Oak Tree House Care Home

What families say

Families often mention how content the staff seem here — patient with residents who prefer different daily rhythms, whether that's sleeping late or staying up into the evening. The atmosphere feels relaxed rather than institutional, with staff taking time to know each person's preferences.

Based on 15 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-04-21 · Report published 2022-04-21 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection. This represents an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. The published summary does not include specific detail about staffing numbers, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices. A Good rating in this domain indicates inspectors were broadly satisfied with how the home manages risk and keeps people safe.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a period of Requires Improvement is an encouraging sign, but it does not tell you the detail your parent's safety depends on. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in smaller homes like this one, which has 20 beds. It also flags that reliance on agency staff can undermine the consistency that people with dementia depend on. Neither of these areas is described in the published findings, so you will need to ask directly. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive family reviews in our data, which means families notice it immediately on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies night staffing ratios and agency staff usage as the two most reliable early indicators of whether a smaller care home's safety improvement is genuinely embedded or fragile.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count permanent names against agency names on night shifts, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for the full 20 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which implies some level of dementia-specific training and care planning is in place. The published summary contains no specific information about care plan content, GP access arrangements, medication management, or the depth of dementia training staff have received. The improvement from the previous rating suggests earlier gaps in this area have been addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home that lists dementia as a specialism, effective practice means more than a Good rating on paper. Our Good Practice evidence base stresses that care plans should function as living documents, updated when your parent's needs or preferences change, and that families should be actively included in review conversations. Healthcare access accounts for 20.2% of positive family reviews in our data, and food quality accounts for 20.9%, both reflecting how closely families connect day-to-day physical care with genuine understanding of the person. None of these specifics appear in the published report, so treat the Good rating as a starting point rather than a full answer.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review finds that dementia training quality varies significantly between homes even when a specialism is declared; the most effective training focuses on non-verbal communication and behavioural understanding rather than task completion.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to describe what dementia training permanent staff have completed in the past 12 months, who delivered it, and whether it covered recognising distress in people who cannot express pain verbally. Ask to see a sample care plan (with personal details removed) to check whether it reads as a document about a real person or a checklist."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether people are treated as individuals. The published summary does not include inspector observations of staff interactions, quotes from residents or relatives, or specific examples of dignified practice. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but the detail behind that judgement is not available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract values; they show up in specific behaviours that you can observe on a visit. Does a staff member address your parent by their preferred name without being prompted? Do they pause and make eye contact before beginning a task? Do they speak to your parent rather than about them in front of you? The Good Practice evidence base reinforces that non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words for people with dementia, which makes an unannounced visit during a quiet part of the day particularly revealing.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review finds that person-led caring depends on staff knowing the individual well enough to read non-verbal cues. Homes where staff can describe a resident's history, preferences, and personality without consulting a file tend to score consistently higher on family satisfaction.","watch_out":"When you visit, arrive without announcing your exact time. Walk through a communal area and observe whether staff initiate conversation with residents, whether they crouch or sit to eye level, and whether any resident appears to be waiting for attention for an extended period."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection. This domain covers how well the home adapts to individual needs, the quality of the activities programme, and end-of-life planning. The published summary contains no specific information about the type or frequency of activities on offer, whether one-to-one engagement is available for people with advanced dementia, or how end-of-life wishes are recorded and respected. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied overall.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness for 27.1%. For people living with dementia, the research is clear that group activities alone are not enough; individuals who cannot participate in groups need one-to-one engagement tailored to their history and interests. A 20-bed home is small enough for staff to know everyone well, which can be an advantage, but it also means a single activity coordinator absence can leave a significant gap. Ask what happens on weekends, after 4pm, and when the regular activities person is off sick.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking activities, produce measurably better outcomes for people with dementia than passive entertainment, and can be delivered by any trained member of staff rather than relying solely on a designated activities coordinator.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past four weeks, including weekends. Look for evidence of one-to-one sessions rather than group-only provision, and ask what your parent would do on a typical afternoon if they could not join a group activity."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection, improving from a previous Requires Improvement rating. The home is operated by Bethel Healthcare (Hull) Limited, with Mrs Lyndsey Marie Wood as registered manager and Ms Rowena Santos Viernes as nominated individual. Having named, registered leadership in place is a positive indicator. The published summary does not describe the manager's visibility on the floor, staff culture, how the home handles complaints, or what governance systems are used to monitor quality.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in a care home. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership tenure as a key variable; homes where the registered manager has been in post for two or more years and is known by name to staff and residents consistently outperform those with frequent management changes. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across every single domain in one inspection cycle suggests something has genuinely shifted under the current leadership. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive reviews in our data, which means how the manager responds to your questions today is itself a reliable indicator of how they will communicate with you when something goes wrong.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review finds that bottom-up empowerment, where frontline staff feel able to raise concerns without fear and see management act on them, is a stronger predictor of quality trajectory than inspection ratings alone.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly how long they have been in post and what the single biggest change they made after the previous Requires Improvement rating. A specific, concrete answer suggests genuine accountability; a vague or defensive one 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 Oak Tree House cares for adults both under and over 65, with particular experience in dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on The team understands that dementia affects everyone differently, adapting their approach to each resident's needs and preferences. Staff work with natural rhythms rather than forcing rigid schedules. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.