Stella House

What families say

Some families describe staff as caring and respectful, particularly during vulnerable times. Others have raised concerns about basic care standards, including delays with personal care support and hygiene routines.

Based on 14 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement55
• Food quality55
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-10-30 · Report published 2018-10-30 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Requires Improvement at the December 2025 assessment. This is the only domain not to achieve a Good rating and it is the most important area for families to probe further. The published report does not include specific detail about what aspects of safety fell short. The home is registered for 40 beds across a range of needs including dementia, physical disabilities, and mental health conditions, which makes safe staffing and risk management particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Safe means inspectors identified something that needs to change to keep people living here adequately protected. For families considering this home for a parent with dementia or complex needs, this is the single most important finding to explore before making a decision. Good Practice evidence consistently shows that safety problems most often emerge at night, when staffing is thinnest, and with high agency use, which can break the continuity of care that people with dementia particularly need. The inspection does not tell us which of these issues applies here, so you will need to ask directly. This is not a reason to rule the home out, especially given the improvement from the previous overall rating, but it is a reason to ask hard, specific questions before you sign anything.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes, because unfamiliar staff cannot recognise subtle changes in a person's condition or behaviour that permanent staff would notice.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the staffing rota for the past two weeks, including nights. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically what the Requires Improvement rating in Safe was about and what has changed since the inspection."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the December 2025 assessment. This domain covers how well the home uses its knowledge and skills to deliver care, including training, care planning, and healthcare access. The published report does not include specific observations or examples to illustrate what earned this rating. The home supports people with dementia, mental health conditions, and physical disabilities, which requires a range of specialist knowledge from staff.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective is reassuring, but without specific detail in the published report it is not possible to tell you precisely what inspectors observed. In our review data, families rate dementia-specific care and food quality among the most important things they notice on visits. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents, reviewed regularly with families involved, not paperwork completed once and filed away. Ask to see how the home records what matters to your parent as an individual, including their preferences, routines, and personal history, and ask how often that information is updated.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that homes where care plans are genuinely personalised and reviewed at least monthly, with family input, produce measurably better outcomes for people living with dementia than those where care plans are static documents.","watch_out":"Ask to see an anonymised example of a care plan and check whether it includes personal history, preferred routines, food preferences, and communication style, or whether it reads like a medical document. Ask how often plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to those reviews."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the December 2025 assessment. This domain covers how staff treat the people in their care, including warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. The published report does not contain specific observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or detailed examples of how caring practice was evidenced during the inspection. Without these details, this rating cannot be independently contextualised from the published findings alone.","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 are close behind at 55.2%. A Good rating here is encouraging, but the absence of specific detail in the published report means you should plan to observe these things yourself on a visit. Watch how staff interact with residents in communal areas when they do not know they are being observed. Are they unhurried? Do they use preferred names? Do they speak to people rather than past them? These are the things that matter most to families, and they are things you can assess yourself in under an hour.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies non-verbal communication as equally important as verbal communication in dementia care. Staff who slow down, make eye contact, and respond to body language produce significantly less distress in people with advanced dementia than those who complete tasks efficiently but without emotional attunement.","watch_out":"Arrive slightly early for your appointment and sit in a communal area before your meeting. Watch how staff respond when a resident calls out, becomes restless, or needs help. Is the response calm and unhurried, or task-focused and quick? That difference tells you more than any document."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the December 2025 assessment. This domain looks at how well the home tailors its care to each individual, including activities, engagement, end-of-life care, and how complaints are handled. As with the other domains, the published report does not include specific examples, observation records, or resident testimony to illustrate what earned this rating. The home's registration covers dementia and mental health specialisms, which makes individualised responsiveness particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is referenced in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities and engagement in 21.4%. A Good rating in Responsive suggests inspectors were satisfied with the home's approach to individuality and engagement, but without specific findings it is not possible to tell you what that looks like day to day. Good Practice evidence shows clearly that group activities alone are not enough for people with advanced dementia, who need one-to-one engagement tailored to their personal history and remaining abilities. Ask what happens for your parent on a day when they cannot or do not want to join a group session.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that Montessori-based approaches and the use of familiar everyday household tasks, such as folding, sorting, or simple cooking, produce more sustained engagement and less distress in people with moderate to advanced dementia than structured group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see last month's actual activity records, not the planned schedule. Check whether individual one-to-one sessions are recorded alongside group activities, and ask what the home does to engage a resident who is unable to leave their room or who finds group settings overwhelming."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the December 2025 assessment. A named registered manager, Mrs Bianca Nicoleta Mata-Apostica, is recorded as being in post. The home is run by Mr and Mrs J Fieldhouse. The published report does not include specific detail about governance arrangements, staff culture, how the manager is present and visible, or how the home responded to its previous Requires Improvement rating. The improvement from the previous overall rating suggests some positive leadership trajectory.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership is cited in 23.4% of positive family reviews as a key factor in satisfaction. A visible, stable manager makes a real difference, both to staff morale and to the experience families have when they raise concerns. The most important question here is how long the current registered manager has been in post, because Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality over time. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is a positive sign, but with the Safe domain still at Requires Improvement, you want reassurance that the manager has a clear plan for resolving that specific issue.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that homes with stable, long-serving managers who are regularly visible on the floor and known by name to residents and families consistently outperform those with high management turnover, even when other variables are similar.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post, what specifically caused the previous Requires Improvement rating, and what measurable changes have been made since then. A confident, specific answer is a good sign; a vague or defensive response 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 The home cares for younger adults alongside older residents, supporting people with physical disabilities and mental health conditions. Their dementia care forms part of their specialist provision.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the home offers specialist support as part of their residential care. Families may want to discuss specific approaches to personal care and daily routines. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.