Abbeyfield Winnersh

What families say

Families describe walking into a home where residents are engaged in cinema afternoons, interactive games, or themed activities tailored to individual interests. The approach here focuses on what each person can do, rather than what they can't, with staff who take time to understand individual preferences and adapt activities accordingly.

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 & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-01-10 · Report published 2019-01-10 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Safe domain at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, safeguarding, infection control, and the physical safety of the environment. No specific detail from inspector observations or records is available in the published report summary. The previous Requires Improvement rating suggests there were safety-related concerns in the past, and the improvement to Good indicates these have been addressed to an acceptable standard.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe means inspectors found the home was meeting the required standard at the time of the visit. However, the inspection findings for this domain contain no specific observations, so it is not possible to confirm whether this reflects genuinely strong practice or simply adequate compliance. Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and agency reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs. Because the report gives no detail on either of these points, you need to ask directly. Cleanliness is mentioned by families in 24.3% of positive reviews as a key signal of a well-run home; walk through the home unannounced if possible and form your own view.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and the consistent use of permanent staff are among the strongest predictors of safe care outcomes in residential settings. A Good rating does not confirm these are adequate; it confirms they were not found to be inadequate at inspection.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Specifically ask how many permanent carers are on duty on the dementia unit after 8pm, and what proportion of shifts in the last month were covered by agency workers."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Effective domain at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers training, care plan quality, healthcare access, nutrition, and how well the home meets the specific needs of people with dementia. No specific detail about any of these areas is available in the published report summary. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which means inspectors would have looked at dementia-specific practice as part of this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effective care for someone with dementia means more than ticking training boxes. It means staff who understand how dementia changes the way a person communicates, eats, and experiences their environment. The inspection confirms the standard was met, but gives no evidence of what dementia training actually looks like here or whether care plans are genuinely person-centred. Food quality is cited in 20.9% of positive family reviews as a marker of genuine care; it is worth eating a meal at the home or asking to see a week of menus before you decide. Healthcare access, including regular GP review and prompt response to changes in health, is the area families most often discover gaps in only after their parent has moved in.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed regularly and updated to reflect changes in a person's dementia. Homes where care plans are co-produced with the person and their family, and reviewed at least monthly, consistently show better outcomes than those where plans are created at admission and rarely revisited.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if necessary) and ask when it was last updated and by whom. Check whether it includes the person's life history, preferred routines, communication preferences, and what helps when they are distressed."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Caring domain at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether staff treat people with kindness, respect, and dignity, and whether residents' independence is supported. No inspector observations, resident comments, or family testimony are available in the published report summary. A Good rating in Caring is the single most important headline rating for many families, but without specific evidence it is difficult to know what the inspectors actually saw.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the most frequently cited theme in our family review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews across more than 5,400 UK care homes. It is also the hardest thing to assess from a published report when no specific observations are recorded. What families describe in positive reviews is very concrete: staff who use their parent's preferred name without being asked, who sit down rather than standing over someone, who respond to distress calmly and without obvious frustration. You cannot verify these things from this report. You need to visit, ideally at a time the home is not expecting you, and watch how staff move through the building and interact with the people who live there. Compassion and dignity, cited in 55.2% of positive reviews, are observable in the small moments.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia. Staff who make eye contact, move at the person's pace, and respond to emotional cues rather than just words deliver measurably better care experiences, even when the person cannot articulate this themselves.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch whether staff knock before entering a resident's room and whether they use the resident's preferred name without prompting. Notice whether any staff member sits down with a resident during your visit, rather than talking down to them while standing. These are specific, observable indicators of a caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Responsive domain at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home provides personalised activities, responds to individual needs and preferences, and plans appropriately for end of life. No specific detail about the activities programme, individual engagement, or end-of-life planning is available in the published report summary. The home's specialism in dementia means responsiveness to the particular needs of people with cognitive impairment would have been considered during the inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, but what families mean by a good activity programme is often different from what a rota sheet shows. For people with dementia, group activities in a lounge are not always meaningful or accessible. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that one-to-one engagement, everyday tasks like folding laundry or tending plants, and Montessori-based approaches produce better wellbeing outcomes than scheduled group sessions alone. Resident happiness, the third most commonly cited theme in family reviews at 27.1%, is directly linked to whether your parent has things to do that feel purposeful to them. The inspection confirms this domain met the standard, but gives no detail on what that actually looks like day to day.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF rapid evidence review found that tailored one-to-one activities, particularly those drawing on a person's life history and past interests, are significantly more effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group activities alone. Homes rated Good in Responsive do not always provide this level of individual engagement; it is worth verifying directly.","watch_out":"Ask what would happen on a typical Tuesday afternoon for someone with mid-stage dementia who cannot easily join a group activity. Ask to see the activities record for the past month and check whether it shows individual as well as group engagement. Ask who leads one-to-one activities when the activities coordinator is not on shift."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in the Well-led domain at the April 2025 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Alice Sarah Joanna Dunning, is recorded as in post, with Ms Helen Gilbert as nominated individual. The home is part of the Abbeyfield Society, a not-for-profit organisation. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home responds to complaints is available in the published report summary. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good suggests that leadership has stabilised and governance concerns identified previously have been addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in a care home. The Good Practice evidence base is consistent on this point: homes where the manager is known to residents and staff by name, is visible on the floor, and has been in post for more than a year tend to maintain and improve their ratings. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is a positive signal, but it is worth understanding how long the current manager has been in post and whether the improvement reflects structural change or a response to inspection pressure. Communication with families is cited in 11.5% of positive reviews; ask how the home typically informs you if your parent's health or wellbeing changes.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that bottom-up empowerment, where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, is a consistent marker of well-led services. Homes where frontline staff can name the manager and describe feeling listened to produce better outcomes than those where governance is experienced as top-down or compliance-driven.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post at this home and what the main change they made after the previous Requires Improvement rating was. Ask a member of care staff (not the manager) how they would raise a concern if they were worried about a resident's care. The confidence and specificity of that answer will tell you a great deal."}

  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 adults over 65, with particular expertise in dementia care. They also support younger adults who need residential care.. Gaps or open questions remain on The dementia care here benefits from both thoughtful building design and an approach that maintains dignity and choice. Staff work to understand each resident's needs and preferences, adapting their support to help people stay as independent as possible. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.