Neville Court Care Home in Kendray, Barnsley – Exemplar Health Care

What families say

What strikes families most is seeing their loved ones settled and well cared for. Partners visiting residents speak about the confidence that comes from knowing the staff understand Huntington's inside out — not just the medical side, but the daily realities of living with it.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-01-12 · Report published 2018-01-12 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Neville Court was rated Good for safety at its November 2017 inspection. This rating indicates that inspectors did not find significant concerns about staffing levels, medicines management, or risk to the people living there. No specific observations, incident data, or staffing ratios were included in the published report text. The home cares for people with dementia, mental health conditions, and physical disabilities, which means safe, consistent staffing is especially important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the absence of published detail means you cannot tell from this report alone what night staffing looks like, how often agency staff are used, or how the home logs and learns from falls and incidents. Good Practice research highlights that safety risks are highest after 8pm, when staffing typically reduces, and that homes relying heavily on agency workers tend to have less consistent care for people with dementia. With only 20 beds, this is a small home, which can mean staff know residents well, but it also means one or two staff absences can have a significant impact on the people living there. Ask specifically about night cover.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most reliable predictors of inconsistent care quality, particularly for people with dementia who depend on familiar faces and predictable routines.","watch_out":"Ask to see last week's actual staffing rota, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask what the minimum staffing level is between 10pm and 7am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Neville Court was rated Good for Effective at its November 2017 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. A Good rating suggests inspectors found these areas to be satisfactory, but the published text contains no specific detail about dementia training content, care plan quality, GP access frequency, or food provision. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which carries an expectation of staff trained in dementia-specific approaches.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the Effective domain is where training and care planning sit, and these are the things that shape your parent's daily experience most directly. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, shows that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, updated after every significant change, and written with direct input from the person and their family. A Good rating here is positive, but you cannot tell from this report whether your parent's care plan would capture their preferred name, their life history, or their individual routines. Healthcare access, including consistent GP contact and careful medicines management, is also especially important for people living with dementia alongside other conditions.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that care plans which include detailed life history and personal preferences are significantly associated with better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia, particularly in reducing episodes of distress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you an example care plan (with personal details removed). Check whether it includes the person's preferred name, daily routine preferences, and a section on what causes them distress and what helps. If it reads like a medical form rather than a portrait of a person, press further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Neville Court was rated Good for Caring at its November 2017 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether people retain independence. A Good rating means inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but no specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative testimonials were included in the published report text. Staff warmth and compassion are the two highest-weighted themes in DCC family review data.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is mentioned in 57.3% of positive family reviews across the homes we analyse, making it the single most important theme for families choosing a care home. Compassion and dignity follow closely, cited in 55.2% of positive reviews. The Good rating for Caring is encouraging, but without published observations or quotes, you cannot verify from this report alone whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they move without hurry, or whether they respond to distress with patience rather than task-focus. These things are visible on a visit. Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, tone of voice, pace, and eye contact, matters as much as what staff say, particularly for people with dementia who may not be able to articulate their experience.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that person-led care, which requires staff to know the individual rather than the diagnosis, is the strongest predictor of positive emotional wellbeing for people living with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent or any resident they pass in a corridor. Do they make eye contact, use a name, and pause? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small interaction is one of the most reliable signals of a caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Neville Court was rated Good for Responsive at its November 2017 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, and how well the home adapts to each person's needs. No detail about the activities programme, its frequency, or whether one-to-one engagement is available for people who cannot join group activities was included in the published report text. The home supports people with a range of conditions, including dementia and mental health conditions, which means a varied and individually tailored activities offer is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness, meaning whether your parent appears content and settled, is cited in 27.1% of reviews. For people with dementia, meaningful occupation is not simply a nice addition to care; it is a clinical need. Good Practice research shows that activities tailored to a person's individual history and interests, including everyday household tasks and sensory activities for people with advanced dementia, have measurable benefits for mood and behaviour. A Good Responsive rating is positive, but you need to ask specifically what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident who prefers to stay in their room, or who is living with advanced dementia and cannot join a group session.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and life-history-informed individual activities, as opposed to group-only programmes, produce the strongest improvements in engagement and reduced distress for people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened last Tuesday for a resident who did not attend the group session. Was there planned one-to-one time, or did that person spend the day in their room or in front of a television? The answer tells you a great deal about whether the programme is genuine or cosmetic."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Neville Court was rated Good for Well-led at its November 2017 inspection. A named registered manager, Ms Samantha Readman, and a named nominated individual, Ms Selina Wall, were recorded at the time of inspection, indicating a formal leadership structure. No detail about manager visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home uses feedback to improve was included in the published report text. Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership are cited in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families is cited in 11.5% of reviews. What families consistently report valuing is a manager they can reach, who knows their parent by name, and who tells them promptly when something changes. Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability, meaning a manager who stays in post, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality. The inspection took place in November 2017, which is now several years ago. The registered manager listed at the time of inspection may or may not still be in post, and the culture and governance of the home may have changed significantly in the intervening period. This is the most important uncertainty to resolve before making a decision.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that homes with stable, long-tenured managers consistently outperform those with frequent leadership changes across all quality domains, particularly in staff morale and incident learning.","watch_out":"Ask directly: is Ms Samantha Readman still the registered manager, and if not, how long has the current manager been in post? Then ask: how do you usually tell families when something significant has happened to their parent, and how quickly? The answers will tell you whether the leadership here is stable and communicative."}

  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 people with Huntington's disease, dementia and other mental health conditions, as well as younger adults under 65 with physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on Alongside their Huntington's expertise, the team supports residents living with dementia, bringing the same specialist approach to understanding each person's unique needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.