Kirk House Nursing & Residential Home

What families say

Some families describe warm daily interactions between staff and residents, with reports of kindness and affection in care routines. Activities like crafts feature in the home's approach to keeping residents engaged.

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 & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-02-18 · Report published 2020-02-18 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Safe at its May 2024 inspection. This covers medication management, infection control, staffing levels, and the physical safety of the environment. No specific concerns were flagged in the published summary. The home's previous Requires Improvement rating means the inspector will have been looking closely at whether earlier safety issues had been resolved, and the Good outcome indicates they had. No detail about specific staffing ratios, night cover, or falls management is included in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good in Safe is reassuring, but the published report does not record the numbers that matter most to families choosing a nursing home. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in smaller homes like this one (35 beds). Cleanliness and safe environment together account for around 36% of positive signals in our family review data, which tells you these are things families notice and remember. Because the report gives no specific figures, you will need to ask directly: how many staff are on duty overnight, and what is the protocol if someone falls or becomes unwell at 3am?","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of safety lapses in dementia care settings, particularly on night shifts where permanent staff knowledge of individual residents is hardest to replicate.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from the past two weeks, not a template. Count the names, note how many are permanent staff versus agency, and check the night shift specifically. For a 35-bed nursing home, you would expect at least two carers and one senior on overnight."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Effective, which covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a named specialism, which means inspectors will have looked at whether staff training and care planning reflect the specific needs of people living with dementia. No specific examples of care plan content, GP access arrangements, dementia training programmes, or food quality observations are included in the published summary. The previous Requires Improvement rating means these areas will have been scrutinised closely.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Families in our review data mention food quality and dementia-specific care as two of their most valued signals of genuine effectiveness. A Good in Effective is a positive baseline, but without knowing what dementia training staff have completed, how recently care plans were reviewed, or how GP visits are arranged, it is difficult to assess depth. The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated after any significant change in your parent's condition and reviewed with family input at least every three months. Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised is fine) to judge whether it feels personal or generic.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that dementia training quality varies significantly between homes even where training completion rates are high. Training that covers non-verbal communication and behaviour as communication, rather than just task-based skills, is associated with better resident outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: what dementia training have staff completed in the past 12 months, who delivered it, and does it cover recognising distress in people who cannot speak? Ask also how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Caring, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. No specific observations, such as staff using preferred names, knocking before entering rooms, or responding to distress, are included in the published summary. The absence of specific examples does not mean they did not happen; it reflects the brevity of the available report text. A Good in Caring after a previous Requires Improvement rating suggests inspectors were satisfied that the culture of care had improved.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most powerful predictor of positive family experience in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities; they show up in specific, observable moments on a visit. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that for people living with dementia, non-verbal communication (tone of voice, pace of movement, physical proximity) matters as much as words. Watch for these things when you visit: does a staff member make eye contact and smile when passing a resident in the corridor? Do they crouch down to speak to someone seated? These small moments are the best real-time indicators available to you.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know each resident's history, preferences, and communication style, is more strongly associated with wellbeing than compliance with formal dignity policies.","watch_out":"During your visit, ask a member of staff what your mum's preferred name is and how she likes to spend her mornings. The answer will tell you more about day-to-day care quality than any document. Also observe whether staff walking past residents in communal areas stop, make eye contact, and acknowledge them, or walk past without engaging."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Responsive, covering activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life care. Dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment are all listed as specialisms, which means the home should be providing activities and engagement tailored to a range of abilities and needs. No specific activity programmes, named events, individual engagement plans, or end-of-life care examples are recorded in the available inspection text. The brevity of the report means this domain requires direct investigation on a visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is mentioned in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities are mentioned in 21.4%. Our review data consistently shows that families worry not just about physical safety but about whether their parent has a meaningful day. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that for people living with dementia, group activities alone are not sufficient; one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks or sensory activities, is essential for people who can no longer participate in group settings. A Good rating is encouraging, but ask specifically what happens for your parent on a day when the group activity is not for them.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches to activity, such as folding, sorting, or simple cooking tasks, produce higher levels of engagement and lower agitation in people with moderate to advanced dementia than structured group entertainment programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule from last week, not a planned template. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot join in a group session. Is there a named member of staff responsible for one-to-one engagement, and how many hours per week does that cover?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for Well-led, and both the Registered Manager (Mrs Stacey Louise Smith) and the Nominated Individual (Mrs Saumiya Gopinath) are named as in post. Leadership stability is a strong predictor of care quality trajectory, and having named, identified leadership is a positive indicator. The home's improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests that the management team has driven meaningful change. No specific detail about staff culture, governance processes, complaint handling, or how the manager is known to residents is included in the available published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and communication with families together account for around 35% of the signals that drive positive family reviews in our data. The Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of whether a home's quality trajectory continues to improve or plateaus. The fact that the home has named managers in post and has moved from Requires Improvement to Good is genuinely positive. What you cannot know from the report alone is whether that leadership is visible on the floor, known to residents by name, and creating a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns. These are things to probe on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review identified that homes where staff report feeling able to speak up about concerns without fear of reprisal consistently outperform on resident outcomes, independent of formal governance structures.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask to meet the Registered Manager in person. Ask how long she has been in post, what changed after the previous Requires Improvement rating, and how she finds out if a resident or family member is unhappy. A manager who answers these questions with specific examples rather than general reassurances is a strong signal of genuine accountability."}

  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 Kirk House specialises in dementia care, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The home cares for adults both under and over 65, providing support across different age groups and care requirements.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home provides specialist dementia support as part of its range of services. Staff work with residents living with dementia alongside those with physical disabilities and sensory impairments. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.