Kingston House Care Home

What families say

Families notice how quickly their relatives settle in here, often within days rather than weeks. They describe seeing genuine laughter during activities and residents who maintain good appetites and engagement with daily life.

Based on 11 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 & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-11-20 · Report published 2019-11-20 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the inspection carried out in May 2025. This means inspectors were satisfied that arrangements to keep people safe met the required standard. No specific detail about staffing ratios, falls management, medicines handling, or infection control practices is available in the published summary. The home's previous Requires Improvement rating means safety is an area worth examining carefully on a visit, even though the current rating is positive.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but our review data shows that families most often notice safety through everyday details: whether call bells are answered promptly, whether staff seem calm and present, and whether the home feels clean and uncluttered. The Good Practice evidence base flags that night staffing is where safety most often slips in care homes, and that agency staff who do not know your parent's routines can create gaps in consistency. Because no specific detail is available here, you need to ask these questions directly rather than assuming the rating covers everything you need to know.","evidence_base":"Research from the IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that safety incidents are disproportionately likely to occur on night shifts and during periods of high agency staff use. A Good rating does not automatically mean these risks are fully managed; it means inspectors were satisfied at the point of inspection.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many staff are on duty overnight for the 46 beds, and what proportion of shifts in the past month were covered by agency rather than permanent staff? Ask to see the actual rota for the previous week, not a template."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good in May 2025, indicating inspectors found that care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and nutrition met the required standard. No specific examples of care plan content, GP access arrangements, or dementia training records are available in the published summary. Kingston House lists dementia as a specialism, which means it should be able to demonstrate training and environmental adaptations beyond a basic level.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care home is, in practical terms, whether staff know your parent as an individual and respond to changes in their health quickly and accurately. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that care plans are most valuable when they are treated as living documents, updated after every significant change and reviewed with families at least every three months. Because none of this detail is available in the current published findings, it is important to ask to see how your parent's care plan would be written and who would be involved in reviewing it.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training which goes beyond basic awareness, covering communication techniques and behaviour that challenges, is strongly associated with better outcomes for people living with dementia. Check what the home's dementia training actually covers, not just whether staff have completed it.","watch_out":"Ask to see an anonymised example of a completed care plan and ask how often they are formally reviewed. Find out who attends the review: is the family invited, and is the person living there involved in any way?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the May 2025 inspection, indicating inspectors were satisfied that staff treated people with kindness, respect, and regard for their dignity. No direct inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative feedback are available in the published summary. Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews across our dataset, so this is the domain where your own visit observation matters most.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"In our analysis of 3,602 positive Google reviews across UK care homes, 57.3% of reviewers mentioned staff warmth by name and 55.2% mentioned compassion or dignity. These are not abstract values: they show up in whether staff knock before entering a room, whether they use your parent's preferred name, and whether they sit down to talk rather than rushing through tasks. A Good rating here is encouraging, but it is the kind of thing you can only truly assess by visiting at different times of day and watching how staff interact with the people who live there.","evidence_base":"Good Practice evidence highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia. Staff who make eye contact, approach calmly, and do not rush physical care tasks produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes than those who complete tasks efficiently but without warmth.","watch_out":"When you visit, note whether staff address residents by their preferred name without being prompted, and whether any interactions you observe feel unhurried. A useful test is to arrive just before or after a mealtime and watch how assistance with eating is given."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the May 2025 inspection, meaning inspectors were satisfied that the home responds to people's individual needs, including activities, preferences, and end-of-life planning. No detail about the activity programme, individual engagement, or how the home handles complaints is available in the published summary. For a home specialising in dementia care with 46 beds, the question of whether activities are genuinely tailored rather than group-only is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that 27.1% of positive family reviews specifically mention residents appearing happy and settled, and 21.4% mention activities. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with moderate or advanced dementia: one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks, music, and sensory activities, is what maintains wellbeing for those who can no longer join a group. A Good rating for responsiveness is positive, but ask specifically what happens for your parent on a day when they cannot or do not want to join a group session.","evidence_base":"A Montessori-based approach to dementia activities, which uses purposeful, familiar tasks scaled to the person's current abilities, is one of the most strongly evidenced approaches in the rapid evidence review. Ask whether Kingston House uses any structured individual engagement approach or whether activities are primarily group-based.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for someone who prefers to stay in their room. If the answer is vague or defaulting to group sessions, that is a signal to probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the May 2025 inspection. The nominated individual is recorded as Miss Julie Clarges, and the home is operated by Greensleeves Homes Trust. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating to a Good rating across all domains is a positive signal about leadership and organisational direction. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, complaint handling, or governance systems is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our Good Practice evidence base shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality. A home that has moved from Requires Improvement to Good has done something right, but the question is whether that improvement is embedded or whether it was driven by inspection preparation. The 23.4% weighting families give to management and leadership in our review data reflects how much relatives notice whether a manager is visible, approachable, and acts on concerns. Ask about manager tenure and whether there have been significant staffing changes in the past year.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers visibly act on feedback, have consistently better outcomes for residents. A bottom-up culture of accountability, not just top-down governance, is the distinguishing factor.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current manager has been in post, and ask what the biggest change the home made in the past 12 months was and why. The quality of the answer will tell you more than the rating alone."}

  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 Kingston House provides specialist dementia care and support for physical disabilities, focusing on residents over 65. The team understands the complex needs that come with cognitive changes and mobility challenges.. Gaps or open questions remain on Families with relatives living with dementia report seeing positive outcomes here. The approach seems to help residents maintain their sense of self while receiving the specific support they need. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.