Sherwood Forest Residential and Nursing Home – Sanctuary Care

What families say

Visitors describe a friendly atmosphere where staff take time to understand each resident's individual needs. The team shows particular dedication during end-of-life care, providing comfort and support when families need it most.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-08-20 · Report published 2022-08-20 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. Beyond the rating itself, the published report does not include specific detail about staffing levels, medicines management, falls logging, infection control practices, or night staffing arrangements. The home cares for people living with dementia, which makes consistent safe practice especially important. The previous Requires Improvement rating means there were earlier concerns, and the Good rating now suggests those have been addressed, but the report does not describe what changed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety in care homes most often slips at night, when staffing is thinnest and oversight is lightest. The inspection report does not tell you how many staff are on duty overnight, how much the home relies on agency staff, or how it logs and learns from falls and incidents. For a 75-bed home with a dementia specialism, these details matter a great deal. The improvement from Requires Improvement is positive, but you should treat it as a starting point for your own questions rather than a full answer.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of safety risk in care homes, because unfamiliar staff cannot recognise subtle changes in a person's condition. Asking about permanent versus agency staffing is one of the most important questions you can ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the dementia unit for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many carers and seniors are on duty on the dementia unit after 9pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. The published report does not include specific detail about care plan quality, how often plans are reviewed, GP access arrangements, dementia training content, or how the home manages nutrition and hydration. The home holds a dementia specialism, which means inspectors will have considered whether staff have appropriate training and whether care is tailored to individual needs. The Good rating suggests this standard was met, but the evidence behind it is not described in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for someone living with dementia means staff who know your parent as an individual, care plans that are updated regularly and reflect current needs, and reliable access to a GP and other health professionals. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should change as the person changes. A Good rating is a positive signal, but without knowing how frequently plans are reviewed or whether families are involved in that process, you cannot be certain how well the home would adapt to your parent's changing needs. Ask to see how the home would keep you informed if your mum or dad's condition shifted.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, particularly training that covers non-verbal communication and behaviour as a form of expression, is one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes for people living with dementia in residential settings. The depth and recency of that training is worth exploring directly.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia training staff have completed in the past 12 months, who delivered it, and whether it covered communication with people who can no longer use words reliably. Ask whether your parent's care plan would be reviewed with you present, and how often."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. The published report does not include inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they feel treated, or specific examples of dignity and respect being upheld. Staff warmth and compassion are the two highest-weighted themes in our family review data, and both are impossible to assess from the published text alone. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but the detail behind that judgement is not available.","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 also the things that are hardest to assess from a written report. A Good rating for caring is encouraging, but the only way to judge whether staff at this home are genuinely warm is to visit unannounced if possible, watch how staff move through the building, and notice whether they stop to speak to residents or walk past them. Our Good Practice evidence base emphasises that non-verbal communication, tone, pace, and touch, matters as much as words for people living with dementia.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know a resident's life history, preferred name, and daily rhythms, is associated with lower rates of distress and better wellbeing for people living with dementia. Knowing whether staff have access to and actually use this kind of biographical information is a key quality signal.","watch_out":"When you visit, notice whether staff address your parent by their preferred name (not just their first name if they prefer something else), whether they make eye contact, and whether they seem hurried. Ask a member of staff what they know about the person you are considering placing there, as if describing them to a colleague."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. The published report does not describe the activities programme, how the home supports people who cannot join group activities, how individual preferences are recorded and acted on, or how end-of-life care is approached. For a home with a dementia specialism, responsiveness includes whether staff can recognise and respond to distress that is not expressed verbally. The Good rating is positive, but the absence of specific detail means this must be explored directly.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For people living with dementia, especially those in later stages, one-to-one engagement is often more meaningful than group sessions. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks as particularly effective for maintaining a sense of purpose and reducing distress. The inspection does not tell you whether this home offers meaningful one-to-one time or whether activities are mostly group-based. This is one of the most important things to observe on a visit.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that individualised activity, including everyday tasks such as folding laundry, tending plants, or looking through photographs, is associated with reduced agitation and better mood for people living with dementia, and is more effective than generic group entertainment programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they would do to engage your parent on a day when they did not want to join a group activity. If the answer is vague or defaults to television, that tells you something important. Also ask how many hours of planned one-to-one time each person with dementia receives each week."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. The home has a named registered manager and a nominated individual from the provider, Sanctuary Care Limited. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests that leadership has driven meaningful change. The published report does not describe the manager's tenure, how staff are supported to raise concerns, how the home uses feedback from residents and families, or how it monitors and learns from incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality in care homes, according to our Good Practice evidence base. A manager who is known to staff and residents, who is visible on the floor rather than desk-bound, and who creates a culture where staff can speak up without fear, makes a measurable difference to day-to-day care. The improvement from Requires Improvement is the clearest positive signal in this report, because turning a rating around requires sustained effort at every level. However, you should ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether there have been significant staffing changes recently, as a new team can take time to settle.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically how long a manager has been in post and whether staff feel empowered to raise concerns, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality improvement in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post at this home and what the biggest change they made after the previous Requires Improvement rating was. A specific, confident answer is a good sign. A vague or deflecting answer warrants further probing."}

  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 residential and nursing care for adults over 65, with particular experience supporting people with dementia. They also care for younger adults with complex needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff show understanding of dementia care, working to maintain quality of life through structured activities and individual support approaches. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.