The Laurels Residential and Nursing Home – Sanctuary Care
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds43
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Caring for adults under 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities
- Last inspected2022-03-29
- Activities programmeEverything's clean and well-kept, from the bedrooms to the common areas. Each room has its own en-suite, giving residents proper privacy and dignity. The whole place feels spacious and organised, with that lived-in comfort that helps people settle.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Families talk about walking in and sensing something different. There's a warmth here that goes beyond fresh paint — it's in how staff know residents as people, not conditions. The building might show its years, but visitors describe a charm and relaxed atmosphere that newer places often miss.
Based on 8 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth72
- Compassion & dignity72
- Cleanliness70
- Activities & engagement62
- Food quality60
- Healthcare70
- Management & leadership74
- Resident happiness68
What inspectors found
Inspected 2022-03-29 · Report published 2022-03-29 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its March 2022 inspection. This covers medicines management, infection control, staffing levels, and the reporting and learning from safety incidents. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement, meaning inspectors found sufficient improvement to award a Good rating. No specific safety concerns are recorded in the published findings, and no enforcement action was in place.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a period of Requires Improvement is genuinely encouraging. It suggests the leadership team acted on earlier weaknesses rather than allowing them to persist. However, the Good Practice evidence from IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and the published report does not record overnight ratios for this home. Cleanliness features in 24.3% of positive family reviews as a key concern, and while there are no recorded concerns here, you should observe the environment yourself when you visit. Ask specifically about falls logging and what happens when a fall occurs.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff consistency are among the strongest predictors of safety outcomes in dementia nursing homes. These figures are not recorded in the published inspection findings for this home.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the dementia unit for the past two weeks. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on night shifts, and ask what the minimum staffing level is after 10pm."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the March 2022 inspection. This domain covers training and competence of staff, care planning and assessment, healthcare access including GP and specialist referrals, nutrition and hydration, and the use of the Mental Capacity Act. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which means inspectors would have paid particular attention to whether staff understand and can respond to dementia-specific needs. No specific concerns were recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent living with dementia, what staff actually know and do matters as much as the physical environment. The Good Effective rating tells us inspectors were broadly satisfied, but the published report does not tell us what dementia training staff have completed, how detailed care plans are, or how often a GP visits. Food quality accounts for 20.9% of what families highlight in positive reviews, and the Good Effective rating covers nutrition, but no specific detail about menus or dietary support is available here. Ask to see an example care plan (anonymised if needed) so you can judge whether it would capture what matters to your parent as an individual.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base from 61 studies identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least monthly and updated with family input. Generic or out-of-date care plans are one of the most common gaps found in homes rated Good that later decline.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are reviewed, who is involved in those reviews, and whether family members are routinely invited to contribute. Also ask what specific dementia training the permanent care staff have completed and when they last did a refresher."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Caring domain at its March 2022 inspection. This domain assesses whether staff treat residents with kindness, whether privacy and dignity are respected, whether people are supported to be as independent as possible, and whether residents and families are involved in decisions about care. No specific concerns or failings were recorded in the published findings.","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 compassionate, dignified treatment appears in 55.2%. A Good Caring rating is therefore one of the most important signals in this report. The difficulty here is that the published text provides no specific examples: no recorded observations of how staff spoke to residents, no quotes from relatives, and no description of how the home respects individual preferences. The Good Practice evidence is clear that non-verbal communication and knowing a person's history are as important as formal care tasks for people living with dementia. On your visit, pay close attention to how staff address residents in corridors and communal areas, whether they use preferred names, and whether interactions feel warm or functional.","evidence_base":"Research in the IFF and Leeds Beckett evidence review confirms that person-led care, where staff know and act on individual life histories and communication styles, produces measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia than standardised care routines alone.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit quietly in a communal area for 15 minutes and watch how staff initiate conversations with residents. Do they use names, make eye contact, and take their time? Or do interactions feel task-focused and brief? This is the most reliable indicator of genuine caring culture."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The home was rated Good in the Responsive domain at the March 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individual needs and preferences, whether activities are meaningful and varied, how complaints are handled, and whether end-of-life care is planned and compassionate. The home has 43 beds and cares for people with dementia and physical disabilities, a combination that requires flexible and individually tailored approaches to daily life.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and daily engagement account for 21.4% of what families highlight in positive reviews, and resident happiness is cited in 27.1% of positive reviews. A Good Responsive rating signals that inspectors found no significant gaps, but the published report gives no detail about what activities are actually available, how individual interests are catered for, or how the home supports residents who cannot join group sessions. For someone with dementia, one-to-one engagement when group activities are overwhelming can matter more than the group programme itself. Independence, even in small daily tasks such as choosing clothing or making a drink, is supported by Good Practice evidence as a key contributor to wellbeing.