The Willows

What families say

People describe the staff as thoughtful and deeply committed to both residents and their colleagues. The caring approach seems to run through the team, with families noticing how staff really invest themselves in the wellbeing of those they care for.

Based on 5 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 2019-08-14 · Report published 2019-08-14 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Willows was rated Good for safety at its February 2022 inspection. This follows a previous Requires Improvement rating, suggesting that earlier safety concerns were identified and resolved. The published inspection text does not include specific detail about staffing numbers, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices. The home has a registered manager in post and is run by Hexon Limited. No specific safety concerns are recorded in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a period of Requires Improvement is meaningful: it indicates the provider did not simply wait out scrutiny but made changes sufficient to satisfy inspectors. That said, safety is where families most often tell us they want specifics, not ratings. Our review data identifies staff attentiveness as a concern in 14% of negative reviews. Good Practice research consistently shows that night-time is when safety slips in care homes, particularly where agency staff cover shifts and do not know residents well. The published findings do not tell you anything about night staffing at The Willows, so this is the most important gap to fill before you decide.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the clearest predictors of safety risk in care homes, because unfamiliar staff cannot recognise subtle changes in a person with dementia's behaviour that signal deterioration.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count how many overnight shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask the name of the senior on duty most nights."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Willows was rated Good for effectiveness at its February 2022 inspection. The home is registered to provide dementia care and personal care for adults over 65. The published inspection text does not describe specific details about care planning, dementia training content, GP access arrangements, or food and nutrition practices. A named registered manager is in post. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating suggests that earlier gaps in effectiveness were addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in dementia care is about whether the home understands your parent as an individual, not just as someone with a diagnosis. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, finds that care plans work best when they are reviewed regularly with family input and treat the person's history, preferences, and routines as clinical information, not background detail. Food quality is a particularly telling marker: 20.9% of positive family reviews specifically mention meals, and a home that gets food right, including texture-modified options and flexible meal times, usually gets other things right too. None of this detail is available in the published findings for The Willows, so it needs to be established on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, particularly training that covers non-verbal communication and behavioural expression of pain or distress, significantly improves care outcomes, but the content and recency of training varies widely between homes even with the same rating.","watch_out":"Ask whether you can sit in on a mealtime during your visit. Watch whether staff support residents who need help without rushing, whether there is genuine choice, and whether the food looks and smells appetising. Then ask the manager when staff last completed dementia-specific training and what it covered."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Willows was rated Good for caring at its February 2022 inspection. The published text does not include specific inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they are treated, or descriptions of how dignity and privacy are maintained. The home holds a Caring rating of Good following a previous period of Requires Improvement. No concerns about dignity, respect, or kindness are recorded in the available findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Caring is the dimension that matters most to families: 57.3% of positive reviews in our dataset of 3,602 responses mention staff warmth by name, and 55.2% mention compassion and dignity. A Good rating for Caring is reassuring, but the absence of specific observations in the published text means you cannot rely on the inspection alone to judge this. Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal in dementia care: how quickly a carer responds to agitation, whether they crouch to eye level, and whether they use a resident's preferred name are the signals that reflect a genuinely caring culture. These are things you can observe directly on a visit, and they will tell you more than any rating.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that person-led care in dementia settings depends on staff knowing each resident's individual history, including preferred names, significant life events, and daily routines, and that homes where this knowledge is embedded in practice rather than just written in a file produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"When you arrive for your visit, notice how a staff member greets your parent or another resident in the corridor. Do they use a name? Do they stop walking? Do they make eye contact? Then ask the manager: what name does your parent prefer, and how would staff know that on their first shift?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Willows was rated Good for responsiveness at its February 2022 inspection. The home is registered for dementia care and older adults across 33 beds. The published inspection text does not describe the activity programme, one-to-one engagement, end-of-life planning, or how the home responds to individual needs and preferences. No concerns about responsiveness are recorded. The improvement from Requires Improvement suggests that earlier gaps in this area were addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is the domain that determines whether your parent will have a life at The Willows, not just a safe place to sleep. Our review data shows that 21.4% of positive family reviews specifically mention activities and engagement, and 27.1% mention residents appearing content and settled. Good Practice research consistently finds that activity programmes are most effective when they include one-to-one engagement tailored to the individual, not just group sessions that suit the majority. For someone with advanced dementia who cannot participate in a group, the question of what happens on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon is the most important one to ask. The published findings do not answer it.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found strong evidence that Montessori-based approaches and the inclusion of familiar household tasks, such as folding, sorting, or simple food preparation, produce meaningful engagement and reduced distress in people with moderate to advanced dementia, independently of group activity attendance.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator or manager what happened last Tuesday for a resident who does not join group sessions. If they can describe a specific, named activity for a specific person, that is a good sign. If the answer is general or vague, probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Willows was rated Good for well-led at its February 2022 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. Mrs Isabell Dawn Bowman is the named Registered Manager and Mr Tamby Seeneevassen is the Nominated Individual. The published inspection text does not describe the manager's visibility, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home handles complaints and incidents. The improvement across all five domains from the previous inspection suggests that leadership changes or improvements had a positive effect.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the clearest predictors of care quality over time. Good Practice research identifies that homes where the registered manager is visible, known to residents, and able to listen to staff concerns produce consistently better outcomes than those where management is remote or frequently changing. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains is a positive signal about the current leadership, but you cannot tell from the published text how long the current manager has been in post, whether staffing is stable, or how the home handles complaints. Communication with families is cited in 11.5% of our positive review data as a distinguishing feature of well-run homes. Ask directly how the manager would contact you.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that manager tenure and staff empowerment, specifically whether front-line carers feel able to raise concerns without fear, are stronger predictors of sustained quality than inspection ratings alone, because ratings reflect a point in time while culture determines day-to-day practice.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager how long they have been in post at The Willows and what the biggest change they made after the previous Requires Improvement rating was. A manager who can answer this specifically and without hesitation is a good sign that the improvement is real rather than cosmetic."}

  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 Willows cares for people over 65, including those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For families dealing with dementia, the home provides specialist support. The team understands the unique challenges dementia brings and works to create an environment where residents feel secure and valued. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.