Foresters Nursing Home
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds30
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities
- Last inspected2023-02-07
- Activities programmeThe home provides regular meals that families describe as adequate and properly sourced. While the building sits among trees and has some outdoor space, most family feedback focuses on the care itself rather than the physical environment.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Families visiting Foresters often comment on how approachable and friendly the staff are. There's a sense that residents seem content and well-settled, with relatives noticing their loved ones appear happy in their new surroundings. The nursing team makes time to answer family questions properly, which helps everyone feel more connected to the care being provided.
Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth70
- Compassion & dignity72
- Cleanliness72
- Activities & engagement65
- Food quality65
- Healthcare72
- Management & leadership75
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2023-02-07 · Report published 2023-02-07 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at the January 2023 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement in this domain. This represents a confirmed improvement in how the home manages risks, staffing, medicines, and infection control. The inspection report does not include specific observations about staffing ratios, agency use, or falls management in the published text. The home is registered for nursing care, which means qualified nurses are required to be present, adding a layer of clinical oversight for your parent. No concerns about safety were recorded at this inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in safety is significant and should not be dismissed. It tells you that whatever was falling short before January 2023 has been addressed to the inspector's satisfaction. However, our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety most commonly slips on night shifts and when agency staff cover permanent vacancies. Because the published findings do not detail night staffing numbers or agency reliance, you cannot confirm this from the report alone. This is a specific gap to close on your visit. Cleanliness and safe environments account for 24.3% of positive themes in our family review data, so asking to walk the home at different times of day will tell you a great deal.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies night staffing ratios and agency staff consistency as the two areas where safety most commonly deteriorates in care homes, even those rated Good overall. A home that has recently improved from Requires Improvement deserves particular scrutiny here.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, not the template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many care staff and nurses are on duty after 8pm."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"Foresters Nursing Home was rated Good for effectiveness at the January 2023 inspection. This domain covers whether the home knows how to care well, including care planning, dementia-specific training, healthcare access, and nutrition. The published text does not include specific detail on how often care plans are reviewed, how GP access is arranged, or what dementia training staff have completed. The home's registration includes dementia as a specialism, so inspectors will have assessed whether practice reflects that. No effectiveness concerns were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia nursing home comes down to whether care plans are living documents that genuinely reflect who your parent is, not just their medical history. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that care plans updated in partnership with families produce better outcomes for people with dementia. Food quality, which accounts for 20.9% of positive family review themes, is also assessed under effectiveness, but the published findings do not describe what mealtimes look like here. Ask to join a mealtime on your visit. Healthcare access, covering 20.2% of family review themes, is also unverified from the published text, so ask how quickly a GP is called when a resident's condition changes.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies care plans as central to effective dementia care, specifically noting that plans treated as living documents, updated with family input and reviewed after any change in condition, are associated with better quality of life for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Then ask to see, with permission, how a care plan records a resident's personal preferences, not just their medical needs."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at the January 2023 inspection, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and resident independence. The published findings confirm inspectors were satisfied with the standard of care shown to residents, but do not include direct observations of staff interactions or resident testimony in the published text. No concerns about dignity or respect were recorded. The home cares for people with dementia and physical disabilities, meaning staff need to be skilled in non-verbal communication and in supporting people whose needs change over time.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews in our data, mentioned in 57.3% of all positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes. Compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. These are the qualities families notice immediately on a visit, and they are often more visible in informal moments than in formal care records. What you are looking for is whether staff knock before entering rooms, address your parent by their preferred name, and move without appearing rushed. The inspection confirms these standards were met, but you will want to see them for yourself. A home that has improved from Requires Improvement to Good in caring has demonstrated real change, and that matters.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication from staff, including tone of voice, eye contact, and unhurried movement, is as important as any verbal interaction. Staff who have received specific dementia communication training demonstrate measurably better interactions.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff interact with residents in a corridor or communal area when they think no one is observing them particularly. Do they make eye contact, use the resident's name, and slow down? This is the most reliable signal of a genuinely caring culture."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"Foresters Nursing Home was rated Good for responsiveness at the January 2023 inspection. This covers whether residents have a life at the home, including activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life planning. The published text does not include specific detail on the activity programme, whether one-to-one engagement is available for residents who cannot join group activities, or how end-of-life wishes are recorded and honoured. No concerns about responsiveness were recorded by inspectors.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family review themes, and resident happiness for 27.1%. For people living with dementia, the Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not enough: people with more advanced dementia need individual, meaningful engagement, and household-style tasks can provide continuity with a life lived before the home. The published findings do not tell you whether Foresters offers this level of tailored activity, so this is a direct question to ask. Ask to see the activity schedule for last week, not a printed programme, and ask what happens for residents who cannot join the group.