Tilford Care & Nursing Home | Agincare

What families say

Visitors often comment on the warm reception they receive from staff. The team's friendly approach helps families feel comfortable during what can be difficult transitions. There's a sense that residents are treated with genuine respect and kindness throughout their stay.

Based on 17 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 2022-01-19 · Report published 2022-01-19 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2024 inspection. This suggests inspectors were satisfied with the home's approach to medicines management, staffing, and infection control at the time of the visit. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement overall, so a return to Good in this domain represents a positive change. No specific observations about falls management, night staffing ratios, or agency use are recorded in the published summary. The improvement from a prior declined rating is encouraging, but the absence of published detail means the basis for the Good rating is not visible to families.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safe rating is reassuring, but Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. The published report does not record how many staff are on duty overnight across 50 beds, which is one of the most important questions you can ask. Our review data shows that families mention staff attentiveness as a key concern in around 14% of positive reviews, meaning attentive care is noticed when it is present and missed sharply when it is not. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes it reasonable to ask the manager what specifically changed to bring the home back to Good, and how those improvements are maintained.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) found that agency staff reliance undermines the consistency of care that people with dementia need, and that learning systematically from incidents is one of the clearest markers separating good homes from improving ones.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the planned template. Count how many of the overnight shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask what the minimum number of staff on duty overnight is across all 50 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2024 inspection. This domain covers how well the home knows and responds to each person's health and care needs, including care planning, GP access, dementia training, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a formal specialism of the home, which implies a baseline training expectation. No specific observations about care plan detail, review frequency, or food quality are recorded in the published text. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the basis for that judgement is not described in the available summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that food quality appears in around 20.9% of positive family reviews, making it one of the more visible markers of whether a home genuinely cares about the people living there. The inspection does not describe what meals look like at Tilford, whether residents have real choice, or how the home manages dietary needs for someone with swallowing difficulties. Similarly, the Good Practice evidence review emphasises that care plans should function as living documents, updated regularly with family input, not paperwork filed away. Ask to see a sample care plan and ask when it was last reviewed and whether a family member was involved.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies regular, meaningful GP access and dementia-specific training as two of the strongest predictors of effective care outcomes, particularly for people living with both dementia and physical health conditions.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed, who is invited to contribute to those reviews, and what dementia training staff completed in the last 12 months. Ask specifically whether training covers non-verbal communication, which is essential for your parent if they can no longer reliably express pain or discomfort in words."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2024 inspection. This domain assesses whether staff treat the people they support with kindness, respect, and dignity, and whether residents are encouraged to maintain their independence. No direct observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives, and no descriptions of specific caring practices are included in the published summary. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but families have no way to see through the published text what those interactions looked like in practice.","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 follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities: families notice whether staff use a person's preferred name, whether they knock before entering a room, and whether they move at the person's pace rather than their own. The inspection did not record these specific details for Tilford. When you visit, watch the corridor interactions between staff and residents, not the formal parts of the tour. That is where you will see the real culture of the home.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia, and that genuine person-centred care requires staff to know each individual's history, preferences, and communication style, not just their clinical needs.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask a member of staff what your parent's preferred name is and watch whether they use it naturally in conversation. Also observe what happens when a resident appears unsettled or distressed: do staff stop and respond, or do they continue with a task?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2024 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its activities, routines, and support to individual needs, including engagement for people living with dementia and planning for end-of-life care. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies some individual-level approach to engagement. No specific activities, session frequencies, or examples of one-to-one engagement are described in the published text. End-of-life care planning is not mentioned.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, but our review data and the Good Practice evidence both point to the same gap: many homes offer group activities that work well for some residents but leave behind people living with advanced dementia who cannot join in. The evidence strongly supports one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks, music, and sensory activities, as the most effective approach for this group. The published report gives no information about what Tilford offers in this area. Resident happiness, which influences 27.1% of positive reviews, is closely tied to whether people have something meaningful to do each day, not just whether basic needs are met.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-led individual activities, including everyday household tasks that connect to a person's earlier life, produce significantly better wellbeing outcomes than group-only programmes, particularly for people in the later stages of dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities timetable for last week, not a sample or promotional version. Then ask what would have happened on that day for a resident living with advanced dementia who could not join a group session. A confident answer to that second question tells you more than the timetable."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the September 2024 inspection, representing a return to Good from the previous Requires Improvement overall rating. A named registered manager and a nominated individual are recorded, indicating a clear accountability structure. The previous decline in rating suggests there was a period when leadership or governance was not functioning well enough to maintain standards. The Good rating at the most recent inspection suggests that has been addressed, but the published text does not describe what changed, what governance systems are now in place, or how staff are supported to raise concerns.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality influences 23.4% of positive family reviews, and the Good Practice evidence identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality over time. The fact that this home previously declined to Requires Improvement and has now recovered is worth understanding in detail. Ask the manager directly what caused the previous decline and what specific changes were made. A manager who can answer that question clearly and without defensiveness is demonstrating exactly the kind of accountability that predicts sustained quality. Communication with families, which appears in 11.5% of positive reviews, is also something the published report does not address.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to speak up about concerns without fear of negative consequences consistently outperform those with top-down cultures, and that manager tenure and stability are among the strongest structural predictors of care quality.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post, what led to the previous Requires Improvement rating, and what they changed to address it. Also ask how families are kept informed if their parent's condition changes unexpectedly, and how long it typically takes for a relative to receive a call."}

  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 care for adults both under and over 65, including those with physical disabilities or sensory impairments. They have experience supporting people living with dementia and various mental health conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the team works to maintain dignity and provide appropriate support. The home's experience with different stages of dementia means they can adapt their approach as needs change. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.