Belmar Nursing Home

What families say

People visiting have found the home clean and welcoming, with the manager sometimes greeting visitors personally at the door. Staff are described as engaged and accommodating, working to support residents despite the challenges they face.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-08-27 · Report published 2022-08-27 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated the Safe domain as Good at the June 2022 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. The home has 44 beds and carries a dementia specialism, meaning safe management of complex needs is particularly important. No specific safety incidents, staffing ratios, or medicines management observations are reproduced in the published summary. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means registered nurses should be on duty, though the published text does not confirm specific nurse-to-resident ratios. A Good Safe rating means inspectors did not identify significant ongoing concerns at the time of their visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your mum or dad, a Good Safe rating after a previous Requires Improvement is a positive signal. It suggests the home identified what was wrong and fixed it, which itself indicates a culture willing to respond to scrutiny. However, our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety often slips most on night shifts, where staffing is thinnest. The published report gives no night staffing figures, so this is something you will need to ask about directly. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive themes in our family review data, reflecting how strongly families connect hygiene with safety. Because no specific observations on cleanliness appear here, ask to see the most recent infection control audit when you visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the strongest predictors of inconsistent safe care, particularly for people with dementia who rely on familiar faces. The published inspection offers no data on agency use at The Belmar, making this an essential question to ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not a template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff appear on night shifts, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for the 44-bed home."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated the Effective domain as Good at the June 2022 inspection. The home is registered to provide nursing care and lists dementia and mental health conditions as specialisms, both of which require specific training and care planning competence. No specific detail on care plan quality, dementia training completion rates, GP access arrangements, or nutrition and hydration monitoring appears in the published summary. A Good Effective rating means inspectors were satisfied that the basic standards of effective care were met at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for your parent with dementia means staff understand not just how to keep them safe, but how to support their health, wellbeing, and cognitive needs day to day. Dementia-specific training is a key marker: the Good Practice evidence base shows that staff who have received structured dementia training interact more confidently and compassionately, particularly in moments of distress. Food quality accounts for 20.9% of positive themes in our family review data, reflecting how much families care about whether their parent is eating well and with dignity. Because no specific food observations appear in this report, ask at your visit whether your parent's dietary preferences, texture needs, and mealtimes would be recorded in their care plan.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that care plans function as living documents only when staff are trained to update them in response to changes in a person's condition. Plans that are completed at admission and rarely reviewed are a significant risk factor, particularly for people with progressive dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how often would my parent's care plan be formally reviewed, and how would I be involved in that review? Then ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised) to judge whether it reflects real individual detail or uses generic templates."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated the Caring domain as Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, independence, and emotional support. No specific observations, such as whether staff used residents' preferred names, knocked before entering rooms, or responded calmly to distress, are reproduced in the published summary. No resident or relative quotes are included in the available text. A Good Caring rating means inspectors were satisfied that the standard of compassionate care met requirements at the time of the visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews by name, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good Caring rating is encouraging, but the absence of specific examples means you cannot yet picture what care looks like here. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as what staff say: tone of voice, pace, and physical proximity all signal safety or threat to a person with dementia. On your visit, pay attention to how staff greet your parent at the door and how they respond if a resident seems unsettled in a communal area.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research review found that person-led care requires genuinely knowing the individual, including their history, preferences, and what distresses or calms them. Homes where staff can speak unprompted about the people they care for tend to score better on dignity and resident wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask a member of staff (not the manager) what your parent's preferred name is and one thing they enjoy. The ease and warmth of that answer will tell you more about the caring culture here than any document."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated the Responsive domain as Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors care to individual needs, including activities, engagement, and responsiveness to complaints. The home carries a dementia specialism, making individual responsiveness particularly important. No specific activities, schedules, or examples of person-centred responses to individual needs are described in the published summary. A Good Responsive rating indicates inspectors were satisfied the home met the required standard at the time.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive themes in our family review data, and activities and engagement account for 21.4%. A Good Responsive rating is a positive signal, but the published report gives no detail on what activities actually look like here or how they are adapted for people with advanced dementia who cannot join group sessions. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that homes relying solely on group activities often leave the most cognitively impaired residents disengaged for long periods. For your parent with dementia, one-to-one engagement, everyday tasks such as folding, gardening, or reminiscence, can be more meaningful than a formal activity programme.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-focused individual activities significantly improve wellbeing and reduce distress in people with moderate to advanced dementia, far more reliably than passive group entertainment.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: what would happen on a day when my parent could not join a group session? Ask for a specific example of a one-to-one activity used with a resident who has advanced dementia. If the answer is vague, probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated the Well-led domain as Good at the June 2022 inspection. The home is led by a named registered manager, Mrs Katherine Marie Bent, with Mr Omar Ahmad listed as the nominated individual representing the provider. The previous Requires Improvement rating has been addressed across all domains, which suggests the leadership team was able to identify problems and act on them. No specific detail on management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home handles complaints and incidents is reproduced in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. The Good Practice evidence base found that consistent leadership allows staff to feel supported, speak up about concerns, and maintain standards even under pressure. The fact that this home moved from Requires Improvement to a full Good across all five domains suggests a leadership team that can respond to challenge, which is reassuring. However, the inspection was carried out in June 2022, meaning more than two years have passed. Staff turnover and management changes in that period would not appear in the current rating. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive themes in our review data: ask specifically how the home would keep you informed if your parent's condition changed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of blame tend to have fewer serious incidents and better outcomes for residents. A visible, consistent manager is a key enabler of this culture.","watch_out":"Ask directly: how long has the current registered manager been in post? Then ask one member of care staff (separately from the manager) how they would raise a concern if they were worried about a resident. The confidence of that answer is a reliable indicator of the culture here."}

  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 supporting adults with mental health conditions, dementia, and substance misuse problems. They care for both younger adults under 65 and older residents.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home accepts residents with dementia as part of its specialist mental health nursing services. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.