Rectory Care

What families say

People talk about the warmth they feel when they visit. The team's attentiveness comes through in the way families describe their loved ones being looked after, and there's a sense that residents feel settled and safe here.

Based on 12 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth85
• Compassion & dignity88
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement82
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership88
• Resident happiness80

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-10-09 · Report published 2019-10-09 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2019 inspection. This indicates inspectors did not find significant concerns about safeguarding practice, medicines management, staffing numbers, or infection control at that time. The published summary does not reproduce specific observations about night staffing ratios, falls management, or how the home handles incidents. A Good rating in Safety means the threshold for acceptable practice was met, but it does not carry the same weight of specific evidence as the Outstanding domains.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safety rating is reassuring but not the end of your enquiry. Our Good Practice evidence base flags night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in residential care homes, and the published findings give no detail on overnight cover for the 31 people who live here. Agency staff reliance is a second concern: people living with dementia settle far better with familiar faces, and high agency use undermines that consistency. The inspection is also more than five years old, so conditions may have changed. Use your visit to probe these specifics rather than relying on the rating alone.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that incidents of avoidable harm in care homes are disproportionately concentrated in night hours, when staffing ratios are thinnest and manager oversight is lowest. Asking about overnight cover is therefore one of the highest-value safety questions a family can ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent, named carers are on duty on the dementia unit between 10pm and 7am, and what is the home's current policy on agency staff? Request to see last week's actual rota, not the planned template."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2019 inspection. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside care for adults over 65, which implies some level of dedicated training and care planning for people living with dementia. The published summary does not describe specific training content, how often care plans are reviewed, whether families are included in reviews, or how the home monitors and responds to changing health needs. A Good Effective rating means the standard for competent practice was met at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Food quality alone accounts for nearly 21% of positive themes in our national family review data, yet the inspection summary contains no detail about meals, choice, or dietary accommodation. Similarly, dementia training quality varies enormously between homes: a specialism registration does not guarantee that staff can recognise and respond to the non-verbal communication your mum or dad may rely on as dementia progresses. The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least monthly for people with changing needs, and family involvement in those reviews is a strong marker of a genuinely person-led approach. Ask specifically about both.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training focused on non-verbal communication and behavioural understanding, rather than generic awareness, significantly improved quality of life outcomes for care home residents. Ask what training framework the home uses and when staff last completed it.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample (anonymised) care plan and ask the manager: when was it last formally reviewed, who was in the room for that review, and how do families feed in between reviews? This will tell you whether care planning is a live process or a filing exercise."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Outstanding at the September 2019 inspection, which is the highest possible rating and is awarded to fewer than 5% of care homes in England. To achieve Outstanding in Caring, inspectors must find specific, consistent evidence that staff treat people with genuine warmth, dignity, and respect; that residents are supported to maintain independence; and that privacy is protected as a matter of course rather than compliance. The published summary does not reproduce the specific observations or quotes that led to this rating, but the standard required to achieve it is high and meaningfully differentiated from Good.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. An Outstanding Caring rating is therefore the rating that matters most to families like yours. What you cannot determine from the published summary alone is whether the same staff, culture, and leadership that produced this rating in 2019 are still in place today. Staff turnover, a change of manager, or a rapid increase in occupancy can all erode a caring culture over time. The rating tells you what was found; your visit tells you what is here now.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies non-verbal communication as a critical and often overlooked dimension of caring interactions for people with advanced dementia. Homes rated Outstanding for Caring typically show staff who slow down, make eye contact, and respond to mood and body language rather than relying solely on verbal exchange.","watch_out":"During your visit, spend ten minutes watching corridor interactions between staff and residents rather than focusing on the tour. Notice whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they crouch to eye level, and whether they seem rushed. These small behaviours are the most reliable signal of whether the Outstanding Caring rating reflects today's reality."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Outstanding at the September 2019 inspection. An Outstanding Responsive rating requires inspectors to find that the home tailors its approach to the individual needs, preferences, and histories of the people who live there, rather than applying a standardised programme. This includes activities, daily routines, and how the home responds to complaints and changing needs. The published summary does not describe specific activities, individual engagement approaches for people with advanced dementia, or how the home handles end-of-life care planning.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews nationally, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. An Outstanding Responsive rating is a strong signal that the home was doing something genuinely different in this area at inspection, not just offering bingo on a Tuesday and calling it a programme. The Good Practice evidence base specifically highlights that people with advanced dementia benefit from one-to-one engagement and familiar household tasks rather than group activities alone. What the published findings cannot tell you is whether the home has maintained this level of responsiveness since 2019, or whether increased occupancy has stretched the staffing available for individual engagement.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and individually tailored activity programmes, including familiar household tasks adapted to ability, produced measurable improvements in wellbeing for people living with dementia compared to standard group activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: what would a typical Tuesday look like for a resident who cannot join a group session due to advanced dementia? If the answer describes specific one-to-one engagement rather than a generic response, that is a strong positive sign."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Outstanding at the September 2019 inspection. This is the rating that most directly predicts whether all other quality standards will be sustained over time. An Outstanding Well-led rating requires evidence of a strong, visible management culture; staff who feel able to speak up; robust governance systems that identify and act on concerns; and a track record of learning from incidents and feedback. The home is registered under a named manager and a nominated individual, both of whom are identified in published records. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence requiring a reassessment of the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews nationally, and our Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability as the single strongest predictor of quality trajectory in a care home. A home with Outstanding Well-led in 2019 has demonstrated it can reach the highest standard of governance; the question for you in 2025 is whether the same leadership is in place and whether the culture has been maintained as the home operates at whatever occupancy it now holds. Communication with families is a key marker of good leadership: homes rated Outstanding in this domain typically have clear, proactive processes for updating relatives rather than leaving families to chase information.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically manager tenure of two or more years, was associated with significantly better staff retention, lower agency reliance, and higher resident wellbeing scores. Manager turnover is therefore one of the most important background facts to establish before choosing a home.","watch_out":"Ask directly: how long has the current registered manager been in post, and has the management structure changed since 2019? A manager who has been in place throughout the period since the Outstanding rating is a meaningful positive signal; a recent appointment means you are trusting a rating earned under different leadership."}

  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 Old Rectory specialises in caring for people over 65, including those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the home's consistent routines and familiar faces help create a reassuring environment where people can feel secure. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.