Ellesmere House Care Home – Care UK

What families say

Visitors often mention feeling welcomed from the moment they arrive, with staff across every department showing genuine warmth towards residents and families. The home maintains a bright, positive energy that comes through in how caregivers interact with residents throughout the day. People particularly notice how staff take time to engage with each resident as an individual, showing patience and respect whether helping with mobility or simply sharing a conversation.

Based on 25 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 2020-09-08 · Report published 2020-09-08 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the August 2020 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous inspection cycle. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to safeguarding concerns. The published inspection summary does not include specific staffing ratios, detail about medication audits, or observations about how incidents are logged and acted upon. No concerns about safety were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring after a previous Requires Improvement, but the published text gives no specific detail about night staffing ratios or agency use. Research from the Good Practice evidence base consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety risks increase most in care homes, particularly for people with dementia who may become more disorientated after dark. Our family review data shows that attentiveness of staff is mentioned in a significant proportion of positive reviews. The fact that no safety concerns were raised is a positive baseline, but it is not enough on its own to reassure you about what happens at 2am. You need to ask specific questions about who is on duty overnight.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that agency reliance undermines care consistency, and that homes with stable permanent night teams have fewer falls and medication errors. A Good rating for Safe does not confirm which of these conditions applies here.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, not a template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on the night shift on the dementia unit, and ask whether that ratio is typical."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good, covering training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and the use of assessments to guide care. Dementia is listed as a specialism of the home, which means inspectors would have considered whether staff training and care planning reflect the specific needs of people living with dementia. The published summary does not describe the content or frequency of dementia training, the detail held in individual care plans, or how GP and specialist healthcare access is arranged. No concerns about effectiveness were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"The Effective domain rating matters most to families thinking about dementia care because it covers whether staff actually know how to support your parent, not just whether they are kind. Our family review data identifies dementia-specific care as a theme in 12.7% of positive reviews. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that care plans should function as living documents, updated regularly and shaped by input from families, not completed on admission and left unchanged. A Good rating here is encouraging, but you should ask to see a sample care plan format and check whether it records your parent's personal history, communication preferences, and triggers for distress.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that regular, structured review of care plans, with family involvement, is one of the clearest markers of effective dementia care. Homes that treat care plans as administrative documents rather than active guides tend to deliver less personalised support.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to take part. If the answer is 'once a year unless something changes', that is a warning sign. The best homes review plans every three months and contact families between reviews if preferences or needs shift."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. This is the domain most directly connected to how your parent would experience daily life at Ellesmere House. The published inspection summary does not include any direct quotes from residents or relatives, and does not describe specific interactions observed by inspectors. No concerns about caring practice were recorded.","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 55.2%. The absence of specific quotes or observations in this inspection makes it harder to assess the quality of caring at Ellesmere House beyond the rating itself. What inspectors look for in this domain includes whether staff use preferred names, whether they knock before entering rooms, and whether they move at the resident's pace rather than the task's pace. These are things you can observe directly on a visit. Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, tone, eye contact, and physical gentleness, matters as much as what staff say.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base finds that person-led care depends on staff knowing each individual's history, communication style, and preferences. Homes where staff can describe a resident's life before their diagnosis consistently score higher on wellbeing measures than those where care is kind but generic.","watch_out":"During your visit, stand in a corridor or communal area for ten minutes and watch how staff greet residents passing by. Do they use the resident's name? Do they stop, make eye contact, and speak without rushing? This observable behaviour is more informative than any answer a manager gives in a formal meeting."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good, covering activities, individual engagement, end-of-life planning, and how the home handles complaints. This is the domain that reflects whether your parent would have a meaningful life at Ellesmere House, not just safe and dignified physical care. The published inspection summary does not describe what activities are offered, how they are tailored to individuals, or whether people who cannot join group activities receive one-to-one engagement. No concerns about responsiveness were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness is a factor in 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with advanced dementia, who may need one-to-one engagement built around familiar tasks and personal history. A Good rating for Responsive tells you the home met the standard, but it does not tell you whether your parent, if they are withdrawn or unable to join groups, would receive meaningful individual attention. This is one of the most important gaps in the published findings and one you must fill by asking and observing directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review identifies Montessori-based approaches and everyday household task involvement as particularly effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that rely on scheduled group entertainment as their primary activity model often leave the most vulnerable residents unstimulated for long periods.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened last Tuesday for a resident who cannot take part in group activities. If the answer is vague or defaults to 'we check on them regularly', ask to see the activities records for that resident specifically. The detail in that answer will tell you a great deal."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, and the home has a named registered manager, Mr Chad Bain, with a nominated individual also identified. This represents an improvement from the previous inspection cycle, suggesting that leadership instability or governance gaps identified previously had been addressed by August 2020. The published summary does not describe the manager's tenure, the culture among the staff team, or how the home involves residents and families in its governance. No leadership concerns were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership account for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and communication with families is mentioned in 11.5%. The Good Practice evidence base is consistent: leadership stability predicts the quality trajectory of a care home more reliably than almost any other single factor. An improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains is a meaningful signal that someone in charge made changes and followed them through. However, the inspection took place in 2020, and this report is now several years old. The manager named in the report may or may not still be in post. Leadership continuity since then is something you must confirm directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of blame, and where managers are visible on the floor rather than office-based, consistently deliver better outcomes for people with dementia. Bottom-up empowerment, where care staff shape the culture as much as senior management, is a key marker of sustained quality.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in this role, and what is the biggest change you made after the previous inspection? A confident, specific answer about what went wrong and what was fixed is a strong positive signal. Vagueness or deflection is a reason to probe further."}

  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 people living with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions and physical disabilities, welcoming adults over 65. This breadth of expertise means residents with complex or overlapping needs can receive appropriate care without having to move elsewhere as their requirements change.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home's approach centres on maintaining dignity and connection. Staff show particular patience with communication challenges and work to keep residents engaged through suitable activities and gentle encouragement. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.