The Oaks Nursing Home

What families say

Based on 22 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth35
• Compassion & dignity35
• Cleanliness35
• Activities & engagement30
• Food quality30
• Healthcare30
• Management & leadership25
• Resident happiness30

What inspectors found

Inspected 2024-01-11 · Report published 2024-01-11 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The domain rating for Safe is listed as Good in the April 2024 assessment overview, but the full inspection text provided contains no specific observations, records review findings, or testimony about safety practices at this home. Night staffing ratios, falls management, medicine administration, and infection control are all unaddressed in the available text. The home is registered for 113 beds across a wide range of specialisms, which makes staffing adequacy a particularly important question. Families cannot draw conclusions about actual safety standards from the published text alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An Inadequate overall rating is the most serious outcome inspectors can assign, and it means the regulator has significant concerns about this home as a whole. Even where individual domains like Safe carry a Good rating from an earlier assessment, that rating may not reflect the current position. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in homes of this size, and with 113 beds and complex specialisms including dementia and mental health conditions, this is a home where staffing numbers and consistency after 8pm are critical questions. Until you have specific answers about current staffing ratios and medicine management, caution is warranted.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies agency staff reliance as a consistent predictor of safety risk in larger care homes, particularly during night shifts and at weekends. Consistency of staffing, not just the numbers on paper, is what protects residents.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, not a template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on duty overnight, and ask how often agency cover is used on the dementia unit specifically."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain is listed as Good in the April 2024 assessment overview. However, the inspection text provided contains no specific findings about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training, or food provision. With dementia listed as a specialism for a 113-bed home, the absence of detail about training and care planning in the published text is notable. Families should not assume a Good domain rating from a prior assessment reflects current practice, particularly given the overall Inadequate rating.","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 tangible indicators families rely on when judging whether a home truly understands their parent's needs. The inspection findings available here provide no evidence either way on these questions. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents, updated after every significant change in health, and that dementia-specific training should go beyond basic awareness to include communication techniques for people who can no longer use words reliably. You will need to ask about both directly.","evidence_base":"Research across 61 studies (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett, 2026) found that dementia training content, not just whether training happened, is the key variable. Homes where staff are trained in non-verbal communication and person-led approaches show measurably better outcomes for residents who can no longer express distress in words.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (with names removed) and check whether it contains the person's life history, preferred name, food likes and dislikes, and how they communicate when distressed. A generic plan is a warning sign regardless of any rating."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain is listed as Good in the April 2024 assessment overview, but no inspector observations, resident testimony, or relative feedback about staff warmth, dignity, or respect are included in the available inspection text. Staff warmth and compassion are the two highest-weighted themes in family satisfaction data, accounting for 57.3% and 55.2% of positive reviews respectively, which makes the absence of any specific evidence here particularly significant. Families cannot form a view about caring culture from the published findings alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews mention it by name. The specific behaviours that signal genuine warmth are observable on a visit, including whether staff use your parent's preferred name without being reminded, whether they make eye contact and speak unhurriedly, and whether they respond to distress with calm and patience rather than redirection. Because the inspection text provides no observations on these points, you will need to judge this yourself. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that for people with dementia, non-verbal communication from staff matters as much as words, and a rushed or distracted interaction can cause real distress even when no harm is intended.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (2026) identifies non-verbal attunement as a core competency for dementia care staff. Homes where staff consistently make eye contact, use touch appropriately, and match their pace to the resident show lower rates of behavioural distress, independent of medication regimes.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch what happens in the corridor when a staff member passes a resident who is sitting alone or appears unsettled. Do they stop, make eye contact, and acknowledge the person, or do they walk past? This single observable moment tells you more about caring culture than any paperwork."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain is listed as Good in the April 2024 assessment overview. The inspection text provided contains no specific findings about activities, individual engagement, end-of-life planning, or how the home responds to individual needs and preferences. With 113 beds and specialisms spanning dementia, mental health, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, tailored responsiveness across such a varied population requires deliberate planning and resources. No evidence is available in the published text to confirm this is in place.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive family reviews in our data, and activities for 21.4%, making these two of the most visible markers of whether your parent will have a real life in this home rather than simply being kept safe. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with advanced dementia, who need one-to-one engagement built around their individual history, including familiar household tasks, music from their era, or sensory activities. Because the inspection findings provide no detail on any of this, you will need to ask specific questions and observe the communal areas during your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (2026) identifies Montessori-based and life-history approaches as having the strongest evidence for meaningful engagement in people with dementia. Homes that incorporate familiar everyday tasks into daily routines, rather than relying on structured group sessions, show better outcomes for wellbeing and reduced behavioural distress.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened yesterday for a resident with advanced dementia who cannot join group sessions. If the answer is vague or defaults to "we check on them regularly", that is a concern. You want to hear about a specific person, a specific activity, and a specific conversation."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain is listed as Good in the April 2024 assessment overview, but the available inspection text contains no substantive findings about management culture, governance systems, staff empowerment, or how the home responds to concerns and complaints. The registered manager is named as Mrs Veronica Anne Dickinson, who is also the nominated individual. The overall Inadequate rating, having declined from Good, raises serious questions about leadership and governance that the available text does not resolve. This is the area of greatest concern and uncertainty for families considering this home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and the Good Practice evidence base is consistent that leadership stability is the single strongest predictor of quality trajectory in a care home. An Inadequate overall rating that has declined from Good is a serious signal that something has gone wrong at a governance or leadership level, even if individual domain scores from an earlier assessment look better. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive reviews, and homes with strong leadership are far more likely to contact you proactively when your parent's health or care needs change. Until you understand what drove the Inadequate rating and what has changed since, this is the most important question to pursue.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (2026) identifies bottom-up empowerment, where frontline staff can raise concerns without fear, as a key marker of well-led homes. Homes where staff feel unable to speak up about problems show faster deterioration in care quality, often before inspectors identify it.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what was the specific reason for the Inadequate overall rating, what has been done about it, and has the regulator been back since? A confident, specific answer with documented evidence of improvement is reassuring. Vague reassurance without paperwork is not."}

  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 team supports residents with various needs including dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They provide care for both older adults and younger people who need residential support.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home accepts residents living with different stages of dementia. Staff work with families to understand each person's individual needs and preferences. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.