The Maples Residential care Home

What families say

Families describe finding their relatives content here, with staff who know each person's preferences and take genuine interest in their wellbeing. The atmosphere strikes a balance between structure and warmth, with residents enjoying both quiet corners and social spaces.

Based on 20 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-05-14 · Report published 2022-05-14 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the March 2022 inspection. This indicates that inspectors were satisfied with how the home manages risk, staffing, medicines, and infection control. The published inspection text does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, falls management, medicines processes, or agency staff usage. No concerns or breaches were recorded in this domain. The home has 28 beds and is registered to care for people living with dementia.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but for a home specialising in dementia care, the detail behind the rating matters as much as the rating itself. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in smaller homes like this one. With 28 beds, the home is relatively small, which can mean a more consistent permanent staff team, but it also means fewer resources to cover absences without turning to agency staff. Agency reliance undermines the familiarity that people living with dementia depend on. The published findings do not tell you how many staff are on duty at night, so you will need to ask this directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (61 studies, 2026) found that night staffing levels and agency staff reliance are the two most common precursors to safety failures in residential dementia care. A Good daytime rating does not automatically extend to night-time arrangements.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not the planned template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many carers are on duty overnight for the 28 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the March 2022 inspection. This covers training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and how well the home meets individual needs. The home is registered as specialising in dementia care, which implies some level of dementia-specific training and care planning capability. No specific training records, care plan examples, or healthcare outcomes are described in the published text. No concerns were raised in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home specialising in dementia care, what matters most in this domain is whether staff have been trained in dementia-specific communication and behaviour, whether care plans are genuinely individualised (built around your parent's history, preferences, and daily rhythms, not just medical needs), and whether there is a regular GP relationship rather than reactive crisis calls. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least every three months and whenever your parent's condition changes. The inspection does not tell us how often reviews happen here, so ask the manager directly and ask whether families are routinely included in those reviews.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training focused on non-verbal communication and behaviour as communication produced measurable improvements in resident wellbeing and reductions in distress. Generic care training alone is not sufficient for a specialist dementia home.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what specific dementia training staff have completed in the last 12 months and whether it covers non-verbal communication and understanding behaviour as a form of expression. Ask to see an example of how a care plan is updated when a resident's needs change."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the March 2022 inspection. This domain assesses whether staff are kind, whether dignity and privacy are respected, and whether residents are treated as individuals. No specific observations of staff interactions, preferred name use, or resident responses are recorded in the published text. No concerns about dignity or respect were raised. A Good rating in this domain requires inspectors to have found positive evidence during the visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews across more than 5,000 UK care homes. Compassion and dignity together appear in 55.2% of positive reviews. These are not soft extras. They are the core of what makes a home somewhere your mum or dad can settle and feel safe. The inspection confirms inspectors were satisfied, but without specific observations in the published text you cannot know whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they knock before entering rooms, or whether they move at a pace that feels unhurried. These are things you can only assess by visiting, ideally unannounced or at a time the home is not expecting you.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication in dementia care. Staff who adjust their posture, maintain calm eye contact, and approach slowly before speaking produce measurably better responses in people with advanced dementia than those who rely on words alone.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how staff approach a resident who appears unsettled or confused. Do they crouch to eye level, speak slowly and calmly, and wait for a response? Or do they talk over the resident while continuing to carry out a task? This is one of the most reliable visible signs of genuine dementia care quality."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the March 2022 inspection. This covers activities, individual engagement, responsiveness to complaints, and end-of-life care. The published text does not describe the activity programme, any examples of individual engagement, or how the home handles complaints or end-of-life planning. No concerns were raised. The home is registered to care for people with dementia, which implies some consideration of how to engage people who may not be able to participate in group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in this domain is encouraging, but activities are one of the areas where the gap between a Good inspection rating and daily reality can be widest. Our review data shows that activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, with families most satisfied when activities are tailored to the individual rather than delivered as group programmes. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that people with advanced dementia benefit from everyday household tasks, sensory activities, and one-to-one engagement rather than group entertainment. The published findings tell us nothing about what actually happens here, so this is an area to probe carefully on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and familiar everyday tasks, such as folding laundry, sorting objects, and simple gardening, produced stronger engagement and lower levels of distress in people with dementia than structured group entertainment programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator (or manager, if there is no dedicated coordinator) what happens for a resident who cannot join group sessions. Ask to see last week's actual activity records, not the planned schedule, and ask specifically what one-to-one activity happened for the person in the home with the most advanced dementia."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the March 2022 inspection. The inspection identifies a named registered manager (Kerry Ann Rafferty) and a nominated individual (Paul Harvey) from the operating organisation, Maple Care Limited. A Good Well-led rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with governance, staff culture, and accountability arrangements. The published text does not describe management visibility, staff morale, how the home handles complaints, or how it learns from incidents. No concerns were raised.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to our Good Practice evidence base. A home with a consistent, visible manager tends to maintain quality because staff know expectations and feel supported to raise concerns. The presence of a named registered manager is a positive sign, but this inspection is now over three years old. Manager turnover in the sector is high, so it is worth asking whether Kerry Ann Rafferty is still in post and how long she has been at the home. Communication with families is mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews and is particularly important in dementia care, where your parent may not be able to tell you themselves if something is wrong.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel able to speak up without fear are the two strongest organisational predictors of sustained care quality. Homes where the manager is known by name to both residents and staff consistently outperform those with frequent leadership changes.","watch_out":"When you speak to the manager, ask how long she has been in post and whether there have been significant staff changes in the last 12 months. Also ask how the home would contact you if your parent had a fall, a health change, or a distressing incident, and how quickly you would normally hear."}

  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 provides residential care for people over 65, including those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team brings patience and understanding to daily care. Families have noted how staff adapt their approach to each person's changing needs, maintaining dignity through different stages of memory loss. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.