Woodend Care Home – Bupa

What families say

Families describe how staff create meaningful days for residents here. They plan activities around what each person enjoys, whether that's community volunteering or quieter pursuits. People talk about seeing their relatives engaged with life in ways they hadn't expected possible in care.

Based on 13 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement68
• Food quality68
• Healthcare72
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-03-21 · Report published 2023-03-21 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the inspection on 6 March 2023, an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This means inspectors were satisfied that medicines, staffing levels, and risk management met the required standard. The published report does not include specific observations about falls management, agency staff usage, or night staffing ratios. The home provides nursing care, which means qualified nurses must be present at all times. No specific concerns were recorded in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a period of Requires Improvement is genuinely reassuring, but it is the starting point for your questions, not the end of them. Our Good Practice evidence highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency your parent needs, particularly if they have dementia and find unfamiliar faces distressing. The published report does not tell us the staffing numbers or agency usage at Woodend, so you will need to ask those questions directly. On your visit, count how many staff you see in communal areas during the late afternoon handover, when homes are often at their thinnest.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Homes that improved from Requires Improvement often address headline concerns first and staffing consistency second.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many carers and nurses are on the dementia unit between 10pm and 6am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the March 2023 inspection. This covers care planning, staff training, health monitoring, and access to healthcare professionals including GPs. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a commitment to dementia-specific training and care approaches. However, the published report does not include specific detail on how care plans are written or reviewed, what dementia training staff receive, or how the home monitors health outcomes. No information is available on food quality or dietary support.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effective tells you that inspectors were satisfied with the basics of care planning and training, but it does not tell you whether your parent's care plan will reflect who they actually are, their preferred name, their daily routine, their food preferences, and their communication style. Our Good Practice evidence identifies care plans as living documents that should be co-authored with families, not filed away after admission. Food quality is consistently one of the top concerns in our family review data, appearing in 20.9% of positive reviews by name, yet the inspection gives us nothing specific to go on here. Ask to read a sample care plan on your visit and ask how often plans are formally reviewed with family input.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training which goes beyond basic online modules, specifically training in non-verbal communication and person-led approaches, is associated with measurably better outcomes for people living with dementia. Ask what the dementia training at Woodend actually covers.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to describe what dementia training all staff (including domestic and catering staff) receive, and ask whether you can contribute to your parent's care plan before and after admission. Request to see how the home records and acts on a resident's food preferences."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the March 2023 inspection. This domain covers how staff treat the people who live in the home, including respect for dignity, privacy, and independence. The published report does not include direct observations of staff interactions, preferred name usage, or how staff respond to residents in distress. No resident or family quotes are recorded in the published summary. The absence of specific evidence means this rating reflects inspectors' professional judgement rather than documented specific observations that can be independently assessed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract concepts; they show up in small, observable moments: whether a staff member knocks before entering a room, whether they use your parent's preferred name, whether they sit at eye level to speak to someone in a chair. The inspection tells us that the Caring domain met the standard, but it does not give us the specific evidence that would let you feel confident about those everyday moments. You will need to see them for yourself. A Good Caring rating from a home that was previously Requires Improvement is encouraging, and it is worth asking the manager what specifically changed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that non-verbal communication, including tone, pace, and physical approach, matters as much as words for people with advanced dementia. Homes where staff consistently use preferred names and unhurried body language show lower rates of distress behaviours.","watch_out":"When you visit, spend time in a communal area and watch how staff speak to residents. Notice whether they crouch or sit to be at the same level, whether they use the resident's name, and whether anyone appears rushed. These are things no rating can tell you."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the March 2023 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, and supports people approaching the end of life. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside general adult nursing care. The published report does not include detail on the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or end-of-life planning. No information is available about how the home tailors its provision to people with advanced dementia who cannot participate in group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive family reviews in our data, and activities and engagement account for a further 21.4%. For a parent with dementia, a good activities programme is not just a nice extra: it is a clinical tool that reduces anxiety, supports sleep, and maintains cognitive function for longer. Our Good Practice evidence highlights that the best homes offer individual engagement for people who cannot join group sessions, not just a communal timetable. The inspection confirms that Responsive was rated Good, but it gives no detail on what that looks like day to day at Woodend. Ask to see the actual activity log for last week, not the planned programme, and ask specifically what happens for a resident who spends most of their time in their room.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking activities, produce measurable reductions in agitation for people with dementia. One-to-one engagement is consistently more effective than group-only programmes for people in the later stages.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's completed activity log rather than the planned schedule. Ask specifically what one-to-one engagement is offered to residents who cannot join group sessions, and how often that actually happens."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the March 2023 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Jane Elizabeth Abdoh, is recorded as being in post. The home is operated by Bupa Care Homes (ANS) Limited, a large national provider. The previous inspection resulted in a Requires Improvement rating, and the home has since improved to Good across all domains. The published report does not include information on manager tenure, staff turnover, governance structures, or how the home handles complaints.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and communication with families accounts for 11.5%. Our Good Practice evidence identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time: a manager who has been in post for several years, knows residents by name, and is visible on the floor creates a measurably different culture from one who is new or office-bound. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is the clearest positive signal in this report. It tells you that someone identified problems and fixed them. The question for your visit is whether that improvement is embedded or whether it rests on one individual. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and what she is most proud of changing.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that homes where staff feel able to speak up about concerns without fear of reprisal consistently outperform those with top-down management cultures. Ask the manager how staff raise concerns and what happened the last time a concern was raised.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in this role, what were the specific findings that led to the previous Requires Improvement rating, and what evidence can you show me that those changes have been sustained? A manager who is proud of the improvement will have a clear, detailed answer."}

  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 cares for adults under 65 as well as older residents, which creates a varied community. They also provide specialist dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team focuses on maintaining connections to familiar interests and activities. Staff work to understand what brings comfort and meaning to each person's day. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.