Field House Residential Care Home

What families say

Based on 23 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth70
• Compassion & dignity70
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-06-30 · Report published 2022-06-30 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The February 2024 inspection rated the Safe domain as Good. The home is registered to care for people with a range of needs, including dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, across 54 beds. The published report does not include specific detail on medicines management, falls recording, infection control, or night staffing numbers. The home had previously held a Requires Improvement overall rating, so the improvement to Good in Safety is notable, but the published text does not explain what specific changes were made.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but it tells you the minimum rather than the full picture. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in residential care homes: inspector visits happen during the day, but your parent's nights depend on staffing that is rarely observed directly. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes it especially important to ask what changed. Our review data shows that families who later report concerns about safety most often say they wish they had asked more specific questions before the placement began.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (March 2026) found that reliance on agency staff is one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care, because consistent, familiar faces reduce agitation and enable staff to notice subtle changes in a person's condition.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count the permanent versus agency names on night shifts specifically, and ask what the minimum staffing level is for nights across the 54-bed home."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. The home's registered specialisms include dementia care, which means staff should be trained and care plans should reflect dementia-specific needs. The published report does not include specific evidence on training content, care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or how food and nutrition are managed. The home cares for both adults over and under 65, which requires staff to hold a broad range of skills.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for effectiveness means inspectors were satisfied that care was being delivered competently, but without published specifics it is difficult to say whether dementia care practice here is genuinely person-led or broadly compliant. Good Practice research shows that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, updated at least monthly, and co-produced with family members. Food quality is one of the most reliable indicators of how much a home genuinely knows about an individual: if the kitchen knows your dad prefers soft food, a strong cup of tea, and lunch at noon rather than midday, that signals real person-centred working. Our review data links food satisfaction to 20.9% of positive family reviews.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular, structured dementia training (beyond basic induction) as a key differentiator between homes rated Good and those rated Outstanding, particularly in relation to non-verbal communication and understanding behaviour as communication.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia-specific training all care staff have completed in the last 12 months. Request to see the training matrix, and ask whether any staff hold a formal dementia qualification beyond the Care Certificate."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. The published report does not include inspector observations of staff interactions, resident quotes about how they feel treated, or specific examples of dignity practice such as knocking before entering rooms or using preferred names. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the level of evidence available to families is limited.","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 appear in 55.2%. These are the things families notice first on a visit and remember long after. The inspection confirmed a Good rating for caring, which is meaningful, but the most reliable way to assess this for yourself is to observe what happens in the first few minutes when you walk through the door: do staff make eye contact with residents passing in the corridor, do they crouch to speak at eye level, do they use your parent's preferred name without being prompted? Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal interaction, particularly for people living with dementia who may have lost reliable speech.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review found that person-led care, where staff know and consistently use an individual's life history, preferences, and communication style, significantly reduces distress behaviours and improves reported wellbeing in residential dementia settings.","watch_out":"When you visit, listen for whether staff use residents' preferred names naturally in passing conversation, not just when speaking directly to them. This is one of the clearest observable signals of whether dignity is genuinely embedded or simply documented in a policy."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The home cares for people with a range of needs, including dementia and sensory impairments, which means activities and engagement approaches need to be genuinely tailored rather than one-size-fits-all. The published report does not include specific evidence about the activity programme, one-to-one engagement provision, or end-of-life planning arrangements.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for responsiveness is a positive sign, but activities are the area where the gap between what is planned and what actually happens is widest in residential care. Our review data links activities and engagement to 21.4% of positive family reviews, and Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people living with advanced dementia, who may need one-to-one engagement, sensory activities, or involvement in familiar household tasks to maintain wellbeing and a sense of purpose. If your parent can no longer join a group session, ask specifically what happens for them on a typical afternoon.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and involvement in familiar everyday tasks, such as folding, sorting, or simple food preparation, produce measurable improvements in engagement and reduced agitation for people living with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past two weeks, not a printed schedule. Check whether residents who cannot participate in group sessions are recorded as receiving any one-to-one engagement, and on how many days."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the February 2024 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Anna Jane Demicoli, is in post, supported by a nominated individual, Mr Geoffrey Charles Butcher. The home previously held a Requires Improvement overall rating, and the recovery to Good across all domains suggests that leadership has driven improvement. The published report does not detail how long the current manager has been in post, what governance systems are in place, or how the home handles complaints and learning from incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes: homes where the same manager has been in post for two or more years tend to outperform those with frequent changes, regardless of the most recent rating. The fact that Field House recovered from Requires Improvement to Good is a meaningful signal that someone in leadership took the problems seriously. Our review data links management and communication with families to 23.4% and 11.5% of positive reviews respectively. Whether that recovery is consolidated or fragile is the key question, and manager tenure is the most useful proxy for answering it.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review identified staff empowerment, specifically whether frontline care staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, as a strong marker of leadership quality and a predictor of sustained Good or Outstanding ratings over time.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post at Field House, what the main issues were that led to the previous Requires Improvement rating, and what specific changes they made to address them. A confident, detailed answer is itself a good sign."}

  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 team supports residents living with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They welcome both younger adults under 65 and older residents, tailoring care plans to individual health needs and preferences.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the home provides structured daily routines and supervised care. The team works to maintain residents' physical health while supporting their changing cognitive needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.