North Lincolnshire Council Intermediate Care Centre

What families say

The staff here seem to understand what each resident needs to feel comfortable. Families mention how quickly their relatives settle in, with staff taking time to learn individual preferences and routines.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity60
• Cleanliness60
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership40
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-11-22 · Report published 2018-11-22 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2018 inspection. Beyond the domain rating itself, the published summary does not record specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, or falls monitoring. The home cares for people with dementia and physical disabilities across 30 beds, which means safe staffing and consistent routines matter considerably. No concerns were flagged, but the absence of published detail means it is not possible to assess the depth of the inspector's findings from this summary alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is a baseline you would expect any home to meet, but it tells you little about the day-to-day detail that families care about most. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in smaller residential homes. For a 30-bed dementia home, the question of how many staff are present after 10pm, and whether a senior is always on shift, is not answered by the published findings. Agency staff usage is another key signal: homes that rely heavily on agency cover tend to have less consistent and less safe routines because unfamiliar staff do not know individual residents. None of this is covered in the published summary, so you will need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care. A Good daytime inspection rating does not automatically confirm adequate night cover.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent staff names appear on night shifts compared with agency names, and ask what the minimum staffing level is between 10pm and 7am for this specific unit."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2018 inspection. This domain covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and food quality. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a level of targeted training, but no detail about training content, GP access arrangements, medication reviews, or care plan quality is published in the summary. The inspection monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence to change this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the Effective domain is where the most important practical questions sit. Good Practice evidence from 61 studies confirms that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, updated after any significant change, and co-produced with families. The inspection does not tell us whether that happens here. Dementia-specific training quality varies enormously between homes: some provide a brief online module while others offer extended face-to-face training with regular refreshers. You cannot tell which applies here from the published findings. Food quality is a reliable marker of how much a home genuinely attends to individual preferences, and it is not covered in this summary at all.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that dementia training which includes communication techniques and behavioural understanding, rather than basic awareness alone, produces measurably better outcomes for residents and lower stress for families.","watch_out":"Ask to see the care plan format for a current resident (anonymised if needed) and ask how often it is reviewed. Then ask specifically what dementia training staff completed in the last 12 months, how long it was, and whether it was delivered face-to-face or online."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2018 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, privacy, and support for independence. No specific observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or examples of practice are recorded in the published summary. The rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the absence of detail means it is not possible to identify what specific behaviours or interactions led to that conclusion.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most important theme in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive family reviews across more than 5,000 UK care homes. What families describe is usually concrete and observable: staff who use a parent's preferred name, who do not rush past in corridors, and who notice when someone is distressed and respond without being prompted. None of those signals are recorded in the published inspection findings for this home. That does not mean they are absent, but it does mean you need to observe them yourself. Compassion and dignity together account for more than half of what families say matters most, and both are best assessed by spending time on the unit unannounced or during a mealtime visit.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, including pace, posture, and eye contact, matters as much as spoken language for people living with dementia. A staff team that moves slowly and calmly around residents produces measurably lower levels of agitation than one that moves quickly and efficiently.","watch_out":"On your visit, stand in a corridor or communal room for ten minutes and watch how staff pass residents. Do they make eye contact, use names, and slow down? Or do they move through the space without acknowledging the people sitting there? This is one of the most reliable things you can observe without needing any insider knowledge."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2018 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, response to complaints, and end-of-life care. No specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or how the home responds to individual preferences is recorded in the published summary. The home cares for people with dementia, which means a group-only activity offer is likely to be insufficient for residents with more advanced needs.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Responsive rating tells you inspectors did not find significant concerns, but it does not tell you whether your parent would have anything meaningful to do on a Tuesday afternoon. Our review data shows that activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews, but what families describe in those reviews is usually specific: a member of staff who knew their mum's love of gardening, or a home that arranged a visit from a dog because their dad had always kept one. That level of individual tailoring is not something a domain rating can confirm. Good Practice evidence is particularly clear that people with more advanced dementia need structured one-to-one time rather than group sessions, and that familiar household tasks, folding, sorting, simple cooking, can maintain a sense of purpose and calm.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-based individual activities reduce agitation and increase observed wellbeing in people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared with group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see last month's actual activity records, not the planned schedule. Then ask specifically what is offered to residents who cannot join group sessions, and what happened on the last bank holiday weekend when activity coordinators may not have been on shift."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2018 inspection. This is the only domain below Good and is the most significant concern in this report. A registered manager, Mrs June Frances Elvin, was named at the time of inspection, and John Love is listed as the nominated individual for North Lincolnshire Council. The published summary does not describe what specific failings led to the Requires Improvement rating, which makes it impossible to assess from the published text how serious those failings were or whether they have since been addressed. The monitoring review in July 2023 found no reason to change the overall rating, but that review was not a fresh inspection visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership quality is the single strongest predictor of whether a care home sustains and improves its standards over time. Good Practice research is clear on this: homes with stable, visible management and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns consistently outperform those where leadership is uncertain. A Requires Improvement rating in this domain at a home that was otherwise Good is a flag worth taking seriously, particularly because the inspection is now more than six years old and the published text does not explain what the problem was. The registered manager named in the 2018 report may or may not still be in post. Management changes, especially multiple changes in a short period, are one of the strongest warning signs that a home's quality is under pressure.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically a manager who has been in post for more than two years and is known by name to both residents and staff, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained care quality.","watch_out":"Ask directly: is Mrs Elvin still the registered manager, and if not, who is, and how long have they been in post? Then ask what specific actions were taken after the 2018 Requires Improvement rating in the Well-led domain, and whether a follow-up inspection has confirmed those improvements. If the manager cannot answer this clearly, treat that as a significant concern."}

  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 older adults, including those living with dementia or physical disabilities. They work to help residents maintain or regain their independence where possible.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team focuses on creating familiar routines and responding to individual needs as they change. Staff work to understand each person's preferences and adapt their approach accordingly. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.