Stella & Harry Freedman House (Jewish Care)

What families say

Visitors often mention how staff engage meaningfully with residents throughout the day. There's a sense that people here are treated as individuals first, with their own stories and preferences respected. Families report feeling reassured by the consistent, dependable support their relatives receive.

Based on 31 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement68
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-02-14 · Report published 2023-02-14 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This indicates inspectors were satisfied with how the home manages risk, staffing, medicines, and infection control. The home is registered to provide nursing care, meaning registered nurses are on site. No specific incidents, staffing ratios, or medicine management details are recorded in the published summary. The improvement in this domain is a positive signal, but the absence of published detail means specific practices cannot be confirmed from the report alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a nursing home for a parent with dementia, the Safe rating matters because safety risks, including falls, medication errors, and infection, are highest overnight and during shift changeovers. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is the point at which safety most commonly slips in care homes, and that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency your parent needs. The improvement from Requires Improvement tells you something went wrong before and was corrected, which is actually a good sign if the corrections are embedded. What you cannot tell from the published report is whether staffing levels are genuinely adequate for 120 residents or whether agency cover is routine. Ask those questions directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that learning from incidents, rather than simply recording them, is one of the strongest markers of a genuinely safe care home. A home that improved from Requires Improvement to Good has, by definition, demonstrated some capacity to learn.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the dementia unit for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many staff are on duty overnight per floor."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good, covering training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which means inspectors would have assessed whether staff have relevant training and whether care plans are appropriately detailed. No specific information about training content, GP access frequency, or care plan review cycles is included in the published summary. The home provides nursing care, indicating that clinical oversight is part of its offer. Jewish Care as an organisation has a track record in dementia services, though this report does not detail how that translates into day-to-day practice at this location.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Families in our review data identify dementia-specific care and food quality as two of the things they notice most quickly when a home is getting it right or getting it wrong. A Good Effective rating tells you inspectors were broadly satisfied, but it does not tell you whether your parent's care plan will reflect what they actually like, what upsets them, or how they prefer to spend their mornings. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated after any significant change, not just reviewed annually. Ask how often the team sits down with families to update the plan, and who leads that conversation.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training is most effective when it goes beyond basic awareness to include communication techniques for people who have lost verbal language. Ask what specific training the dementia unit staff have completed and when they last refreshed it.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) to check whether it records personal history, preferred routines, and communication preferences, or whether it reads as a clinical document focused only on physical needs."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good, which covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. This is the domain most directly linked to the quality of daily life your parent would experience. Inspectors would have observed staff interactions and spoken with residents and relatives. No direct observations, quotes, or specific examples are recorded in the published summary for this home. A Good rating indicates inspectors did not find cause for concern, but the absence of specific detail means this report cannot confirm what warmth looks like in practice at Stella and Harry Freedman House.","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 appear in 55.2%. These are not abstract values; they show up in specific moments: whether a carer uses your parent's preferred name, whether they knock before entering a room, whether they sit at eye level during a conversation. Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia, and that knowing someone's personal history shapes the quality of every interaction. The Good rating here is encouraging, but you need to observe these moments yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know the individual's history, preferences, and personality, produces measurably better outcomes for people with dementia than care organised around tasks and schedules alone.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch what happens in a corridor when a carer passes a resident who seems unsettled. Do they stop, make eye contact, and engage? Or do they walk past? That single moment tells you more about the caring culture than any rating."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good, covering activities, individual engagement, and responsiveness to changing needs including end-of-life care. The home caters for both adults over and under 65, which means activities and social programming need to work for a wide age range and range of ability. No specific description of the activity programme, examples of individual engagement, or end-of-life care approach is recorded in the published summary. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the level of detail available does not allow confirmation of whether activities are tailored to individuals or primarily group-based.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. For a parent with dementia, the question is not just whether the home has an activities coordinator but whether there is something meaningful for your parent specifically, including on days when they cannot join a group session. Good Practice research highlights Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and gardening, as particularly effective for people with dementia because they draw on long-established memory and provide a sense of purpose. Ask what happens on a Tuesday afternoon for someone who cannot follow a group activity.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that one-to-one activities, rather than group programmes alone, are the most important provision for people with moderate to advanced dementia, and that homes with a named key worker system tend to deliver this more consistently.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical day looks like for a resident with advanced dementia who cannot participate in group activities. If the answer is vague or focuses only on group sessions, probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. This is the most significant finding in the report. A home that improves its leadership rating has demonstrated to inspectors that it can identify problems, act on them, and embed changes. The Nominated Individual is named as Ms Rita Rousso, and the home is operated by Jewish Care. No detail about the registered manager's tenure, staff culture, or governance processes is included in the published summary. The overall trajectory from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests coordinated leadership effort rather than isolated fixes.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and communication with families together account for around 35% of the themes that matter most to families in our review data. Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with settled, visible managers tend to maintain standards, while homes under frequent management change are at higher risk of regression. The improvement here is genuinely positive, but the inspection was carried out in January 2023, which means the findings are now over two years old. Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether there have been significant senior staff changes since the inspection.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that staff who feel able to speak up about concerns without fear of consequences are a reliable indicator of a well-led home. Ask a carer directly, not management, what they would do if they saw something that worried them.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post, and then ask a carer the same question: how long have you worked here? A gap between management tenure and frontline staff turnover can signal an unstable culture beneath a positive inspection rating."}

  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 living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the person-centred approach here means staff work to understand each individual's unique needs and preferences, adapting their support accordingly. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.