Abbotsleigh Mews Care Home – Bupa

What families say

Families consistently notice how their loved ones adapt to life here, building meaningful relationships with staff who show genuine emotional warmth. The home runs a programme of entertainment and seasonal events, with residents joining in singing, dancing and social activities that bring structure and joy to each day.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-08-10 · Report published 2023-08-10 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection, having previously been part of a Requires Improvement overall rating. This indicates inspectors were satisfied that safety systems, medicines management, staffing, and infection control met required standards. No specific observational detail, such as falls data, medicine error rates, or night staffing ratios, is available in the published findings. The home is a large 120-bed site, which means robust safety systems are particularly important to scrutinise.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but with 120 beds and a specialism in dementia, the detail behind that rating matters enormously to you as a family. Good Practice evidence from the rapid evidence review (61 studies, March 2026) consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in larger homes. Agency staff reliance is a second known risk, because unfamiliar staff are less likely to notice early signs of deterioration in a person with dementia. Neither of these specific factors is addressed in the published findings, so you need to ask about them directly before choosing this home.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies that in homes of over 60 beds, night-time staffing ratios and agency reliance are the two factors most strongly associated with adverse safety events for people with dementia. A Good rating does not tell you the ratio; you need to ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not a template. Count the number of permanent versus agency staff named on the night shift for the dementia unit specifically. For a 120-bed home, you should also ask how many nurses are on site overnight."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and how well the home applies its knowledge to individual residents. No specific detail about dementia training content, GP access frequency, or care plan quality is available in the published findings. The home's specialism in dementia means the quality of care planning for people with cognitive impairment is a particular priority for families.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia-specialist nursing home means more than ticking training boxes. It means staff understanding that your parent's behaviour is communication, that food intake requires patient, unhurried support, and that a care plan must be a living document updated as your parent changes. Our family review data shows that 20.2% of positive reviews specifically mention good healthcare co-ordination, and 12.7% mention dementia-specific understanding as a reason families feel confident. The inspection confirms a Good rating but does not tell you whether care plans here reflect your parent as an individual or are largely generic.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that care plans which record personal history, preferred name, life story, and communication preferences are significantly associated with reduced distress and better outcomes for people with dementia. A Good rating in Effective does not confirm this level of personalisation is present.","watch_out":"Ask to read a sample care plan, with personal details removed if necessary, and look for whether it records the person's life history, preferred name, favourite foods, and what helps them when distressed. A care plan that reads like a medical form rather than a portrait of a person is a concern."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain reflects how inspectors assessed staff warmth, dignity, privacy, and whether residents were treated as individuals. No resident quotes, relative feedback, or specific inspector observations about staff interactions are available in the published findings. The absence of specific detail makes it impossible to say from the report alone whether the Good rating reflects exceptional warmth or basic compliance.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most powerful driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes mention it by name, and 55.2% specifically mention compassion and dignity. These are not abstract values; they are observable on a visit. You can see whether a member of staff walking past your parent in a corridor slows down, makes eye contact, and uses their name, or walks past without acknowledgement. The inspection confirms a Good rating for Caring, but you should verify this yourself by visiting at a time when the home is not expecting you.","evidence_base":"Good Practice evidence confirms that for people with advanced dementia who cannot reliably report their own experience, non-verbal signals from staff, tone of voice, pace, eye contact, and physical gentleness, are the primary indicators of genuine compassionate care. Inspector visits are time-limited, so family observation across multiple visits remains essential.","watch_out":"During your visit, spend ten minutes watching how staff move through a communal area. Do they pause to speak to residents who are not calling for attention? Do they crouch to eye level? Do they use residents' preferred names unprompted? These small behaviours are the most reliable signal of an embedded caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors care to individual needs, whether activities are meaningful and accessible, and how end-of-life care is planned. No specific activity examples, engagement data, or end-of-life care detail is available in the published findings. For a 120-bed home with a dementia specialism, the range and quality of activities and the availability of one-to-one engagement are important factors that families cannot assess from this report alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows that 27.1% of positive reviews specifically mention residents appearing content and engaged, and 21.4% mention a varied activity programme. For your parent with dementia, the question is not just whether group activities exist, but whether staff engage them individually when they cannot join a group. Good Practice research consistently shows that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, folding laundry, tending plants, sorting objects, produce measurable reductions in agitation and increases in wellbeing for people with dementia. The inspection rating does not tell you whether these approaches are in use here.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that one-to-one, tailored engagement, rather than group activities alone, is the most effective approach for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that offer only group activities may be leaving the most vulnerable residents without meaningful stimulation for large parts of the day.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity log, including records of one-to-one engagement. Ask specifically what would happen for your parent on a day when they could not join a group session. If the answer is that they would sit in the lounge with the television on, that is a gap worth discussing before you commit."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection, and the home has improved from an overall Requires Improvement rating under the current registered manager. Ms Christen San Pedro is the named registered manager and Mr Donald Day is the nominated individual for the provider, Bupa Care Homes (CFHCare) Limited. No specific detail about management culture, staff feedback mechanisms, governance processes, or family communication practices is available in the published findings. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is a meaningful signal that leadership has made a positive difference.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research consistently identifies leadership stability as the strongest predictor of quality trajectory in a care home. The fact that this home has moved from Requires Improvement to Good is a positive sign, and it matters who led that change. Our family review data shows that 23.4% of positive reviews specifically mention management, and 11.5% mention good communication with families as a reason for their confidence. As a large Bupa-operated home, you should expect robust corporate governance, but local culture is shaped by the registered manager, not the head office. Ask how long Ms San Pedro has been in post and what specific changes she made.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, what researchers call psychological safety, consistently outperform those with top-down cultures on quality and safety metrics. Manager tenure and staff turnover are the two most accessible proxies for this culture that families can ask about directly.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long she has been in post, and ask a care assistant (not a manager) what it is like to work there. A care assistant who can speak freely and positively about the team and the manager, without looking over their shoulder, tells you more about leadership culture than any written policy."}

  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 over 65, including those living with dementia. They also provide palliative care when needed, with families noting the quality of support during these sensitive times.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the staff's patient approach helps create stability and routine. The combination of structured activities and compassionate daily care provides the consistency that can make such a difference. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.