The Beeches Nursing Home

What families say

Families describe a place where their relatives feel genuinely settled. The staff here seem to grasp that small personal touches matter — remembering how someone likes their tea, or which music brings a smile.

Based on 8 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 2019-07-26 · Report published 2019-07-26 · 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 inspection report does not include specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices. The previous rating in this domain was Requires Improvement, so an improvement has been made, but the published text does not explain what changed. No concerns were raised in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a previous Requires Improvement is genuinely encouraging, and for a 28-bed home specialising in dementia care, that trajectory matters. Good Practice evidence from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid review highlights that night staffing is consistently where safety risks are highest in dementia settings, and the inspection report gives no detail on what staffing looks like after 8pm. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness, cited in around 14% of positive reviews, is one of the most visible indicators families use to judge safety. Because the report is thin on specifics, you will need to ask the home directly about medicines audits, falls logs, and how incidents are reviewed and acted on.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies agency staff reliance as a significant risk factor in dementia care settings, because consistency of staff is directly linked to residents feeling settled and safe. The inspection does not confirm or deny agency usage here, so this is a question worth asking.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for a typical week, including nights. Ask specifically how many permanent staff, rather than agency staff, are on the dementia unit after 8pm, and what the ratio is per resident."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at its February 2022 inspection. No specific detail about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training, or food is included in the published report text. The home specialises in dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which implies staff should hold relevant training, but this is not confirmed in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia-specialist home should mean that care plans are regularly updated to reflect how your parent is changing, that staff are trained in dementia-specific communication, and that the home has reliable GP and healthcare access. Food quality is cited in around 20.9% of family satisfaction data and is often a marker of how much genuine attention staff pay to individual needs. The inspection gives a Good rating but no supporting detail, so you cannot assess from the published report alone whether care plans here are truly personalised or whether training goes beyond basic compliance.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training quality varies enormously between homes rated at the same level, and that care plans function best as living documents updated at least monthly. A Good rating does not confirm either of these things is happening at this standard.","watch_out":"Ask to see an example of how a care plan is updated when a resident's needs change. Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed, and whether family members are invited to contribute to those reviews."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at its February 2022 inspection. The published report includes no inspector observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives, and no specific examples of how staff support dignity, privacy, or independence. The rating itself indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the basis for that satisfaction is not described in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good caring rating is a positive signal, but without specific observations or quotes, you cannot know whether inspectors saw staff knock before entering rooms, use preferred names, or respond to distress without rushing. These are the things that matter most on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. When you visit, arrive unannounced if you can, and watch how staff speak to residents in corridors and communal areas, not just in a formal meeting.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research consistently finds that non-verbal communication, tone of voice, pace, and physical presence, matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia. These qualities are hard to measure in an inspection but are visible to a family member on a visit.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch what happens when a resident shows signs of distress or confusion. Does a staff member stop, make eye contact, and respond calmly? Or does the interaction feel rushed and task-focused? This tells you more than any rating."}

  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 report provides no detail about the activities programme, individual engagement, end-of-life planning, or how the home responds to complaints. The home's specialisms in dementia and sensory impairment suggest that tailored individual activities should be in place, but this is not confirmed in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is cited in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities engagement in 21.4%. For someone living with dementia who cannot easily join group sessions, one-to-one engagement becomes especially important. Good Practice evidence strongly supports Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches, where your parent might fold laundry, tend to plants, or sort objects, as meaningful occupation that does not require verbal communication. The inspection does not tell you whether this home offers that kind of individual engagement or whether activities are primarily group-based and timetabled.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that one-to-one activities for people in later stages of dementia are among the most underdelivered aspects of responsive care, even in homes rated Good, because they require additional staff time and planning.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe a typical day for a resident who is not mobile enough to join group sessions. Ask specifically what one-to-one engagement looks like on an evening or a weekend, when activity coordinators may not be on shift."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for leadership at its February 2022 inspection. The home is run by Orange Care Limited and has two registered managers listed: Ms Kathryn Rosamunde Clark and Mrs Pamela June McAuslan, alongside a nominated individual. The previous rating was Requires Improvement, meaning the management team has overseen a genuine improvement. The published report does not describe the leadership culture, staff morale, governance systems, or how the home learns from incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. A home that has improved from Requires Improvement to Good across every domain has demonstrated that someone is taking accountability seriously, which is a positive sign. However, having two registered managers listed can sometimes indicate a transitional period, and the inspection does not clarify whether both are currently active or what the management structure looks like day to day. Communication with families is cited in 11.5% of positive reviews and is a key leadership indicator. Ask the manager directly how they keep families informed when something changes with their parent's health or care.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review identified that homes where staff feel empowered to raise concerns without fear consistently perform better across all care quality indicators. A visible, approachable manager who staff know by name is an observable sign of this culture.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether the same person manages the day-to-day running of the home. Ask what happened after the previous Requires Improvement rating and what specific changes were made. A manager who can answer this clearly and without defensiveness is a good sign."}

  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 Beeches provides specialist nursing care for people with sensory impairments, dementia, and physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the person-centred approach means staff work to understand each individual's unique needs and preferences, adapting their care accordingly. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.