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies one-to-one activity tailored to a person's individual history and interests, including Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, as significantly more effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator, not just the manager, what they did last week with a resident who cannot join group sessions. A confident, specific answer tells you this is genuinely happening. A vague answer tells you it may not be."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for well-led at the January 2023 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Miss Emily Claire James, and a nominated individual, Mr Huw James, are on record with the regulator. This confirmed leadership structure is important context given the home's improvement trajectory. The published findings do not detail manager tenure, staff turnover, or the specific governance changes that drove the improvement from the previous rating. No leadership concerns were recorded at this inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership account for 23.4% of positive family review themes. The Good Practice evidence base is consistent on one point: leadership stability predicts quality over time. A home that has improved from Requires Improvement to Good under its current management is a positive sign, but the question you need to answer is whether the conditions that caused the previous rating have genuinely changed or whether the improvement was recent and fragile. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive family review themes. Ask how the home keeps families informed when something changes, not just in a crisis, but routinely.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies stable, visible leadership as the strongest predictor of sustained quality in care homes. Homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of reprisal show better outcomes across all domains, particularly for residents with dementia who cannot self-advocate.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what was the specific reason for the previous Requires Improvement rating, and what has changed since then? A manager confident in their improvement will give you a clear, factual answer. Ask also how long they have been in post, because leadership continuity is one of the strongest predictors of whether a Good rating is sustained."}
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, alongside comprehensive nursing care for older adults and those with physical disabilities. They're equipped to handle complex health needs while maintaining quality of life.. Gaps or open questions remain on As a home specialising in dementia care, Foresters offers the structured support and understanding that becomes essential as the condition progresses. Their nursing team has experience managing the changing needs that come with dementia. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
Foresters Nursing Home scores 74 out of 100, reflecting a genuine improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating to Good across all five domains. The score sits in the positive-but-general range because the published inspection findings confirm good practice without recording the specific observations, quotes, or detail that would push it higher.
Homes in West Midlands typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Families visiting Foresters often comment on how approachable and friendly the staff are. There's a sense that residents seem content and well-settled, with relatives noticing their loved ones appear happy in their new surroundings. The nursing team makes time to answer family questions properly, which helps everyone feel more connected to the care being provided.
What inspectors have recorded
What stands out at Foresters is how the nursing staff approach personal care — taking proper time with each resident rather than rushing through tasks. The team seems to understand that good nursing means more than just medical competence; it's about treating each person with patience and respect.
How it sits against good practice
If you're weighing up nursing homes in the Stourbridge area, visiting Foresters could help you get a feel for whether their approach to care matches what you're looking for.
Worth a visit
Foresters Nursing Home, on Walton Pool in Stourbridge, was rated Good at its inspection on 12 January 2023, with the report published on 7 February 2023. This is a meaningful step forward: the home was previously rated Requires Improvement, and inspectors found enough improvement across all five domains to award Good in every area. The home is a 30-bed nursing home registered to care for adults over 65, people living with dementia, and people with physical disabilities. It is run by Clarendon Care Group Limited, with a named registered manager and nominated individual on record. The main uncertainty here is that the published inspection text is brief and does not include the specific staff observations, resident quotes, or detailed care-plan evidence that would give a fuller picture. This means the Good rating is confirmed, but you cannot yet verify the texture of daily life from the published findings alone. On a visit, pay particular attention to how staff interact with residents in corridors and communal areas, whether the home feels unhurried, and how the manager describes what changed since the previous Requires Improvement rating. Ask directly what prompted the improvement and what systems are now in place to sustain it.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
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In Their Own Words
How Foresters Nursing Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where nursing care meets genuine warmth and attention
Foresters Nursing Home – Expert Care in Stourbridge
When families reach the point of needing professional nursing support, finding somewhere that balances medical expertise with real human kindness matters deeply. Foresters Nursing Home in Stourbridge provides round-the-clock nursing care in a setting where staff take their time with residents and welcome families as part of the care journey. The home specialises in supporting people living with dementia, those with physical disabilities, and residents over 65 who need that extra level of nursing attention.
Who they care for
The home provides specialist support for people living with dementia, alongside comprehensive nursing care for older adults and those with physical disabilities. They're equipped to handle complex health needs while maintaining quality of life.
As a home specialising in dementia care, Foresters offers the structured support and understanding that becomes essential as the condition progresses. Their nursing team has experience managing the changing needs that come with dementia.
Management & ethos
What stands out at Foresters is how the nursing staff approach personal care — taking proper time with each resident rather than rushing through tasks. The team seems to understand that good nursing means more than just medical competence; it's about treating each person with patience and respect.
The home & environment
The home provides regular meals that families describe as adequate and properly sourced. While the building sits among trees and has some outdoor space, most family feedback focuses on the care itself rather than the physical environment.
“If you're weighing up nursing homes in the Stourbridge area, visiting Foresters could help you get a feel for whether their approach to care matches what you're looking for.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
