Belong Newcastle-under-Lyme

What families say

Visitors frequently comment on the welcoming nature of the household teams. The staff create a friendly atmosphere that helps put families at ease during what can be difficult visits.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity74
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-03-04 · Report published 2021-03-04 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Requires Improvement at the May 2022 inspection, making it the only domain below Good. The published report does not describe the specific concerns that led to this rating. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement overall, and the improvement to a Good overall rating shows progress, but the persistent Requires Improvement in Safety means at least one significant concern remained unresolved at the time of inspection. A review in July 2023 found no evidence requiring a reassessment of the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Safety is the single finding that should give you most pause. Our review data shows that families most commonly raise safety concerns through incidents they were not told about promptly, staffing gaps on nights and weekends, and inconsistent responses to falls. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often deteriorates in larger homes. With 74 beds, knowing the exact overnight staffing numbers, and how the home manages when a staff member calls in sick, is not optional information: it is essential.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency reliance and low night staffing ratios are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Homes that cannot demonstrate stable, permanent rotas on nights warrant closer scrutiny.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency workers appear on night shifts, and ask what the minimum safe staffing level is overnight for 74 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the May 2022 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. The published report text does not include specific observations about how care plans are written, how often they are reviewed, or how staff training in dementia care is delivered. The Good rating indicates that inspectors did not identify significant concerns in these areas, but the available text does not allow for a more detailed picture.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effectiveness is reassuring, but the absence of published detail means you cannot verify from the report alone how well the home truly knows your parent as an individual. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies is clear: care plans that are treated as living documents, updated after every significant change and reviewed with families regularly, produce meaningfully better outcomes for people with dementia. Ask to see an anonymised example of a care plan so you can judge the level of detail yourself. Also ask how often your parent's GP would visit, and what the process is when you have a concern about their health.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that regular, structured GP involvement and care plans that reflect personal history, preferences, and daily routines, rather than clinical needs alone, are associated with better wellbeing outcomes for care home residents living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed, who attends those reviews, and whether families are invited. Then ask to see the dementia training syllabus so you can judge whether it covers non-verbal communication and behaviour as a form of communication, not just basic awareness."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the May 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are treated as individuals. The published report text does not include direct inspector observations or resident and relative quotes from the caring domain, so the basis for the Good rating cannot be examined in detail from the available findings. No concerns about dignity or respect were highlighted.","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 mention it by name, and compassion and dignity feature in 55.2%. A Good rating here is a positive signal, but the published report gives you no specific observations to go on. When you visit, pay attention to what happens in the corridors and communal spaces rather than only during a formal tour. Do staff make eye contact with residents passing by? Do they use preferred names? Do they move without haste? These small behaviours are the most reliable indicators of a genuinely caring culture.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies non-verbal communication, the pace of movement, tone of voice, and attentiveness to distress cues, as at least as important as verbal interaction for people with dementia who may have limited language. A home that scores well on these behaviours in everyday moments, not only during structured care, is a strong indicator of embedded caring practice.","watch_out":"On your visit, ask a staff member what your parent's preferred name is and how they like to spend a Tuesday morning. If they can answer without checking a folder, that tells you something important about how well the team actually knows the people they care for."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the May 2022 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, and how the home responds to residents' personal preferences and changing needs. The published report text does not describe specific activity programmes, individual engagement approaches, or end-of-life care planning in detail. No concerns about responsiveness were highlighted by the inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Responsiveness suggests the home was meeting individual needs adequately at the time of inspection, but activities and individual engagement are where inspection ratings and daily reality can diverge most sharply. Our review data shows that resident happiness, which includes being engaged and having purpose, features in 27.1% of positive family reviews. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people in more advanced stages of dementia: one-to-one engagement, including everyday tasks like folding, sorting, or gardening, produces significantly better outcomes than organised group sessions alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and the integration of everyday household tasks into daily routines are among the strongest evidence-based methods for maintaining engagement and a sense of identity in people with moderate to severe dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator what would happen on a day when your parent did not want to join the group session. What is the plan for one-to-one time, and which member of staff is specifically responsible for making sure that happens?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the May 2022 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Lisa Kate Wild, and a named nominated individual, Mrs Rebecca Louise Woodcock, are recorded as in post. The home is operated by Belong Limited. The Good rating in this domain suggests governance structures, accountability mechanisms, and a positive staff culture were found to be in place at the time of inspection. The published text does not describe specific governance processes or staff culture observations in further detail.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality over time. A named, permanent registered manager who is known to both staff and the people who live in the home is a meaningful positive signal. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement overall rating to Good suggests the leadership team has driven genuine change. However, the persistent Requires Improvement in Safety at the most recent inspection means the management team had not yet resolved all concerns. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and what specific changes were made after the last inspection to address the Safety rating.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that homes with stable leadership, where the registered manager has been in post for at least 12 months and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, show significantly lower rates of safety incidents and higher family satisfaction scores than homes with frequent management turnover.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in this role, what did the Requires Improvement in Safety relate to at the last inspection, and what evidence can you show me that those specific issues have been resolved since May 2022?"}

  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 residential care for adults over 65, including those living with dementia. They also support younger adults and people with physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the household model aims to create smaller, more familiar living environments within the larger community. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.