Sandown Park Care Home

What families say

Some families have seen their relatives settle into life at the home, appearing content in their new surroundings. The staff seem to create a welcoming atmosphere for visitors, with several relatives commenting on the polite and responsive nature of the team.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth85
• Compassion & dignity88
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement82
• Food quality68
• Healthcare72
• Management & leadership85
• Resident happiness80

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-03-04 · Report published 2018-03-04 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at the January 2018 inspection. This indicates that inspectors found acceptable standards in staffing, medicines management, and risk management. The home is registered to care for 95 people, including those living with dementia and adults both over and under 65. No specific inspector observations, incident data, or staffing ratios are recorded in the published summary available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is a reassuring baseline, but it is not the same as Outstanding. For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the details behind a safety rating matter as much as the label. Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most often slips, and that heavy reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that people with dementia depend on. Because the published findings give no specific numbers, you will need to ask these questions directly on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that continuity of named carers is one of the strongest protective factors in dementia care. When agency staff rotate frequently, people with dementia lose the familiar faces that help them feel secure, and staff lose the contextual knowledge needed to spot early signs of deterioration.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the dementia unit over the past two weeks, not a template. Count the number of permanent staff names versus agency names, and ask specifically how many carers and senior staff are on duty between 8pm and 7am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the January 2018 inspection. This covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutritional support. Dementia is listed as a registered specialism, which requires the provider to demonstrate relevant staff competence. No specific detail about training content, GP visit frequency, care plan quality, or food provision is recorded in the published summary available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good effective rating tells you that inspectors did not find serious gaps in training or care planning, but it leaves important questions unanswered. Our family review data shows that food quality is mentioned positively in roughly one in five satisfied families' reviews, making it a reliable indicator of whether a home genuinely attends to individual preferences. For a parent with dementia, care plans that are updated regularly and reflect who they are as a person, not just their medical needs, make a real practical difference to daily life.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that dementia training which goes beyond basic awareness to include communication techniques, behaviour understanding, and life history work produces measurably better outcomes for residents. Ask not just whether staff are trained, but what the training actually covers and how recently staff completed it.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether family members are invited to contribute. Request to see a sample of how the home records a resident's personal history, preferences, and daily routines, not just their medical information."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The home received an Outstanding rating for caring at the January 2018 inspection. This is the highest rating available and requires inspectors to find strong, specific evidence of warmth, dignity, compassion, and respect in day-to-day staff interactions. To achieve Outstanding in this domain, inspectors typically need to observe multiple unprompted examples of kind, unhurried care and gather testimony from residents and families. No specific quotes or observations are reproduced in the published summary available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews across more than 5,400 UK care homes. Compassion and dignity together account for 55.2% of positive family feedback. An Outstanding caring rating is meaningful precisely because it is hard to achieve: inspectors have to see it, not just be told about it. What this likely means for your parent is that staff interactions here were observed to be genuinely kind and unhurried. When you visit, watch for the small signals: whether staff make eye contact, use preferred names, and sit at the same level as residents when talking to them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal interaction for people with dementia. Staff who position themselves calmly, maintain eye contact, and avoid rushed movements significantly reduce anxiety and distress in residents with advanced dementia, even when verbal communication is no longer reliable.","watch_out":"Sit in a communal area for 20 minutes without being guided by a member of staff. Watch how carers respond when a resident seems unsettled or calls out. Notice whether staff stop what they are doing to attend, or whether they respond from a distance or continue past. This is more revealing than anything said in a formal tour."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The home received an Outstanding rating for responsiveness at the January 2018 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors care to individual needs, the range and quality of activities, how complaints are handled, and how the home supports people at the end of life. An Outstanding rating here requires inspectors to find specific evidence that the home goes beyond a standard programme and genuinely shapes daily life around each person. No specific examples of activities, individual care adjustments, or complaint outcomes are reproduced in the published summary available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness for 27.1%. An Outstanding responsive rating is encouraging for families thinking about whether their parent will have a meaningful daily life here, not just a safe one. The Good Practice evidence base makes clear that for people with moderate to advanced dementia, one-to-one engagement and activities rooted in familiar tasks from earlier life are more beneficial than group sessions alone. The published findings do not confirm whether this level of individual tailoring was in place, so it is worth asking directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and activities linked to a person's life history, such as folding, sorting, gardening, or music from their era, produce sustained improvements in mood, engagement, and reduced agitation in people with dementia, compared with generic group activities.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they would offer a resident who can no longer join group sessions due to advanced dementia. Ask for specific examples from the past month, not a description of the general approach. If the answer focuses only on group activities, that is a gap worth pressing on."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The home received an Outstanding rating for leadership at the January 2018 inspection. The registered manager is named as Ms Shahnaaz Mohamad and the nominated individual as Mrs Helen Gidlow. The home is operated by Healthcare Homes (LSC) Limited. An Outstanding well-led rating requires inspectors to find a positive, open culture where staff feel supported, governance systems are robust, and the home learns from mistakes. No specific examples of management practice, staff feedback, or governance processes are reproduced in the published summary available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality is mentioned positively in 23.4% of family reviews in our data, and communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive feedback. An Outstanding well-led rating is the strongest available signal that the home had a culture of accountability and openness at the time of inspection. Good Practice research shows that leadership stability is one of the best predictors of quality over time. However, this inspection was conducted in January 2018. You should ask directly whether the registered manager named in the report is still in post, and how long the current management team has been in place.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where staff feel confident raising concerns without fear of blame consistently show better outcomes for residents. Leadership that actively seeks feedback from carers on the ground, not just senior staff, is associated with faster identification of problems and higher resident wellbeing scores.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and whether there have been significant changes to the senior team or provider since the last inspection. Also ask how the home handled its most recent formal complaint: what happened, what changed, and how the family involved was kept informed. The specificity and honesty of the answer will tell you more than the rating alone."}

  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 across different age groups, both under and over 65. They also provide specialist dementia care alongside their general residential services.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home offers dedicated support as part of their specialist services. The team has experience caring for people at different stages of their dementia journey. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.