Alexander Care Home

What families say

Families often mention how staff create real bonds with residents. There's a sense that carers here genuinely care about the people they look after, showing patience and kindness in their daily interactions.

Based on 18 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness60
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership35
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-10-08 · Report published 2021-10-08 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the July 2021 inspection. The published report does not provide specific detail about what inspectors observed in relation to staffing, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control. The home is a 78-bed nursing home, which means medicines administration and clinical risk management are central to daily safety. No specific concerns in this domain were recorded in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is encouraging, but with 78 beds and a specialism in nursing care for people with dementia, the detail behind that rating matters enormously. Good Practice research identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness (mentioned in 14% of positive reviews) and a clean environment (24.3%) are the two safety signals families notice most on visits. Because the published report does not tell us how many staff are on at night or how agency cover is managed, you will need to ask these questions directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff unfamiliar with individual residents represent one of the most consistent safety risks in care home settings, particularly for people with dementia who may not be able to communicate distress verbally.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count permanent versus agency names on night shifts specifically, and ask what induction agency staff receive before working on the dementia unit."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the July 2021 inspection. The home specialises in nursing care, dementia, and physical disabilities, which requires staff to hold relevant clinical skills and keep care plans current. The published text does not record specific observations about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training content, or how food and nutrition are managed. No concerns in this domain were recorded in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effective means inspectors were broadly satisfied that the home knows what it is doing, but the absence of specific detail makes it difficult to verify what that looks like in practice for your parent. Food quality appears in 20.9% of positive family reviews and is consistently identified in Good Practice research as a marker of genuine person-centred care, not just a routine task. Dementia training content is equally important: knowing a person has dementia is not the same as knowing how to communicate with them when words become difficult. Ask the home to show you not just that training has happened, but what it covered.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated after every significant change in a person's condition, and that family involvement in care plan reviews is associated with better outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed and request an example of how a care plan was updated after a resident's health changed. Ask whether families are routinely invited to contribute to those reviews."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the July 2021 inspection. This is the domain most closely connected to what families experience when they visit. The published text does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they are treated, or specific examples of dignity and privacy being respected. No concerns in this domain were recorded in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of satisfaction in our family review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity appear in 55.2%. A Good rating here is a positive signal, but without specific observations recorded in the available text, you cannot rely on the rating alone. Good Practice research is clear that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia: the pace at which a staff member enters a room, whether they make eye contact, and whether they address a person by their preferred name are all observable on a single visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research evidence review found that person-led care requires genuine knowledge of the individual, including life history, preferred routines, and communication style, and that homes where staff can demonstrate this knowledge consistently achieve better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"During your visit, notice whether staff use your parent's preferred name without being prompted, whether they knock before entering rooms, and whether interactions feel unhurried. These are reliable indicators of everyday dignity that no inspection rating can fully substitute for."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the July 2021 inspection. The home specialises in dementia care alongside nursing and physical disability support, which means responsiveness to individual needs and meaningful daily activity are particularly important. The published text does not include specific observations about the activity programme, how one-to-one engagement is provided, or how end-of-life care is approached. No concerns were recorded in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness appears in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities and engagement in 21.4%. For people living with dementia, meaningful engagement is not a luxury: Good Practice research shows that purposeful activity, including everyday tasks like folding, sorting, or gardening, significantly reduces distress and supports a sense of identity. A Good rating for Responsive is encouraging, but the inspection text does not tell us whether the activity programme is genuinely tailored to individuals or whether residents with advanced dementia who cannot join groups receive one-to-one time. This is particularly important for a 78-bed home where the risk of people being left unstimulated is real.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, are associated with reduced agitation and improved wellbeing in people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared with group-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity log, not a planned schedule. Ask specifically how residents who cannot join group sessions are supported with one-to-one engagement, and how many hours per week that amounts to."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Requires Improvement at the July 2021 inspection, the only domain not rated Good. This means inspectors found that governance, oversight, or leadership did not yet meet the required standard. The published text does not specify what the concerns were. A registered manager, Mr Anthony Muthemba Warner, was in post at the time. The overall rating improved from Requires Improvement to Good between inspections, but the Well-led domain did not reach Good in this most recent assessment. A monitoring review in July 2023 did not find evidence requiring a reassessment of the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership appear in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and Good Practice research is consistent that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. A Requires Improvement in Well-led means there were specific concerns that inspectors felt had not been resolved. This does not make the home unsafe, but it is the area that deserves the most scrutiny from you as a family. Communication with families (mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews) is frequently affected when leadership and governance are weak, because the systems that should keep families informed tend to be the first to slip.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that bottom-up empowerment, where frontline staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, is a reliable indicator of a well-led home, and its absence is associated with quality deterioration even when other domains appear stable.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly what specific issues the inspectors identified under Well-led in 2021, and what changes have been made since then. Ask also how families can raise a concern, and what happens when they do."}

  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 specialist dementia care alongside support for residents with physical disabilities. They're set up to care for adults over 65 who need nursing support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the staff's patient and friendly approach helps create a comfortable environment. The team understands the importance of emotional connection in dementia care. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.