Dalby Court Residential Care Home – Sanctuary Care

What families say

Families describe staff who find time to chat and connect, even during busy periods. The entertainment programme brings real energy to the home, with karaoke nights and social suppers that draw relatives in to share the fun alongside residents.

Based on 17 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-12-12 · Report published 2023-12-12 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the October 2023 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and the overall safety of the environment. The published summary does not include specific observations about falls management, night staffing ratios, or agency staff usage. The improvement from the previous rating suggests that safety-related concerns identified earlier were resolved to the inspector's satisfaction. For a 66-bed home with a dementia specialism, the absence of specific detail means some important safety questions remain unanswered by this report alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in safety is a meaningful positive signal. It tells you the home recognised earlier problems and fixed them. However, Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes, particularly on dementia units where residents may become unsettled and require close monitoring. The published report does not tell you how many staff are on duty overnight in a 66-bed home, which is a significant gap. Our family review data shows that families frequently cite staff attentiveness (14% of positive reviews) as a key comfort, and attentiveness at night is something you cannot assess from a published report alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance undermines consistency of care for people with dementia, who rely on familiar faces and established routines to feel secure. A home that has reduced agency use since its previous inspection would show this as a concrete safety improvement.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template or a planned rota. Count how many shifts on the dementia unit overnight were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the October 2023 inspection. This domain covers staff training, care planning, access to healthcare professionals, nutrition and hydration, and consent. The published summary does not include specific detail about dementia training content, how frequently care plans are reviewed, or how the home manages GP access and referrals to specialist services. Dementia is a listed specialism for this home, which means the expectation is that staff hold relevant skills and that care approaches reflect current evidence. The absence of specific findings means the Good rating provides a floor rather than a ceiling here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent with dementia, the effective domain is where the detail of their daily care lives. A Good rating tells you inspectors were satisfied, but it does not tell you whether staff understand that dementia can affect appetite and present food in a way that helps, or whether your parent's care plan records that they prefer to be called by a nickname, sleep late, and dislike showers. Good Practice evidence shows that care plans function best as living documents updated at least monthly and reviewed with families present. Ask when you visit whether you would be invited to care plan reviews and how often they happen.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular, meaningful GP access and prompt referral to specialists such as community mental health teams as a key marker of effective dementia care. Homes that have embedded these referral pathways tend to manage behavioural and physical health changes more safely than those relying on reactive crisis responses.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are routinely invited to contribute. Then ask to see the activities section of a sample (anonymised) plan to check whether it reflects individual history and preferences rather than a standard template."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the October 2023 inspection. This domain reflects whether staff treat the people who live here with warmth, respect their privacy, support their independence, and respond to them as individuals. No direct inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative testimonies are reproduced in the published inspection summary. For a domain where staff warmth accounts for 57.3% of positive family reviews in our data, the absence of specific examples means this Good rating cannot be fully contextualised without a visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity together account for a further 55.2%. A Good rating in the caring domain is reassuring, but the most reliable way to assess this for your parent is to observe it directly. Watch how staff greet the people they pass in the corridor: do they make eye contact, use names, slow down? Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia, and that person-centred care requires knowing the individual well enough to read subtle cues about mood and need.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that person-centred care approaches, including knowing a resident's life history and using that knowledge in daily interactions, are associated with reduced agitation and greater wellbeing in people with dementia. This requires staff to have time with individuals, not just to complete tasks.","watch_out":"When you visit, notice whether staff address your parent (or current residents you observe) by their preferred name without being prompted, and whether interactions feel unhurried. If you see a staff member walking past a distressed resident without stopping, that is worth raising with the manager."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the October 2023 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individual needs, provides a range of meaningful activities, supports people at the end of their life, and handles complaints effectively. No specific detail about the activities programme, individual engagement for residents with advanced dementia, or end-of-life care arrangements is included in the published summary. For a home with a dementia specialism and 66 beds, the range and quality of activities provision is a significant factor in daily quality of life.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness (which activities directly influence) accounts for a further 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence base is particularly strong here: research consistently shows that group activities alone are insufficient for people with moderate to advanced dementia, who often need one-to-one engagement or sensory activities tailored to their remaining abilities and interests. A Good rating tells you the inspector did not find responsive care to be a concern, but it does not tell you whether your parent would have something meaningful to do on a Tuesday afternoon if they could not join the main group session.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including familiar household tasks and sensory engagement, produce measurable improvements in wellbeing and reduce passive sitting time for people with dementia. Homes that rely primarily on group entertainment programmes may not meet the needs of residents with more advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator directly: what would they do to engage a resident with advanced dementia who cannot participate in group activities? Ask to see a week's worth of actual activity records, not a planned schedule, and check whether one-to-one sessions are documented."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the October 2023 inspection, improving from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The home has a named Registered Manager (Ms Diane Maughan) and a Nominated Individual (Mrs Louise Palmer), and is operated by Sanctuary Care Limited. The improvement across all five domains from the previous inspection suggests that leadership identified and addressed earlier shortcomings effectively. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home handles complaints and concerns is included in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in well-led is one of the most positive signals in this report. Good Practice research identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of care quality trajectory: homes where the manager is visible, trusted by staff, and able to act on feedback tend to sustain and improve their ratings over time. Our family review data shows that confidence in management accounts for 23.4% of positive reviews, often expressed as feeling that concerns are heard and acted on. The critical question now is whether the current manager is settled in post, because leadership changes can reverse progress quickly in a care home.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that bottom-up empowerment, where frontline staff feel confident raising concerns without fear of negative consequences, is a key marker of well-led dementia care. Homes with this culture tend to identify and resolve problems earlier, before they affect the people living there.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current Registered Manager has been in post and whether they plan to stay. Also ask staff directly (not in front of management) whether they feel comfortable raising concerns. A staff member who hesitates or looks to a manager before answering tells you something important."}

  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 Dalby Court provides residential care for adults of all ages, including those living with dementia. The home also offers short-term respite stays.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team brings both clinical knowledge and emotional understanding to their approach. Staff work to create familiar routines and meaningful activities that help residents feel secure. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.