Matthias House

What families say

The warmth here comes through in everyday moments. Families describe staff who are genuinely friendly and approachable, making both residents and visitors feel comfortable from the start.

Based on 5 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth65
• Compassion & dignity65
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement55
• Food quality55
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership65
• Resident happiness60

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-12-24 · Report published 2019-12-24

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, and infection control. The published report does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, night cover arrangements, or how the home manages falls or other incidents. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence to change this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring as a baseline, but it tells you relatively little on its own when the inspection is more than five years old and contains no published specifics. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in smaller residential homes. For a 33-bed home specialising in dementia, you would want to know the exact number of staff on overnight and whether those staff are permanent or agency. Our review data shows that families rate staff attentiveness, which overlaps directly with safe staffing levels, as one of their top concerns. The absence of published detail here means you need to gather this information yourself.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance undermines the consistency of care that people with dementia depend on, and that night staffing ratios are a key predictor of whether safety standards are maintained between inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff and how many by agency, and ask specifically how many carers are on duty overnight for the full 33 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, access to healthcare, and food quality. No specific detail about dementia training content, care plan review processes, GP access arrangements, or mealtimes was included in the published report. The monitoring review in July 2023 did not reassess this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in dementia care is largely invisible until something goes wrong. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies confirms that care plans must function as living documents, updated regularly with family input, rather than paperwork completed on admission and rarely revisited. Food quality, rated as important by 20.9% of families in our review data, is also a practical marker of genuine care: whether your parent gets food they actually recognise, enjoy, and can manage safely. None of this detail is available in the published inspection, so you will need to ask directly and observe for yourself.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that dementia-specific training, covering communication, behaviour that challenges, and person-centred approaches, significantly improves care outcomes, but only when it is regularly updated and practically applied rather than completed as a one-off online module.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Then ask what dementia training staff complete, when it was last updated, and whether there is a named member of staff with specialist dementia knowledge on each shift."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. The published report does not include specific inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they are treated, or examples of how privacy and dignity are maintained in day-to-day care. No quotes from residents or relatives were published.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews mention it by name, and compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. When inspectors observe warm, unhurried, respectful interactions and record them in detail, that is one of the most reliable signals a family can have. The absence of that detail here does not mean those interactions are not happening, but it does mean you cannot rely on the published report to tell you. Watch for how staff address your parent on a visit, whether they knock before entering, whether they use preferred names, and whether the pace feels unhurried.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication, tone, pace, and physical proximity, matters as much as words for people living with dementia, and that genuine person-centred care requires staff to know each individual's history, preferences, and what settles or distresses them.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch how a staff member approaches your parent or another resident in a corridor or communal area. Do they make eye contact, use the person's name, and slow down? Ask the manager what name your parent would be called and how that preference is recorded and shared with all staff."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, and responsiveness to changing needs including end-of-life care. No specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or advance care planning was included in the published report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive family reviews and activities for 21.4%, making this one of the most practically important domains for families choosing a dementia home. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient: people with more advanced dementia need one-to-one engagement, and approaches that incorporate familiar everyday tasks, such as folding, sorting, or simple cooking, tend to produce better outcomes than formal group sessions. Because none of this detail was published, you need to ask specifically what happens for a resident who cannot participate in a group, and whether activities are tailored to individual history and preferences.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches significantly reduce distressed behaviour in people with dementia, and that one-to-one engagement for those who cannot join groups is a marker of quality that distinguishes good homes from average ones.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity records, not a planned schedule. Ask specifically what one-to-one activity your parent would receive if they could not join a group session, and how individual interests and life history are used to shape that activity."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. A registered manager, Mrs Beverley Louise Elwell, and a nominated individual, Mr Karl James Grant, are recorded as in post. The published report does not include detail about management visibility, staff culture, how the home handles complaints, or how it learns from incidents and near misses.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. A registered manager who is known to residents and staff, present on the floor, and able to give clear answers about how the home handles problems is a more reliable signal than a rating alone. Management and communication with families together account for a combined weight of 34.9% in our family review data. Because the inspection is more than five years old, the most important question here is whether the same manager is still in post, how long they have been there, and what has changed since 2019.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers visibly act on feedback, consistently maintain safer and more person-centred care between inspection cycles.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post and whether the registered manager named in the 2019 inspection is still the same person. Then ask one specific question: what is the most significant improvement the home has made in the past 12 months, and how did they identify the need for 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 care alongside general support for people over 65.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home accepts residents with dementia, families considering this option should ask about specific approaches and activities during their visit. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.