Chester House

What families say

Based on 4 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-01-28 · Report published 2020-01-28 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Safety at the December 2019 inspection. This covers areas including medicines management, staffing levels, infection control, and how the home manages risk. The previous rating in this domain was Inadequate, so inspectors found meaningful improvement. The published summary does not include specific findings about what was previously wrong or precisely what changed. With 14 beds, this is a small home where individual staff attentiveness matters greatly.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a previous Inadequate is genuinely reassuring, but it is the floor, not the ceiling. For a parent with dementia, safety is not just about medicines and falls protocols; it is about whether staff notice when something is wrong at 2am. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in small residential homes. The published report gives no detail on night staffing ratios or agency use, both of which matter a great deal. Visiting at different times of day and asking direct questions about overnight cover will give you a much clearer picture than the rating alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance and low overnight staffing ratios are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in dementia care settings, particularly in smaller homes where a single staff member may be the only person on duty overnight.","watch_out":"Ask: how many staff are on duty between 10pm and 7am, are any of them waking night staff, and what is the home's policy when a resident with dementia becomes distressed or tries to leave during the night?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. Chester House received a Good rating in this domain at the December 2019 inspection. The home specialises in dementia care, which means inspectors would have considered whether staff training is appropriate for that group. No specific detail about training content, GP access frequency, or care plan quality is available in the published summary. The previous overall rating was Inadequate, so improvement in this area was required.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a parent with dementia, effectiveness means staff who understand the condition well enough to interpret behaviour, not just manage it. It means a care plan that reads like a description of your mum or dad as a person, not a list of tasks. Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans need to function as living documents, updated regularly and informed by family knowledge. The inspection confirms the home met the Good threshold in 2019, but you should ask to read an anonymised care plan during your visit and judge for yourself whether it captures the individual. Also ask how often GPs visit and whether the home has a dedicated pharmacist relationship for medicines reviews.","evidence_base":"Leeds Beckett University research found that dementia training which goes beyond basic awareness to include behaviour as communication and person-centred approaches produces measurable improvements in resident wellbeing and reduces the use of sedative medication.","watch_out":"Ask: what dementia training have staff completed in the past 12 months, who delivers it, and can you show me how a care plan is updated when a resident's needs change?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Chester House received a Good rating for Caring at the December 2019 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether your parent's independence is supported. The previous overall rating was Inadequate, meaning inspectors found this area had improved to a satisfactory standard. No specific observations, inspector notes, or resident and family quotes are available in the published summary to illustrate what good caring practice looks like here in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single highest-weighted theme in DCC family reviews, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. Families notice whether staff use your mum's preferred name without being reminded, whether they make eye contact and speak calmly, and whether they slow down rather than rush. In a 14-bed home, there is less anonymity than in a larger setting, which can be a real advantage: staff genuinely get to know each resident. Good Practice research emphasises that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, touch, tone of voice, and unhurried pace matter as much as words. A Good rating tells you the standard was met; your visit will tell you whether it feels warm.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base confirms that person-centred caring in dementia settings is most reliably demonstrated through consistent staff knowing individual residents well enough to interpret non-verbal cues, a quality that depends on low staff turnover and minimal use of agency workers.","watch_out":"When you visit, notice whether staff address your parent by their preferred name without prompting, whether they make eye contact during interactions, and whether they appear unhurried even when the home is busy."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Chester House received a Good rating for Responsiveness at the December 2019 inspection. This domain covers whether activities are meaningful, whether individual preferences are reflected in daily life, and whether end-of-life planning is in place. No specific activities programme, examples of individual engagement, or end-of-life care practices are described in the published summary. For a 14-bed specialist dementia home, the range and quality of engagement available to residents is a critical quality indicator that families cannot assess from this report alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities matter far more than a weekly timetable suggests. For your dad with dementia, a group singalong may be wonderful on one day and overwhelming the next. Good Practice research is clear that the most effective engagement in dementia care is individual, not group-based: a familiar household task, a piece of music from the right decade, a short walk in the garden. With only 14 beds, staff have the opportunity to know each person well enough to offer this kind of tailored engagement, but whether they actually do is not visible from the published report. Activities engagement is cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%, making this a priority question for your visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that individualised, Montessori-based and occupation-based activities produce significantly better outcomes for people with dementia than group activities alone, particularly for residents at more advanced stages who cannot self-initiate engagement.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past two weeks, not just the planned schedule. Check whether individual one-to-one sessions are recorded, and ask what staff would do to engage your parent on a day when they did not want to join a group."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Chester House received a Good rating for Well-led at the December 2019 inspection. The home is run and managed by the owning family, with Mrs Bibi Toridah Assrafally as the registered manager. In a home of 14 beds, owner-management can mean close day-to-day oversight and a stable leadership presence. A review conducted in July 2023 found no evidence requiring reassessment of the ratings. No specific detail about governance systems, staff culture, or accountability processes is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality is cited as a key factor in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and Good Practice research consistently finds that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality. An owner-manager in a small home can be a real strength: the person responsible is often present, personally accountable, and invested in the home's reputation. However, the inspection findings here are over five years old, and a July 2023 review, while reassuring, was a desk-based review rather than a fresh inspection. Communication with families is cited in 11.5% of positive reviews and is an area the published report does not address. Ask directly how the manager communicates with families when things change.","evidence_base":"IFF Research found that leadership stability, defined as a consistent registered manager in post for more than two years, is associated with lower staff turnover, higher staff confidence in raising concerns, and better continuity of care for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post, whether there have been significant staffing changes in the past 12 months, and how the home would contact you if your parent had a fall or a health change overnight."}

  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 Chester House provides specialist dementia care alongside general support for older adults. The home accepts residents aged 65 and above, with staff trained to meet the varying needs of this age group.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, Chester House offers dedicated support tailored to individual needs. The team understands the importance of maintaining routine and familiarity while providing the right level of care as conditions change. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.