Rushall Nursing Home

What families say

Families describe a place where staff genuinely care about each resident's wellbeing. There's warmth here that goes beyond professional duty — from the domestic team through to management, people notice how staff take time to really know residents. Special moments matter too, like when staff arranged for a resident to watch a family wedding, keeping those vital connections alive.

Based on 15 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 quality58
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-09-15 · Report published 2023-09-15 · Inspected 4 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 judgement. The home provides nursing care alongside personal care, which means qualified nurses are on site. Specific detail about falls management, medicines handling, infection control practice, or night staffing ratios is not recorded in the published inspection text. The home is registered and active with no dormancy concerns noted.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in Safety is genuinely meaningful. It suggests the home identified what was going wrong and made changes that satisfied inspectors. However, the inspection text does not tell us what those changes were, and our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety most often slips at night, when staffing is thinner and oversight is reduced. If your parent has dementia, falls risk or complex nursing needs, the night-time staffing picture is the single most important thing to clarify before you commit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are the two factors most commonly linked to safety incidents in care homes. A Good rating tells you the baseline is met, but it does not tell you the staffing numbers after 8pm.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota for night shifts, not a template. Ask how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on the dementia unit between 10pm and 6am, and what the nurse-to-resident ratio was."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Effective as Good. The home supports people with dementia, learning disabilities, and nursing needs, which requires staff to hold specific training across multiple specialisms. The published inspection text does not include detail on care plan quality, dementia training content, GP access frequency, or how food quality and dietary needs are managed. The home's registered manager is named in the registration record.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effectiveness tells you inspectors were satisfied that care was being delivered competently. What it does not tell you is whether your parent's individual preferences, history, and needs would be captured in their care plan and acted on daily. Our Good Practice evidence highlights that care plans function best as living documents, reviewed regularly with family input, rather than paperwork completed on admission and rarely revisited. If your parent has dementia, ask specifically how staff learn about the person behind the diagnosis.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular, family-inclusive care plan reviews as a key marker of effective dementia care. Homes that involve families in reviews are better placed to catch changes in need early and adjust care before problems escalate.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed, who is invited to those reviews, and whether you can see a sample of how individual preferences, such as preferred routines, food likes, and communication needs, are recorded and updated."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Caring as Good. The home supports a mixed population including people with dementia, learning disabilities, and adults both over and under 65, which requires staff to adapt their communication and approach to very different individuals. The published inspection text does not include direct observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they feel treated, or specific examples of dignity being upheld. No concerns about care quality were noted.","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 the things families notice most and remember longest. Because the published report does not include specific observations of how staff behave on the floor, you will need to assess this yourself on a visit. Watch how staff speak to residents in corridors, whether they knock before entering rooms, and whether they use the names people actually prefer to be called.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base notes that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia. Staff who slow down, make eye contact, and move without hurry consistently produce better outcomes for residents than those who are technically competent but rushed.","watch_out":"Arrive unannounced if possible, or at a time outside the scheduled tour. Sit quietly in a communal area for ten minutes and watch how staff interact with residents passing by. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Responsive as Good. The home supports people with dementia and learning disabilities, both of whom benefit significantly from tailored, individual activity rather than generic group programmes. The published inspection text does not describe the activity programme, one-to-one engagement provision, or how the home responds to individual preferences and changing needs. No concerns about responsiveness were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities engagement features in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For people with dementia in particular, meaningful occupation during the day, whether that is a group activity, a one-to-one conversation, or a familiar household task, has a direct effect on wellbeing and reduces distress. Because the published report gives no detail on what the activity programme actually looks like, this is an area to investigate directly on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies individually tailored activities, including Montessori-based approaches and familiar everyday tasks, as significantly more effective for people with dementia than group-only programmes. Homes that provide one-to-one engagement for people who cannot participate in groups show better quality of life outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities timetable for the past two weeks, not just the planned schedule. Ask specifically what happens for residents with dementia who cannot join group sessions. Is there a dedicated activity coordinator, and how many hours per week do they spend with residents one to one?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Well-led as Good, which is notable given the home's previous Requires Improvement rating. The registered manager is named as Mr Philip Toomer-Smith, with Mr Christopher Michael Goss listed as Nominated Individual. The home is operated by Navigation Care Limited. The published inspection text does not include detail on management visibility, staff culture, how incidents are learned from, or how the home communicates with families. No governance concerns were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A turnaround from Requires Improvement to Good across all five domains in a single inspection cycle is not routine. It requires active leadership and a willingness to identify and fix problems. Our Good Practice evidence highlights that leadership stability predicts a home's quality trajectory more reliably than almost any other single factor. Management leadership features in 23.4% of family satisfaction data, and communication with families in 11.5%. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and what specifically changed after the last inspection.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability and a culture where staff can raise concerns without fear as the strongest predictors of sustained quality improvement. Homes that improve once but then experience manager turnover frequently regress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what were the main things that needed to change after the previous inspection, and how do you know those changes have stuck? Then ask how long they have personally been in the manager role, and whether they plan to stay."}

  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 expertise in dementia support. This mix of ages brings variety to daily life while ensuring specialist knowledge is always available.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff here understand how dementia affects behaviour and mood, responding to changes with monitored adjustments to care. As the condition progresses, the team adapts their approach, always focusing on what helps each individual feel most comfortable and secure. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.