Brookholme Croft

What families say

Families describe staff who genuinely connect with residents. There's a warmth in how the team relates to people living here, and relatives feel that positive approach extends to them too when they visit.

Based on 7 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-02-05 · Report published 2020-02-05 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This indicates that inspectors did not identify significant concerns about safety, staffing, medicines management, or infection control at that time. No specific observations, ratios, or incident examples are recorded in the available published text. The review carried out in July 2023 found no new information to suggest the rating needed to change. Given that the inspection is now more than five years old, families should seek up-to-date assurance directly from the home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating tells you that, at the time of inspection, the basic safeguards were in place. However, the Good Practice evidence base from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid review highlights that night staffing is one of the most common areas where safety slips, and it is rarely examined in published summaries. The inspection found no concerns, but with 46 beds and a mix of nursing and dementia residents, you should ask specifically about overnight staffing numbers before you decide. Agency reliance is another area the research flags as a risk to consistency of care, and this is not covered in the available findings.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are among the most significant, and most under-reported, safety risks in care homes supporting people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not the template. Count the number of permanent staff versus agency names on the night shifts, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for the 46 residents currently in the home."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, nutritional support, and outcomes for residents. No specific detail about training content, care plan review frequency, GP access arrangements, or food quality is available in the published text. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies inspectors considered dementia-specific training as part of their review. The July 2023 monitoring review found no reason to downgrade the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent, the Effective domain is where you find out whether the team actually knows how to care for someone with dementia, not just in theory but in day-to-day practice. Our family review data shows that dementia-specific care is mentioned in 12.7% of positive reviews, and food quality in 20.9%, both of which sit within this domain. The inspection does not give us specific detail on either, which means you need to ask directly. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents, updated at least monthly for people with dementia, and that families should be involved in those reviews.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that care plans updated less frequently than monthly, and without family input, are a consistent marker of poorer outcomes for people with dementia in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask to see an anonymised example of a care plan and find out how often they are formally reviewed. Ask whether you, as a family member, would be invited to contribute to your parent's care plan review and how that would happen in practice."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. No direct inspector observations, resident quotes, or family testimony are available in the published text. A Good rating in this domain ordinarily requires inspectors to have seen and heard positive evidence of kind, respectful interactions. The absence of specific detail in the published summary limits what can be confirmed for families.","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 a close second at 55.2%. These are the qualities that are hardest to verify from a written report and easiest to observe in person during a visit. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal for people with advanced dementia. Watch for whether staff make eye contact, speak calmly, and move without rushing when they are with a resident. A Good Caring rating is encouraging, but your own eyes on a visit will tell you more than any document.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that non-verbal communication, including eye contact, touch, and an unhurried pace, is as significant as spoken interaction for people with dementia, and that these behaviours are reliably observable by visiting families.","watch_out":"During your visit, spend at least 20 minutes sitting in a communal area before you speak to the manager. Watch whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they crouch to eye level when speaking to someone seated, and whether any resident appears to wait a long time without acknowledgement."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life planning. No specific detail about the activity programme, one-to-one engagement, or how individual preferences are recorded and acted upon is available in the published text. The home supports residents with dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which suggests the activity offer should be adapted to a range of needs. The July 2023 review found no new concerns.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is referenced in 27.1% of positive family reviews and activities in 21.4%. For someone with dementia, meaningful activity is not optional: the Good Practice evidence base links tailored daily engagement to reduced distress and slower cognitive decline. A group sing-along on Wednesday is not enough. The research specifically flags Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks as effective for people who can no longer join structured group sessions. The inspection does not confirm whether this level of individual tailoring exists at Brookholme Croft. This is one of the most important questions to ask on your visit.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that individualised, one-to-one activity, including familiar tasks like folding, sorting, and simple gardening, is significantly more effective for people with advanced dementia than group-only programmes, and that many care homes still rely primarily on group activities.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what your parent would do on a typical Tuesday afternoon if they could not join a group session. Ask to see last month's actual activity records, not the planned schedule, to check how consistently one-to-one engagement took place."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. The home is run by Brookholme Croft Ltd, with Mrs Anna Christina Berresford named as the nominated individual. This indicates a named, accountable person is responsible for the service. No specific detail about the manager's tenure, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home responds to complaints is available in the published text. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to suggest the rating needed to change.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to the Good Practice evidence base. A Good Well-led rating is encouraging, but it is now more than five years old and the care sector has experienced significant leadership turnover since 2020. Communication with families is mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews in our data, and families consistently say it matters most when things go wrong. Before committing, find out whether the manager who was in post during the 2019 inspection is still in place, and ask how the home would contact you if your parent had a fall, a health change, or a complaint was raised.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically a consistent, visible manager who is known to staff and residents by name, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether they are on site most weekdays. Ask what happened the last time a resident or family raised a formal complaint, and how the outcome was communicated back to the person who raised it."}

  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 supports people with various complex needs, from dementia and mental health conditions to physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They're equipped to care for younger adults under 65 as well as older people.. Gaps or open questions remain on As a home that welcomes people living with dementia, Brookholme Croft provides specialist support tailored to each person's needs. The team understands the unique challenges dementia brings. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.