Stanley House Nursing Home

What families say

Families talk about finding real compassion here when they needed it most. Staff take time to ensure residents stay comfortable and maintain their dignity, even during difficult final weeks. The team's genuine care extends to relatives too, with cups of tea, a listening ear, and patient answers to worried questions.

Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-02-15 · Report published 2019-02-15 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Stanley House Good for safety. No further specific detail is available in the published findings about medicines management, falls prevention, infection control, or safeguarding processes. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement and the improvement to Good suggests concerns in this area were addressed, though the basis for the current rating is not described in the published report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating means inspectors were satisfied that the fundamental safeguards were in place, but the absence of specific findings means you cannot tell from this report alone what the staffing levels are at night, how the home responds to falls, or how medicines are managed for someone living with dementia. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes. With 42 beds and a dementia specialism, you should ask directly how many staff are on duty overnight and how quickly someone would respond if your parent needed help at 3am. The previous Requires Improvement rating is worth asking about: find out what changed and how the home knows the improvements have held.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is a consistent risk factor for safety failures, and that homes with high permanent staff retention show better safety outcomes. The published findings give no data on agency use here.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual staffing rota for a recent week, including nights. Count how many names are permanent staff versus agency, and ask what the minimum night-time staffing level is for the dementia unit specifically."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Stanley House Good for effectiveness. No specific detail is published about care planning, GP access, dementia training, or how the home monitors and responds to changes in residents' health. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a commitment to appropriate training and care approaches, but the inspection findings do not describe what this looks like in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a care home context means knowing what they are doing and adapting as your parent's needs change. For someone living with dementia, this includes having care plans that reflect the person's actual history, preferences, and communication style, not just their medical needs. The Good Practice evidence base from 61 studies highlights that care plans should be treated as living documents, reviewed regularly and with family input. Food quality is another marker of genuine effectiveness: it requires understanding dietary needs, texture requirements, and individual preferences, none of which are described in the published findings for this home. Ask to see a sample care plan structure and ask how often your parent's plan would be reviewed with you present.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training which goes beyond basic awareness, covering communication, behaviour that challenges, and person-centred approaches, is strongly associated with better care outcomes. The published findings do not confirm what dementia training Stanley House provides.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to describe the dementia training all care staff complete. Specifically ask whether it covers non-verbal communication and responding to distress, and when staff last completed a refresher."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Stanley House Good for caring. No specific observations about staff interactions, use of preferred names, pace of care, or dignity practices are included in the published findings. There are no resident or family quotes in the available report. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied that the standard of caring met requirements, but the evidence base behind that judgement is not visible in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most cited factor in family satisfaction: 57.3% of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes mention it by name, and compassion and dignity together feature in 55.2% of reviews. These are the things families notice most, and they are also the things most observable on an unannounced visit. Walk into the home without warning if you can, and watch how staff interact with residents in corridors and communal areas when they do not know they are being observed. Do staff use your parent's preferred name? Do they crouch to eye level? Do they move without hurry? The inspection found Good here, but you should verify this with your own eyes before committing.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research highlights that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words. Staff who make eye contact, use touch appropriately, and match their pace to the resident's provide measurably better emotional outcomes, even when verbal communication is limited.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch what happens when a resident appears unsettled or distressed in a communal area. Does a staff member respond promptly, get to their level, and speak calmly? Or does the moment pass unaddressed? This single observation tells you more than any rating."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Stanley House Good for responsiveness. No specific detail about the activities programme, individual engagement for people with dementia, or end-of-life planning is available in the published findings. The home cares for a mixed group including people with dementia and physical disabilities, both over and under 65, which requires a genuinely varied and individually tailored approach to keeping people engaged.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is cited in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities and engagement feature in 21.4%. For someone living with dementia, meaningful activity is not optional: it is a clinical and wellbeing need. The Good Practice evidence base includes strong support for individualised activities, not just group sessions, including simple household tasks that provide continuity with a person's earlier life. The published findings give no detail about what activities Stanley House provides, whether anyone coordinates one-to-one engagement, or how the programme is adapted as dementia progresses. This is one of the most important gaps in the available evidence and you should ask about it directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individualised activity approaches, including familiar everyday tasks, produce measurable improvements in wellbeing and reductions in distress for people with dementia, compared with group-only or entertainment-focused programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities schedule for last week, not a future plan. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot join a group session. Is there a named person responsible for one-to-one engagement, and how many hours per week is that budgeted for?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated Stanley House Good for leadership. A named registered manager and a nominated individual are recorded in the published findings. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement overall and has since achieved Good across all domains, which represents a meaningful governance improvement. No specific detail about the manager's tenure, staff culture, or quality assurance processes is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality is cited in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families features in 11.5%. The Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality: homes where the manager has been in post for several years and is known by name to residents and staff consistently outperform those with frequent turnover. The fact that this home improved from Requires Improvement to Good is genuinely positive, but you should ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether the leadership team that drove the improvement is still in place. Communication with families is a particular gap in the published findings: there is no evidence here about how often families receive updates or how concerns are handled.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of reprisal, and where managers are visible on the floor rather than office-based, show better outcomes across all domains. The published findings do not confirm whether this culture exists at Stanley House.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in this role, and how long have most of your senior care staff been here? Then ask: if my parent's condition changed overnight and I needed to speak to someone, who would I call and how quickly would I hear back?"}

  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 Stanley House provides specialist care for adults both under and over 65, including those living with dementia or physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home welcomes residents living with dementia, supporting them alongside those with physical disabilities and other care needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.