Ackroyd house

What families say

Families describe walking into a place that feels alive with warmth and activity. The atmosphere here seems to lift spirits, with staff who bring genuine energy to their interactions with residents. There's a sense that people aren't just cared for but truly engaged with throughout their day.

Based on 12 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare72
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-11-14 · Report published 2019-11-14 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Ackroyd House was rated Good for safety at the September 2024 assessment, an improvement on the previous Requires Improvement rating. The published summary confirms the home meets the Safe domain standard but does not include detailed narrative findings about specific safety practices, medicines management, or staffing numbers. The home provides nursing care, which means qualified nurses are present on site. Without the full narrative, it is not possible to confirm specific details about falls management, agency staff usage, or night staffing ratios from the inspection text alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in safety is genuinely significant, and you should feel encouraged by it. However, Good is a threshold, not a ceiling, and the inspection findings available do not tell us what specifically changed or what inspectors observed. Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most often slips in care homes, and that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that keeps people safe. Before placing your parent here, ask for the actual staffing rota from a recent week, not a template, and count how many permanent staff were on overnight.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that agency staff reliance is one of the clearest predictors of inconsistent safety outcomes, and that learning from incidents, including falls and medication errors, is a reliable marker of a home that takes safety seriously rather than just meeting compliance thresholds.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent, named staff are on the dementia unit after 8pm on a typical weeknight, and what was the agency usage rate in the last four weeks? Request to see the actual rota rather than the staffing template."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2024 assessment. The home specialises in dementia care alongside general nursing, which requires staff to hold appropriate training and for care plans to reflect individual needs. The published summary does not include specific detail about care plan quality, GP access arrangements, dementia training content, or how food choices are managed for residents with complex needs. Nursing home registration means the home must meet higher clinical standards than a residential-only setting.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for someone living with dementia means staff know your parent as an individual, not just as a diagnosis. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies confirms that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, reviewed regularly and updated with family input, rather than paperwork completed on admission and filed away. The inspection does not confirm how often care plans are reviewed here, so this is worth asking directly. Food quality is one of the clearest signals of genuine care, and 20.9% of positive family reviews across UK care homes mention it by name.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, covering non-verbal communication and behaviour as communication, significantly improves the quality of daily interactions. Homes where staff can identify what a person is trying to express through behaviour, rather than labelling it as challenging, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: what dementia training do staff complete, how recently was it updated, and can you show me an example of how a care plan is reviewed when a resident's needs change? Look for evidence of family involvement in those reviews."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Ackroyd House was rated Good for Caring at the September 2024 assessment. This domain covers how staff treat residents day to day, including respect for dignity, privacy, and individual preferences. The published summary does not include specific inspector observations about staff interactions, preferred name use, or how staff respond when residents are distressed. The improvement from Requires Improvement suggests the home addressed earlier concerns in this area.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews across UK care homes, and compassion and dignity feature in 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities: they show up in whether staff knock before entering a room, whether they use your parent's preferred name, and whether they move at your parent's pace rather than their own. The inspection rating tells us the home met the standard, but you will learn more in 20 minutes of observation in a communal area than from any document. Watch how staff speak to residents when they think no one is paying attention.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people living with dementia. Staff who make eye contact, crouch to meet a seated resident's eye level, and touch a hand gently before speaking produce measurably lower distress responses than those who rely on words alone.","watch_out":"On your visit, sit in a communal area for at least 15 minutes before meeting the manager. Notice whether staff address residents by name, whether interactions feel unhurried, and how a member of staff responds if a resident appears unsettled or confused."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2024 assessment. Responsive care covers whether the home tailors daily life to individual preferences, offers meaningful activities, and supports residents to maintain independence. The home's dementia specialism means this domain is particularly important, as people living with dementia benefit most from activities matched to their personal history and abilities. The published summary does not include specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or how the home supports residents who cannot join group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement feature in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For someone living with dementia, a generic group activities session is much less valuable than a one-to-one activity connected to their life history, whether that is folding laundry, looking through photographs, or tending to a garden. Good Practice evidence supports Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches as the most effective for maintaining wellbeing. The inspection does not confirm whether Ackroyd House uses these approaches, so this is worth exploring directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found strong evidence that individualised, one-to-one activities, including everyday household tasks that provide a sense of purpose and continuity, produce significantly better wellbeing outcomes for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities schedule for last week, not the planned template. Then ask specifically: what happens for a resident who cannot join a group session? Is there a member of staff whose role includes one-to-one engagement, and how is that time recorded?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Ackroyd House was rated Good for Well-led at the September 2024 assessment, improving from Requires Improvement. The home is managed by a registered manager and has a nominated individual responsible for oversight. The organisation running the home is Ackroyd House Limited. The published summary does not include specific detail about manager visibility, staff culture, or how the home handles complaints and incidents. The improvement in this domain is significant because leadership quality is widely recognised as the strongest predictor of whether overall quality is sustained.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and communication with families feature in 23.4% and 11.5% of positive family reviews respectively. A home that improved from Requires Improvement to Good has made real changes, and stable, visible leadership is usually what drives that. Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes where the registered manager has been in post for more than two years and is known by name to staff and residents tend to sustain improvements. Ask how long the current manager has been in post, and whether the same person will be there in a year.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF rapid evidence review found that homes with stable leadership, where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers are visible on the floor rather than office-bound, consistently outperform comparable homes on family satisfaction and resident wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: how long have you been in this role, and what were the two or three most significant changes made since the previous inspection? A manager who can answer this specifically and without hesitation is a reassuring sign of genuine ownership of the improvement."}

  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 welcomes both younger adults under 65 and older residents, with specific experience in dementia care. This mix of ages brings its own dynamic to the community.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the team understands the importance of maintaining connection and engagement. Their approach focuses on creating moments of genuine interaction that help residents feel valued as individuals. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.