Market Lavington Care Home

What families say

Families describe staff who treat residents with genuine respect and kindness. The team's emotional awareness shines through in how they support both residents and visitors during challenging times.

Based on 16 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth75
• Compassion & dignity75
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-07-11 · Report published 2023-07-11 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Requires Improvement at the June 2023 inspection. This means inspectors identified areas where safety practices did not yet meet the required standard. The published summary does not detail the specific concerns. The home is registered to provide nursing care alongside personal care, which means medicines management and clinical risk are relevant considerations. This was the only domain not rated Good, and it is the one that warrants the most direct questioning.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Safe is not automatically a reason to rule out a home, but it does mean you need to do more homework. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes of this size, and that high agency staff use can undermine the consistency that people with dementia rely on. With 87 beds across a mixed nursing and residential population, the staffing question is particularly important. The fact that the overall rating improved from Requires Improvement to Good suggests the leadership team is making progress, but you should verify what the specific safety concerns were and what has changed since the inspection.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that inconsistent staffing, particularly at night and during weekends, is one of the most significant predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Knowing the permanent-to-agency ratio for night shifts is one of the most useful single questions a family can ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count permanent staff names against agency names, and ask specifically what the nurse-to-resident ratio is on a night shift."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good. This domain covers whether staff have the right skills and training, whether care plans are detailed and up to date, whether residents have access to healthcare professionals, and whether nutrition and hydration are managed well. No specific detail from the inspection is reproduced in the published summary, so it is not possible to identify particular strengths or gaps within this domain. The Good rating indicates that inspectors were broadly satisfied with how the home delivers care in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective means inspectors found that the home broadly knows what it is doing in terms of care delivery. For a home specialising in dementia, this should include regular access to a GP, meaningful involvement of families in care planning, and dementia-specific training for all staff, not just senior nurses. Good Practice research from Leeds Beckett University identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least monthly and whenever your parent's needs change. The published findings do not tell us how often reviews happen here, which is something to ask about directly. Food quality, which 20.9% of families in our review data mention as important, is also covered by this domain but not described in detail.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that dementia training which goes beyond basic awareness, covering communication, behavioural understanding, and person-centred approaches, is associated with measurably better outcomes for residents. Ask whether staff training goes beyond mandatory e-learning.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are reviewed, who is involved in the review, and whether family members are routinely invited to contribute. Ask to see a care plan (anonymised if necessary) to judge how much individual detail it contains."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good. This domain covers whether staff treat residents with warmth, compassion, and respect, whether privacy and dignity are maintained, and whether residents are supported to remain as independent as possible. No specific inspector observations or resident and family quotes are reproduced in the published summary available here. A Good rating in this domain is the single most directly relevant finding for most families.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the theme that appears most often in our family review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews across the 5,409 homes we analysed. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good rating in Caring is therefore the most reassuring finding in this inspection for families choosing a home for a parent with dementia. However, a rating alone cannot tell you whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they move at a pace your parent can follow, or how they respond when your parent is distressed. These are things you can only assess by visiting at different times of day and watching interactions in corridors and communal areas, not just in a formal manager meeting.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words for people with advanced dementia. Staff who approach calmly, make eye contact, and allow time for a response are demonstrating person-centred care even when verbal communication is limited.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a carer passes a resident in the corridor. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the resident's name? Or do they walk past? This is one of the clearest observable signs of a genuinely caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good. This domain covers whether the home tailors its care to individual needs and preferences, whether activities are meaningful and accessible, whether complaints are handled well, and whether end-of-life care is planned appropriately. No specific detail about activities, individual engagement, or complaint handling is reproduced in the published summary. The home's listed specialisms include dementia and physical disabilities, which means responsiveness to varied and changing needs is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive mentions in our family review data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive is encouraging, but without specific detail it is not possible to know whether the activities programme here is genuinely varied or predominantly group-based. Good Practice research is clear that people with advanced dementia often cannot participate in group activities and need one-to-one engagement instead, including involvement in familiar household tasks. If your parent is at a later stage of dementia, this is the area where you need the most specific answers from the home.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and involvement in familiar everyday tasks, such as folding laundry or setting a table, provide meaningful engagement for people who can no longer participate in structured group activities. Ask whether the activities team is trained in these approaches.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you the programme from the past month, not a planned schedule. Ask specifically: if my parent cannot join a group session on a given day, what would happen instead, and how often does that one-to-one time get recorded?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-Led domain was rated Good. A registered manager, Mrs Anitha Babu Jisson, and a nominated individual, Ms Anna Gretchen Selby, are named in the published record, indicating a defined leadership structure. Well-Led covers governance, culture, learning from incidents, and whether staff feel supported to raise concerns. No specific detail about governance systems, incident learning, or staff culture is reproduced in the published summary. The improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating suggests the leadership team has made meaningful changes.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our dataset. Families most often mention visible, approachable managers who know residents and staff by name. Good Practice research consistently finds that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. The fact that this home improved its overall rating is a positive signal about the direction of travel, but the unresolved Requires Improvement in Safe means the leadership team has more to do. It is worth asking how long the current manager has been in post and whether there have been significant staffing changes since the inspection.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that homes where staff feel confident raising concerns without fear of negative consequences have significantly better safety records. Ask whether the home has a formal process for staff to raise concerns, and whether results from staff surveys are shared openly.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post, and ask what the single biggest improvement they have made since the last inspection was. A confident, specific answer is a good sign. Vagueness is worth noting."}

  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 cares for adults over 65 and younger adults with care needs, including those living with dementia or physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team provides specialised support within the home's broader care framework. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.