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that Montessori-based and everyday task approaches, such as folding, gardening, or helping lay the table, produce greater sustained engagement for people with moderate to advanced dementia than structured group activities alone.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident with moderate dementia who prefers not to join group sessions. If the answer is vague or defaults to television, that tells you something important about the depth of individual engagement."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The home was rated Good in the Well-led domain at its March 2022 inspection. This covers the quality of leadership, whether the manager is visible and knows residents and staff, whether governance systems identify and act on problems, and whether there is an open and learning culture. The home is run by Sanctuary Care Limited, with Mrs Joyce Sheila Clay as registered manager and Mrs Louise Palmer as nominated individual. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests the leadership team made substantive changes following the earlier inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership appear in 23.4% of what families highlight in positive reviews, and communication with families is cited in 11.5%. An improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is an active positive signal: it means inspectors saw evidence of change, not just promises. The Good Practice evidence is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality. What we do not know from this report is how long the current registered manager has been in post, whether she is regularly present in the home, or how the team has changed since early 2022. The inspection is now over two years old, and staff turnover in the sector means the culture you encounter on a visit may differ from what inspectors found.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review identifies manager tenure and staff empowerment (the ability of frontline staff to raise concerns without fear) as the two most reliable leading indicators of care quality trajectory in residential and nursing homes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long she has been in post, and ask whether the same senior care staff are still working at the home as when the Good rating was awarded. If there has been significant leadership or staff turnover since early 2022, ask what has changed and how quality has been maintained."}
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 Laurels supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and both younger and older adults needing residential or nursing care. They're set up for different types of needs, from short stays to longer-term support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For families dealing with dementia, it helps knowing your person is somewhere they can be content. The team here understands how to support people with dementia day-to-day, keeping them comfortable and engaged. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
The Laurels Residential and Nursing Home improved from Requires Improvement to Good across all five inspection domains, which is a meaningful and positive step. However, the published inspection report contains limited specific detail, so many scores reflect a general Good rating rather than rich, observed evidence.
Homes in East Midlands typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Families talk about walking in and sensing something different. There's a warmth here that goes beyond fresh paint — it's in how staff know residents as people, not conditions. The building might show its years, but visitors describe a charm and relaxed atmosphere that newer places often miss.
What inspectors have recorded
What stands out is how the team works together. Staff stay calm under pressure and really listen to what residents need. Families mention getting regular updates and feeling properly informed — not chasing information or wondering what's happening.
How it sits against good practice
Sometimes the best homes aren't the newest or fanciest — they're the ones where people genuinely care about getting it right.
Worth a visit
The Laurels Residential and Nursing Home at 77 Nottingham Road, Derby was rated Good at its last inspection in March 2022, with Good ratings across all five domains: safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led. Importantly, this was an improvement from a previous rating of Requires Improvement, which indicates the management team identified problems and addressed them. The home cares for adults with dementia, physical disabilities, and nursing needs, with 43 beds. The main limitation of this report is that the published inspection text contains very little specific detail. Good ratings are meaningful, but without recorded observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or examples of practice in action, it is difficult to give you a confident, specific picture of daily life here. The inspection was also conducted in March 2022, over two years before the July 2023 monitoring review, so you should visit in person and ask direct questions. In particular, ask to see last week's actual staffing rota to check night cover and agency use, ask how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed and whether you would be included, and observe whether staff interact with residents in corridors in an unhurried, warm way.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
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In Their Own Words
How The Laurels Residential and Nursing Home – Sanctuary Care describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where kindness meets skill in Derby dementia care
Dedicated nursing home Support in Derby
Finding the right care home feels overwhelming, but sometimes you walk into a place and just know. The Laurels in Derby has that feeling — where staff genuinely care and families feel heard. It's the kind of place where your loved one becomes part of something real, not just another resident on a list.
Who they care for
The Laurels supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and both younger and older adults needing residential or nursing care. They're set up for different types of needs, from short stays to longer-term support.
For families dealing with dementia, it helps knowing your person is somewhere they can be content. The team here understands how to support people with dementia day-to-day, keeping them comfortable and engaged.
Management & ethos
What stands out is how the team works together. Staff stay calm under pressure and really listen to what residents need. Families mention getting regular updates and feeling properly informed — not chasing information or wondering what's happening.
The home & environment
Everything's clean and well-kept, from the bedrooms to the common areas. Each room has its own en-suite, giving residents proper privacy and dignity. The whole place feels spacious and organised, with that lived-in comfort that helps people settle.
“Sometimes the best homes aren't the newest or fanciest — they're the ones where people genuinely care about getting it right.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
