Allingham House Care Home

What families say

People describe feeling reassured by how staff connect with residents as individuals. Carers remember personal interests and use these to spark conversations and suggest activities that actually engage people. When residents want specific entertainment or safe time outdoors, the team works to make it happen.

Based on 6 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 quality68
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-05-22 · Report published 2021-05-22 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection awarded a Good rating for Safe at its September 2025 assessment. No specific observations, concerns, or data points from this domain are included in the published report text. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means qualified nurses should be present on every shift. The previous Requires Improvement rating suggests there were safety-related concerns at some point, though the current Good rating indicates these were addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Safe is a baseline requirement, not a ceiling. What families consistently flag in our review data is not whether a home has policies in place, but whether staff are actually present and attentive when something goes wrong. Good Practice research highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips, particularly in larger homes: 86 beds is a sizeable environment. The move from Requires Improvement to Good is genuinely reassuring, but the published text does not tell you how many people are looking after your parent at 3am. That is the question to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the strongest predictors of inconsistent safety outcomes in care homes. Permanent staff who know residents well are better placed to notice early signs of deterioration or distress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the planned template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency names appear on night shifts. For 86 beds with a dementia specialism, there should be at least two carers and one nurse on overnight: ask what the actual numbers are."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection awarded a Good rating for Effective at its September 2025 assessment. No specific detail about training, care planning, GP access, or food quality is included in the published report text. The home's registration confirms it provides nursing care and supports people with dementia and mental health conditions, which requires staff with relevant specialist knowledge. Without published specifics, it is not possible to confirm what dementia training staff have completed or how frequently care plans are reviewed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for someone with dementia depends on staff understanding the person, not just the condition. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawing on 61 studies, finds that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents updated with family input, not paperwork completed at admission and filed away. The inspection confirms a Good rating but does not describe the detail of care planning or training. Food quality is one of the most reliable everyday signals of genuine care: a home that gets mealtimes right, with real choice and enough time to eat, tends to get other things right too. Ask to see this for yourself.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, particularly in non-verbal communication and person-led approaches, significantly improves the quality of daily interactions. Training quality varies enormously between homes even within the same rating band.","watch_out":"Ask what dementia training is mandatory for all care staff, when it was last completed, and whether any staff hold a dementia-specific qualification such as the Dementia Care Mapping practitioner award or equivalent. Then ask how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed and whether you would be invited to contribute."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection awarded a Good rating for Caring at its September 2025 assessment. No direct observations of staff interactions, no resident or family quotes, and no specific examples of dignity or compassion in practice are included in the published report text. A Good Caring rating indicates inspectors did not find concerns in this domain, but the level of detail needed to assess warmth and respect in practice is not available from the published text alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes name it explicitly. Compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. These are not abstract values but observable behaviours. Do staff use your parent's preferred name without being prompted? Do they sit at eye level when speaking to someone who is seated? Do they knock before entering a room? A Good Caring rating tells you inspectors did not find failures here, but only a visit will tell you whether the warmth is genuine and consistent.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, including tone, pace, touch, and proximity, matters as much as words for people with advanced dementia. Staff who are unhurried and physically present reduce agitation and distress more effectively than any pharmacological intervention.","watch_out":"Arrive for your visit without announcing the exact time, and spend fifteen minutes in a communal area before meeting the manager. Watch whether staff passing through make eye contact and speak to residents, or whether they move through the room without acknowledgement. That informal behaviour is the most honest indicator of the home's caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection awarded a Good rating for Responsive at its September 2025 assessment. No specific detail about activity programmes, individual engagement, end-of-life care, or how the home responds to individual preferences is included in the published report text. The home's range of specialisms suggests it supports people with varied and sometimes complex needs, which requires responsive, individualised approaches.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness features in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities and engagement in 21.4%. For someone with dementia, meaningful activity is not a leisure add-on: it is part of maintaining identity and reducing distress. Good Practice evidence is clear that group activities alone are insufficient. People with more advanced dementia need one-to-one engagement, and the best homes build this into daily routines rather than relying on a scheduled activity hour. The published inspection text does not describe what Allingham House offers in this regard, so this is an area to explore directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-focused individual activities, such as folding, sorting, or gardening, maintain a sense of purpose and significantly reduce episodes of agitation in people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past two weeks, not a template or a policy document. Then ask specifically what is offered to someone who finds group settings distressing or who is largely in their room. A good answer will describe named activities and named staff who deliver them, not a general commitment to person-centred care."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection awarded a Good rating for Well-led at its September 2025 assessment. Mrs Olubunmi Victoria-Oduweku Odumosu is confirmed as the Registered Manager and Mrs Faye Archer as the Nominated Individual. The home is operated by Maria Mallaband 16 Limited. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across the whole inspection is itself a leadership signal: something changed, and that change was sufficient to satisfy inspectors. No further detail about management style, staff culture, or governance processes is included in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Good Practice research is consistent on this: homes where the registered manager has been in post for more than two years, and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, tend to maintain their ratings. The previous Requires Improvement rating means there is a recent history to understand. Asking the manager directly what changed, and how, will tell you a great deal about how they lead. A manager who can describe specific improvements confidently is a reassuring sign. Communication with families is flagged in 11.5% of our positive review data: ask how the home keeps you informed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that leadership visibility, specifically managers who are regularly present on the floor rather than office-based, is strongly associated with better staff morale and lower rates of avoidable incidents.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: what was the main concern identified at the previous inspection, and what specifically changed? Then ask how long she has been in her current role. A manager who gives a clear, specific answer to the first question and who has been in post for a meaningful period is a good sign. Vague answers or very recent appointment warrant further questions."}

  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 under and over 65, including those living with dementia or mental health conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the focus on personal connections and individual interests helps maintain engagement and quality of life. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.