Princess Christian Care Home

What families say

Families consistently mention how staff adapt their approach to match each person's needs and preferences. Whether it's learning individual communication styles or recognising behavioural patterns, the team shows real patience and understanding in their daily interactions.

Based on 19 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity74
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement70
• Food quality70
• Healthcare85
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness72

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-08-11 · Report published 2022-08-11 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. The home is registered to provide nursing and personal care for up to 96 adults, including people living with dementia. The published inspection findings do not include specific detail about night staffing ratios, agency staff usage, falls management, or incident-learning processes for this domain. A Good rating indicates inspectors found no significant safety concerns, but the level of published detail makes it difficult to go beyond that general picture.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating means inspectors did not find anything that put the people living here at serious risk. However, our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is the point where safety most often slips in care homes, and agency reliance can undermine consistency of care. Because the published report does not give specific numbers for night staff or agency use, you will need to ask those questions directly on your visit. The fact that the home's overall rating has declined from Outstanding to Good also means it is worth probing what specifically changed in the safety picture.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that learning from incidents, particularly falls, is one of the clearest markers separating good-practice homes from those that merely meet minimum standards. Ask to see how the home records and responds to falls.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not the template. Count the permanent versus agency names on the night shifts, and ask how many carers and how many senior staff were on the dementia unit after 8pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Outstanding at the June 2022 inspection. This is the home's standout strength and the area where inspectors found the most compelling evidence. An Outstanding rating in this domain typically reflects strong training programmes, well-maintained and individualised care plans, robust healthcare access (including GP involvement), and good nutritional care. The published report text does not reproduce the specific observations or quotes that drove this rating, so the detail behind it is not visible in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An Outstanding rating for Effective care is meaningful for families choosing a dementia care home. It suggests that staff know what they are doing, that care plans are likely to be detailed and reviewed regularly, and that healthcare access (GP visits, specialist referrals, medication reviews) is well managed. Our Good Practice evidence highlights that care plans should function as living documents, updated as your parent's needs change, not filed away after admission. The Outstanding rating suggests this home takes that seriously, though you should confirm it by asking to see how frequently care plans are reviewed and whether families are involved in those reviews.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training content, not just generic training completion, is what makes a measurable difference to the quality of day-to-day interactions. Ask the manager what the dementia training actually covers and how recently staff completed it.","watch_out":"Ask how often your parent's care plan would be formally reviewed, who attends that review, and whether you would be invited to contribute. Then ask to see an example of how a care plan was updated after a resident's needs changed."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are treated as individuals. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but the published report text does not include specific observations of staff interactions, preferred-name use, or responses to distress. Without that detail, it is not possible to describe the texture of day-to-day caring from the published findings alone.","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%. A Good rating here is reassuring, but it does not tell you whether the staff on the dementia unit are the kind of people who stop, sit down, and listen, or whether they are moving at a pace that feels rushed. Our Good Practice evidence is clear that non-verbal communication matters just as much as what staff say, particularly for people with advanced dementia who may not be able to express preferences verbally. Watch for these things yourself on a visit rather than relying on the rating alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that person-led care requires genuinely knowing the individual, their history, preferences, and routines, not just recording those things in a document. Ask staff on the unit if they can tell you something personal about a resident they care for.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff address residents in corridors and communal areas. Do they use the person's preferred name? Do they crouch or sit to make eye contact rather than speaking down? Do they move at the resident's pace, or their own?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether your parent will have a meaningful life at the home, including activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life planning. The home caters for people living with dementia as a specialism, which means it should be offering more than group activities in a lounge. The published inspection text does not include specific descriptions of the activities programme, one-to-one engagement provision, or how the home supports residents who cannot join group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement are mentioned in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. A Good rating for Responsive care is a positive signal, but the research evidence is clear that group activities alone are not enough, particularly for people in the middle or later stages of dementia, who may not be able to participate in organised sessions. Homes that do this well tend to weave meaningful activity into daily routines: folding laundry, tending a garden, sorting objects, looking at photographs. Ask specifically what one-to-one activity looks like for a resident who cannot join a group.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett review found that Montessori-based and task-based individual activities, such as everyday household tasks, produce measurable improvements in wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared with group-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities schedule for the past two weeks, not just the planned schedule. Then ask specifically what would happen on a day when your parent did not want to join a group session, and who would spend 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 June 2022 inspection. The registered manager is listed as Mr Mario Taherian, and the nominated individual is Mr Martin Barrett. The home is operated by Nellsar Limited. The published inspection text does not include specific observations about management visibility, staff culture, incident governance, or how the home responds to feedback. The decline from a previous Outstanding overall rating raises a question about what changed in the leadership picture between inspections.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to our Good Practice evidence. The decline from Outstanding to Good is the thing families most need to understand here: it does not mean the home is failing, but it does mean something shifted. Communication with families is mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews as a key satisfaction driver, and a well-led home should be proactively keeping you informed, not waiting for you to chase. Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post, what changed between the two inspections, and what they are doing about it.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that leadership stability, meaning a consistent manager who staff feel confident approaching, is one of the clearest predictors of a home's quality trajectory. Frequent management changes are an early warning sign.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and whether there have been any significant staffing or leadership changes in the past 12 months. Then ask what specifically the inspection found that led to the decline from Outstanding, and what has been done since."}

  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 care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff here understand that dementia affects everyone differently. They work to learn each resident's unique communication preferences and behavioural patterns, tailoring their approach accordingly. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.