Stanborough Lodge

What families say

Families talk about how engaged their relatives are here — not just occupied, but genuinely stimulated through the day. There's a real focus on keeping residents active, both mentally and physically, with activities that match what each person can manage and enjoy.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness60
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership65
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-03-05 · Report published 2019-03-05 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its February 2022 inspection. The published findings do not include specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control. No concerns were identified in these areas. A monitoring review in July 2023 did not raise any safety issues. The previous Requires Improvement rating has been resolved.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the thin detail in the published report means you cannot rely on it alone. Good Practice research consistently finds that night staffing is where safety most often slips in smaller homes, and a home with 25 residents needs clear, consistent cover after 8pm. Agency reliance is a connected concern: when unfamiliar staff work nights, they do not know your parent's routines, their triggers, or what an unusual behaviour might signal. The improvement from Requires Improvement is a positive sign that problems were identified and addressed, but you need to understand what those problems were and what changed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Homes with stable, permanent night teams have significantly lower rates of unwitnessed falls and delayed responses to deterioration.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by agency staff, and ask specifically how many permanent carers are on duty after 8pm on a typical weeknight."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at its February 2022 inspection. The published findings do not describe the content of care plans, the frequency of GP access, staff training records, or how food and nutrition are managed. The home lists dementia as a specialism, but no specific detail about dementia care approaches is included in the available text. No concerns were raised in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness is about whether the home truly knows your parent as an individual and responds to changes in their health promptly. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawing on 61 studies, identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated after every significant change, not just reviewed annually. For someone living with dementia, this matters enormously because needs can shift quickly. Food quality is also a practical signal of genuine care: 20.9% of positive family reviews mention food specifically, and a home that takes nutrition seriously will know your parent's preferences, texture requirements, and favourite meals by name. None of this detail is visible in the published report, so you will need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that dementia-specific training, including non-verbal communication and understanding of behavioural expressions of unmet need, significantly improves outcomes for people living with dementia, particularly in smaller residential settings.","watch_out":"Ask what dementia-specific training every member of staff, including kitchen and domestic staff, has completed in the past 12 months. Then ask to look at a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) to see whether it records personal history, preferred name, daily routines, and food preferences, or whether it reads as a generic document."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at its February 2022 inspection. The published findings do not include inspector observations of staff interactions, descriptions of how staff address residents, or testimony from residents or families about the atmosphere. No concerns were raised. The caring rating is the highest-weighted factor in our family review data, but the available evidence here is limited to the rating itself.","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, observable moments: whether a carer knocks before entering a room, whether your mum is called by the name she prefers rather than a generic term of endearment, whether staff sit down to speak to a resident rather than talking over them while doing another task. A Good caring rating tells you inspectors did not find problems. It does not tell you what warmth looks like in this particular home. You need to see it for yourself.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia. Staff who understand this use eye contact, a calm tone, and unhurried physical presence to communicate safety and respect, skills that are observable on any visit if you know what to look for.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens in a corridor or communal area when a staff member passes a resident. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the resident's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small interaction is one of the most reliable signals of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at its February 2022 inspection. The published findings do not describe the activity programme, how individual preferences are incorporated into daily life, or what provision exists for residents who cannot join group activities. No concerns were raised in this domain. The home's dementia specialism implies some tailoring of activities, but no specific detail is available.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is about whether your parent will have a life here, not just a place to stay. Activities matter, but our Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are insufficient, particularly for people in later stages of dementia who may not be able to participate in a class or a quiz. Twenty-one point four percent of positive family reviews mention meaningful activities specifically, and the word families use most often is 'meaningful', not 'busy'. One-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks, music from a person's own era, or simply a staff member sitting alongside them, is what the evidence shows makes the biggest difference to wellbeing. You cannot assess this from the published findings alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday task participation, such as folding laundry, tending plants, or laying a table, produce measurable improvements in engagement and mood for people living with dementia, even in later stages. Homes that rely solely on group entertainment programmes do not achieve the same outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they would do with a resident who can no longer join a group session. If the answer is vague, or if there is no dedicated activities coordinator, that is important information. Also ask to see the actual activity record for the past month, not a planned timetable, to see what was delivered versus what was scheduled."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for well-led at its February 2022 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Mrs Joanna Tolentino Laus, and a nominated individual, Mr Riyaz Mohamed Merali, are recorded. The published findings do not describe management culture, staff satisfaction, complaint handling, or governance processes in any specific detail. The improvement from the previous rating suggests that leadership issues identified earlier have been addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in our Good Practice evidence base. A home that has improved from Requires Improvement to Good has done something right, but families need to understand what changed and whether the conditions that drove the improvement are still in place. Leadership stability matters: if the registered manager who led the turnaround has since left, the culture they built may not have been embedded deeply enough to survive. Twenty-three point four percent of positive family reviews mention management visibility specifically, and the consistent finding is that families trust homes where they can speak to a manager easily and where their concerns are taken seriously. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive review mentions.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that leadership stability is the single strongest predictor of sustained quality improvement in care homes. Homes where managers have been in post for more than two years, and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, consistently outperform those with high management turnover, even when other resources are comparable.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: how long have you been in this role, and what was the main thing that needed to change when the home received its previous rating? A confident, specific answer tells you the improvement was real. A vague or defensive response warrants further caution."}

  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 specialises in dementia care for people over 65. They've built their approach around understanding how dementia affects each person differently.. Gaps or open questions remain on Families particularly value how the trained staff handle the complexities of dementia with real confidence. Several mention their relatives' conditions staying stable here, which brings huge relief when you're watching someone you love navigate this difficult journey. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.