The Laurels

What families say

Based on 9 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity58
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership35
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-03-07 · Report published 2020-03-07 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the February 2021 inspection. No specific detail is available in the published text about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls recording, infection control, or how the home responds to accidents. The home is registered for 32 beds across a residential setting. A Good rating indicates inspectors did not identify significant safety failures, but the absence of recorded detail means it is not possible to confirm what specific evidence underpinned this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring as a starting point, but it tells you relatively little on its own without the specific observations behind it. Our Good Practice evidence review found that night staffing is the point where safety most often slips in smaller residential homes, and that high agency use can undermine the consistency that keeps people safe. Because neither of these is addressed in the published findings, you need to ask about them directly. The inspection is now over four years old, which means the staffing picture may have changed significantly since.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (March 2026) found that reliance on agency staff and thin night staffing are two of the most consistent predictors of avoidable harm in residential dementia care settings.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not the template. Count the number of permanent staff names versus agency names, particularly on night shifts, and ask what the minimum overnight staffing level is for the 32 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the February 2021 inspection. No specific detail is available about how care plans are written, how frequently they are reviewed, whether families are involved, how the home manages GP access, or what dementia training staff have received. The home is registered to support people with dementia, which means effective dementia-specific practice should be in evidence, but the published text does not describe what that looks like in practice here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent living with dementia, the Effective rating matters most in two areas: whether staff genuinely know your parent as an individual rather than following a generic plan, and whether health concerns are picked up and acted on quickly. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that care plans should be living documents, updated when behaviour or health changes, with families actively consulted. The inspection did not record whether this is happening at CC The Laurels, so you will need to ask and observe. Dementia training quality varies enormously between homes, and the published findings give no detail here.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that person-centred care plans updated in response to changes in behaviour or health, rather than reviewed only at fixed intervals, are associated with significantly better outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) and ask how recently it was updated, who contributed to it, and what would prompt a review between scheduled dates. Ask also what specific dementia training the permanent care staff have completed in the last 12 months."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the February 2021 inspection. No direct observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or families, and no specific examples of dignity-preserving practice are recorded in the available published text. A Good rating for Caring suggests inspectors did not find cause for concern, but without specific evidence it is not possible to describe what kindness and respect actually look like day to day in this home.","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 together account for 55.2%. These are the things families notice immediately on a visit: whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they move without hurry, whether they respond to distress calmly and without irritation. The inspection rating is positive, but because there are no recorded observations to support it, you should treat your own visit as the main source of evidence. Arrive unannounced if the home allows it, or ask to visit at a time that is not a scheduled tour.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that non-verbal communication, including tone of voice, pace of movement, and physical positioning, is as important as spoken words for people with advanced dementia, and is a reliable indicator of genuine person-led care culture.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent or another resident in a corridor or communal area without being prompted. Notice whether they crouch to eye level, use the person's name, and take a moment to engage rather than passing through. This small interaction tells you more than any planned tour."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the February 2021 inspection. No detail is available about the activities programme, whether one-to-one engagement is offered to people who cannot join groups, how individual preferences are built into daily routines, or how complaints and feedback are handled. The home cares for people with dementia alongside other adults, which requires a range of responses to very different levels of need, but the published text does not describe how this is managed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a dementia care home, responsiveness is about more than activities on a noticeboard. It is about whether your parent is engaged on the days when they cannot join a group session, whether staff know what they used to love doing, and whether routines reflect the life they lived before moving in. Our review data shows that resident happiness is mentioned in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities engagement in 21.4%. Because none of this is described in the inspection findings, ask to see the activity records for the past month, not the planned timetable, and ask what happens for a resident who cannot leave their room.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and simple food preparation, are among the most effective engagement tools for people with moderate to advanced dementia, producing measurable reductions in agitation.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened yesterday for a resident who was not well enough to join the group session. If there is no clear answer, or if the answer is that they stayed in their room, ask how often one-to-one visits happen and who carries them out."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the February 2021 inspection. This is the only domain not rated Good. The registered manager is named as Mrs Tracey Anne Rothwell and the nominated individual as Mr Jonathon Read. No specific detail is available about what the Requires Improvement finding covered, whether it related to governance systems, staff culture, quality monitoring, or something else. A July 2023 review found no evidence to change the overall rating, but this does not confirm the Well-led concern has been fully resolved.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Well-led is the most important finding in this report for your decision. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with settled, visible managers who are known to staff by name and who act on feedback tend to improve; homes with leadership uncertainty tend to drift. Management quality accounts for 23.4% of the weighting in our family satisfaction model. You need to understand what the specific concern was in 2021, what was done about it, and whether the same manager is still in post. A rating review in 2023 that found no reason to change is not the same as a confirmed improvement.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that bottom-up staff empowerment, where care staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in residential dementia care, and that its absence is a key marker of poorly led homes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what did the Requires Improvement in Well-led relate to in 2021, what specific changes were made in response, and how is the home currently monitoring whether those changes are working? Also ask how long the current registered manager has been in post, and whether there have been any significant staffing changes at senior level since 2021."}

  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 support for adults under 65 who need residential care, as well as those over 65. Their team has experience caring for residents living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on The Laurels includes dementia care as one of their core specialisms. For families seeking dementia support in the Wickford area, visiting the home provides the best opportunity to discuss their specific approach and facilities. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.