listed as a specialism, but the inspection findings do not describe what responsive, dementia-specific care looks like at Stone House.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is referenced in 27.1% of positive family reviews in our data, and activities in 21.4%. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people living with dementia. One-to-one engagement, including familiar everyday tasks such as folding laundry, tending plants, or looking through photographs, produces better wellbeing outcomes than formal activity sessions, particularly for people in later stages of dementia. Because the inspection text does not describe the activity programme at this home, you should ask to see the activity log for the last four weeks and ask specifically how staff support your parent on days when they cannot or do not want to join a group.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that Montessori-based and everyday task approaches to activity, where people with dementia are supported to contribute to familiar domestic routines, produce stronger wellbeing outcomes than structured group sessions alone, particularly for people who are withdrawn or have advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity log for the last month, not the planned schedule. Check whether there is evidence of one-to-one engagement for residents who did not attend group sessions, and ask who leads activities and whether that person has a specialist qualification."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-Led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2022 inspection. This is the only domain where inspectors found the home falling below the Good standard. Well-Led covers management visibility and stability, governance and audit processes, the culture in which staff work, and how the home responds to concerns and learns from things that go wrong. The published inspection text does not include narrative detail explaining what specifically led to this rating at Stone House Residential Home. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence requiring reassessment of the rating, which means the home had not deteriorated further but had also not yet been re-inspected to confirm improvement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Well-Led is the finding that most warrants caution here. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with consistent, visible managers who are known to residents and staff tend to maintain and improve standards, while management instability is one of the early warning signs of decline. Management quality is referenced in 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data. The July 2023 monitoring review is a limited reassurance because it is based on data review rather than an on-site inspection. You should ask the home directly what changes it made in response to the Requires Improvement rating, who the registered manager is now, and how long they have been in post.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that bottom-up staff empowerment, where frontline care workers feel able to raise concerns without fear and where management acts visibly on feedback, is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Homes where staff feel unheard are significantly more likely to see quality decline between inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: what did the inspection identify as the reason for the Requires Improvement rating in Well-Led, and what specific changes have been made since December 2022? If the manager cannot answer clearly, or if the person you speak to is not the registered manager, treat that as a concern in itself."}

  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 Stone House specialises in dementia care and supporting adults over 65. Their particular strength lies in managing end-of-life care with exceptional sensitivity and respect.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team brings patience and understanding to daily care. Staff work to maintain dignity and connection even as the condition progresses. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.