Lavender Lodge Care Home – Avery Healthcare

What families say

Visitors frequently comment on the homely feel throughout Lavender Lodge. There's a genuine warmth here that comes from staff who clearly enjoy their work and residents who seem genuinely happy. The care team makes an effort to create personal connections, remembering the little things that matter to each resident.

Based on 15 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity58
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare45
• Management & leadership62
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-09-10 · Report published 2019-09-10 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2020 inspection. Beyond this rating, the published report does not contain specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, infection control, or how the home responds to safety incidents. The home accommodates 66 beds and supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means safety systems are especially important. No concerns were identified publicly at the time of inspection, but the evidence is now more than four years old.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe is reassuring, but it tells you relatively little on its own when the inspection is over four years old and no specific observations are published. Our family review data shows that cleanliness (24.3% of positive reviews) and staff attentiveness (14% of positive reviews) are among the things families notice most when they visit a home. Good Practice research consistently finds that night staffing is the point at which safety most often slips, and that homes relying heavily on agency staff find it harder to maintain consistent care for people with dementia. You cannot assess either of those things from the published findings here. The inspection did not record specific detail on agency use, night staffing ratios, or falls logging. Observe these things directly on your visit and ask the manager for the data.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety risk in care homes, particularly for people living with dementia who may be more distressed or at greater risk of falls overnight.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past week, not the planned template. Count how many permanent carers and how many nursing staff were on duty overnight, and ask how many of those shifts were covered by agency or bank staff."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2020 inspection. This is the only domain that did not receive a Good rating. Effective covers training and competence of staff, the quality and currency of care plans, access to healthcare including GP and specialist input, and nutrition and hydration. The published report does not set out the specific reasons for the Requires Improvement rating, which makes it difficult to know what was lacking or whether it has been addressed. The July 2023 desk review did not trigger a reassessment.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Effective is the finding that should concern you most here. This is the domain that covers whether staff have the right dementia training, whether care plans are kept up to date and actually reflect your parent's preferences and health needs, and whether the home acts quickly when someone's health changes. Our family review data shows that healthcare access (20.2% of positive reviews) and food quality (20.9%) are among the themes families mention most when they are satisfied with a home. Good Practice research is clear that care plans work best as living documents, reviewed regularly with families involved, rather than as paperwork completed on admission and rarely updated. The inspection found this area needed improvement in 2020, and the published findings do not tell you whether it has improved. You need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans which are regularly reviewed and co-produced with families are one of the strongest markers of genuinely person-centred dementia care, and that homes where care planning is weak tend to show poorer outcomes across all domains over time.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to explain specifically what was found to be lacking in Effective at the 2020 inspection and what actions were taken. Then ask to see an example of how a care plan is reviewed: how often, who is involved, and how a family member would be included in that process."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2020 inspection. This domain covers the warmth of staff interactions, dignity and respect, and whether the home supports people to remain as independent as possible. The published report does not include specific observations, resident testimony, or relative feedback that would allow a detailed picture of what caring looks like day to day at Lavender Lodge. No concerns were identified at the time of inspection.","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 together account for 55.2%. A Good rating in Caring is a positive signal, but without specific inspector observations or quotes from residents and relatives, it is hard to know what this looks like in practice at Lavender Lodge. Good Practice research highlights that for people living with dementia, non-verbal communication, including tone of voice, pace, and physical proximity, matters as much as what staff say. The things to look for on a visit are unhurried interactions, staff using your parent's preferred name without being prompted, and how staff respond when someone is distressed. These are things you can observe yourself in 20 minutes on a corridor.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that person-led care requires staff to know the individual well, including their life history, communication preferences, and what causes them distress, and that homes where this knowledge is embedded in everyday practice show measurably better resident wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"When you visit, spend time in a communal area rather than just in the manager's office. Watch whether staff use residents' preferred names without being prompted, whether they crouch to make eye contact with someone seated, and whether there is any sense of hurry during personal care routines."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2020 inspection. Responsive covers whether the home tailors its care to each individual, the range and quality of activities on offer, and how the home supports people at the end of life. As with other domains, the published report does not set out specific observations, examples of activities, or evidence of individual tailoring. The home supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means the range of individual needs is likely to be wide.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive reviews in our family review data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive is positive, but the absence of specific detail in the published findings means you cannot tell from the inspection whether your parent would have access to activities that suit them individually, or whether the programme is primarily group-based. Good Practice research is clear that for people with advanced dementia, group activities are often inaccessible, and that one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, produces better outcomes. Ask specifically about what happens for someone who cannot participate in a group.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and activity-based approaches tailored to the individual, rather than group-only programmes, are associated with reduced distress and better quality of life for people living with dementia, including those with advanced needs.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last month's actual activity records for someone living with dementia who rarely joins group sessions. Ask how that person spent their afternoons, and who was responsible for spending time with them one to one."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the September 2020 inspection. A nominated individual, Mrs Natasha Southall, is named in the registration record as the person with oversight of the service. The published report does not include detail about the registered manager's tenure, how governance is structured, how staff are supported to raise concerns, or how the home has responded to the Requires Improvement finding in Effective. The desk-based review in July 2023 found no evidence requiring a change to the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership account for 23.4% of positive reviews in our family review data, and communication with families accounts for 11.5%. A Good rating in Well-led is encouraging, but leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory over time. Good Practice research finds that homes with a stable, visible manager who empowers staff to speak up tend to sustain quality, while homes where leadership changes frequently often see quality slip across other domains. The Requires Improvement in Effective raises a specific question: what did leadership do about it? If the manager can describe the specific actions taken since 2020 and show you evidence of improvement, that is a reassuring sign of accountability. If the answer is vague, that is worth noting.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality, and that homes where managers are visible on the floor, known to residents by name, and able to create cultures where staff feel safe raising concerns consistently outperform those where management is primarily administrative.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether they were in post at the time of the 2020 inspection. Then ask what specific steps were taken to address the Requires Improvement rating in Effective, and ask to see any evidence of follow-up, such as a quality improvement plan or updated training records."}

  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 Lavender Lodge supports adults both under and over 65 with various needs including physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The home provides specialist dementia care alongside their general services.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team focuses on maintaining familiar routines and personalising the environment to help people feel secure. Staff work to understand each person's preferences and adapt their care accordingly. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.