The Royal Alfred Seafarers Society

What families say

Based on 5 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement62
• Food quality60
• Healthcare52
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness65

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-06-14 · Report published 2019-06-14 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the April 2019 inspection. The inspection report provides very limited specific detail about what inspectors observed or found in this domain. The home specialises in nursing care for adults over 65, including people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, which means safe care requires consistent, skilled staffing. No specific concerns were recorded about medicines management, falls, or infection control in the published summary. The registration remains active with no dormancy recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but the published report gives you almost no specific detail to rely on. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance as the points where safety most often slips in care homes, yet neither is addressed in the available findings. If your parent has dementia or a physical disability, you need to know how many permanent staff are on overnight and whether the team who support your parent during the day are the same faces who are there at night. Given that this inspection is from 2019, ask the home whether there have been any significant incidents, falls reviews, or safeguarding referrals in the past two years.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review identifies night staffing consistency as a key safety predictor in dementia care settings. Homes with high agency use on night shifts show measurably higher rates of avoidable incidents.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent members of staff are on duty on the dementia unit between 10pm and 7am, and what percentage of shifts in the last month were covered by agency staff rather than the regular team?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Requires Improvement at the April 2019 inspection. This is the one domain where inspectors identified that standards did not meet expectations. The published summary does not spell out the specific findings that led to this rating, so it is not possible to say from the public record exactly what was inadequate, whether that related to staff training, care plan quality, healthcare access, nutritional monitoring, or some combination of these. No follow-up full inspection has been published since 2019. The July 2023 monitoring review did not result in a rating change, but it was a desk-based review of available data rather than an on-site inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Effective is the finding that should concern you most when thinking about a parent with dementia or a nursing need. This domain covers whether staff have the right dementia-specific training, whether care plans are written to reflect your parent as an individual rather than as a diagnosis, and whether healthcare needs such as GP access and medication reviews are being managed properly. Our Good Practice evidence base found that care plans which are treated as living documents, updated as a person's needs change, are one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes in dementia care. The fact that this was rated Requires Improvement in 2019 and has not been re-inspected on site since then means you cannot assume the gap has been closed. Ask for evidence, not reassurance.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that in homes where staff received structured, dementia-specific training (rather than general care training), families reported significantly higher confidence in the quality of day-to-day care. Care plan quality and staff knowledge were the two factors most closely linked to family satisfaction in the Effective domain.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you an example care plan (anonymised if needed) and ask when it was last reviewed and updated. Then ask what specific dementia training staff have completed in the last 12 months and whether you can see training records."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the April 2019 inspection. The published summary does not include specific inspector observations, staff interactions, or resident and relative quotes that would allow a detailed picture to be drawn. The home cares for people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, meaning that skilled, individualised caring approaches matter more here than in a home with less complex needs. No concerns about dignity, privacy, or respect were recorded in the published findings.","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 are mentioned in 55.2%. A Good rating here is a positive signal, but without specific observations or quotes from the inspection, you cannot rely solely on the rating. What matters practically for your parent is whether staff know their preferred name, whether they move at your parent's pace rather than their own, and whether they respond calmly and with understanding when your parent is distressed. These things are not recorded in the available findings. Plan to observe them yourself during an unannounced or informal visit at a time that is not a scheduled tour.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies non-verbal communication as equally important to verbal interaction in dementia care. Staff who slow their pace, make eye contact, and use touch appropriately produce measurably lower levels of distress in people with advanced dementia, regardless of the person's verbal ability.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent and other residents in corridors and communal areas, not just in a formal introduction. Are staff moving at the resident's pace? Do they use preferred names without being prompted?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the April 2019 inspection. This domain covers whether the home provides activities and engagement that are meaningful to individuals, whether it responds to changing needs, and whether end-of-life care is planned and personalised. The published summary does not include specific details about the activities programme, individual engagement approaches, or how the home responds to complaints or changing needs. For a home supporting people with dementia and sensory impairments, the quality of one-to-one engagement for people who cannot participate in group activities is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive is encouraging, but the absence of specific detail in the published report means you cannot assess from this alone whether your parent would have meaningful things to do each day. Good Practice evidence is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with advanced dementia. Homes that achieve the best outcomes offer regular one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, for people who cannot join group sessions. Ask specifically about this, not about the activities programme in general.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and activity-based approaches, particularly those involving familiar household tasks and one-to-one engagement, significantly reduced distress and improved wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Group-only activity programmes showed much weaker outcomes for this group.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: for a resident with moderate dementia who finds group activities difficult, what would a typical Tuesday afternoon look like? How many one-to-one sessions would they receive in a week, and who delivers them?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the April 2019 inspection. The registered manager at the time of inspection was Mrs Alice-Cristina Mitroi, with Mr David John Douglas Dominy listed as the nominated individual. The home is run by the Royal Alfred Seafarers' Society, a specialist organisation with a specific charitable focus. The published summary does not include detail on management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home learns from incidents and complaints. It is not known from the public record whether the registered manager listed in 2019 is still in post.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to Good Practice research. A home where the manager has been in post for several years, knows the staff and residents well, and has built a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns is consistently associated with better outcomes than one experiencing frequent leadership changes. The Royal Alfred Seafarers' Society background means this home has a specific charitable mission, which can be a positive indicator of values-led leadership. However, management quality (23.4% of positive family reviews) and communication with families (11.5%) are both things you need to assess directly, because the published findings give you no specific evidence on either.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that leadership stability was the single strongest organisational predictor of sustained care quality in care homes. Homes where the registered manager had been in post for more than three years showed consistently better outcomes across safety, caring, and responsiveness domains.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in post at this home, and how long have your senior care staff been here? Then ask how the home communicates with families when something goes wrong, and ask for an example of a time it happened and what they did."}

  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 team here supports residents with dementia, sensory impairments, and physical disabilities. They're equipped to help with the daily challenges these conditions bring, from communication needs to mobility support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the home provides specialized support tailored to each person's needs. The peaceful setting and structured environment help create a sense of stability and routine. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.