Hallamshire Care Home

What families say

Relatives talk about the difference they've seen — residents who arrived anxious or withdrawn now joining in exercise classes and painting sessions. Families mention how the friendly approach from staff helps residents feel safe and respected, with some describing significant improvements in appetite and emotional wellbeing.

Based on 8 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement35
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership65
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-05-22 · Report published 2019-05-22 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. The published summary does not include a detailed narrative of what inspectors observed in this domain, so we cannot confirm specific findings about staffing levels, medicines management, falls logging, or infection control from the published text. The home is registered and was not flagged for any immediate safety concerns at the time of inspection. A July 2023 review of available data found no evidence that the rating needed to change.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is a reasonable baseline, but it does not tell you enough on its own to feel confident about night-time staffing or how the home handles incidents. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in residential homes, and agency reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs. Because the published findings do not include specific detail on staffing numbers or medicines management, you will need to ask these questions directly on a visit. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive signals in our family review data, so it is worth walking the corridors and looking at bathrooms as well as the lounge on any visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that learning from incidents, such as falls and near-misses, is one of the strongest markers of a genuinely safe home. Ask whether the home holds regular safety review meetings and what changed after the last significant incident.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not the template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on overnight shifts, and ask what the standard night ratio is for 32 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. The published summary does not provide a narrative breakdown of what inspectors found in this domain, so specific evidence about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training, or food quality is not available from the published text. The Good rating indicates inspectors did not find systemic problems in how care is planned and delivered.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home specialising in dementia, the quality of care planning matters enormously. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies confirms that care plans need to be living documents, updated as a person's dementia progresses, and they should reflect the individual's history, preferences, and communication style, not just their medical needs. Food quality is a meaningful indicator of genuine care: 20.9% of positive family reviews specifically mention it. Because the published inspection text does not give us specific detail here, ask to see a sample care plan and find out how often plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, including understanding non-verbal communication and the meaning of behaviour, significantly improves the quality of day-to-day care. Ask what dementia training staff have completed and when it was last updated.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether you would be invited to take part. Then ask to see the menu for this week and find out how the home finds out what your parent likes to eat and what they cannot manage."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. No detailed narrative is available in the published text, so we cannot confirm specific inspector observations about staff interactions, use of preferred names, pace of care, or responses to distress. The Good rating indicates inspectors did not find concerns in this area.","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 account for a further 55.2%. These are the things families feel most strongly about, and they are also the things you can observe directly on a visit without needing to read any report. Watch how staff move through communal spaces: are they hurried or unhurried? Do they make eye contact and use names? For people living with dementia, non-verbal warmth, a calm tone, a steady pace, a familiar face, matters as much as anything written in a care plan.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication is often the primary channel through which care is experienced. Staff who are trained to read and respond to body language and facial expression can significantly reduce distress and improve wellbeing.","watch_out":"When you visit, sit in a communal area for at least 20 minutes without announcing why you are there. Notice whether staff passing through stop to speak to residents, whether they use names, and whether anyone appears distressed and, if so, how staff respond."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Requires Improvement at the November 2021 inspection. This is the only domain where inspectors found the home was not meeting the standard expected. Requires Improvement means inspectors identified real shortcomings in how well the home tailors life to individual people, though the published summary does not detail exactly what was found. The July 2023 data review did not identify evidence that a re-inspection was urgently needed, but the rating has not been formally upgraded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in this domain is the most important finding for families to take seriously. It means the inspection found that the home was not doing enough to make sure your parent has a meaningful, individual life here. Activities account for 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. For someone living with dementia, boredom and disengagement are not just unpleasant, they are associated with faster decline and increased distress. Good Practice research shows that individual, one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, is more effective than group programmes alone. Ask specifically what has changed since November 2021 to address this rating.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and occupation-focused individual activities, rather than group entertainment, produce the strongest wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia. Homes that rely on group activities alone leave the most vulnerable residents without meaningful engagement for most of the day.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past two weeks, not the planned programme but the actual records of what happened and who took part. Ask specifically what one-to-one activity is available for residents who cannot join group sessions, and how often it happens."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. The registered manager is listed as Ms Karen Lesley Betts, with Mr Oshi Alan Weisskraun as the nominated individual. The published summary does not provide a narrative of what inspectors found in this domain, so specific evidence about management visibility, staff culture, or governance processes is not available from the published text. The Good rating indicates no systemic leadership concerns were identified.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. Good Practice research shows that homes where the manager is known to residents and staff, and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, tend to maintain or improve their ratings. Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews. With a Requires Improvement in the Responsive domain sitting alongside a Good in Well-led, it is worth asking the manager directly what they found when they reviewed the responsive rating and what they have done about it. A good manager will have a clear answer.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that bottom-up staff empowerment, where care staff feel confident to raise concerns and suggest improvements, is a stronger predictor of sustained quality than top-down policy alone. Ask whether there is a regular forum where care staff can raise concerns.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and what the biggest change they have made since arriving was. Then ask what action was taken in response to the Requires Improvement rating in the Responsive domain and whether families were told about it."}

  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 dementia support alongside care for adults over 65. They run adapted exercise programmes and creative activities that families say have helped residents regain physical strength and social confidence.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the activity programme includes adapted bikes and painting sessions. Families report seeing improvements in mood and engagement when their relatives join these activities. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.