Adelaide Care Home

What families say

Families consistently describe the happiness they see in their loved ones here. There's a real energy to the place, with activities ranging from arts and crafts to sports sessions keeping residents engaged at whatever level suits them best. The staff seem to have mastered that delicate balance of providing support while preserving dignity and choice.

Based on 24 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-11-15 · Report published 2023-11-15 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good, an improvement from Requires Improvement at the previous inspection. This indicates that earlier safety concerns have been addressed. The published report does not provide specific detail on falls management, medicines administration, infection control, or night-time staffing levels. The home supports a complex mix of needs including dementia and physical disabilities across 76 beds.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safety is reassuring, particularly because it follows a Requires Improvement finding, which means inspectors saw genuine progress rather than a home that has always coasted along. Good Practice research highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and agency reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs. Because the inspection report does not specify staffing ratios or falls data, you should ask these questions directly on your visit. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness is cited in 14% of positive reviews as a key safety signal, and it is something you can observe yourself.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night-time staffing ratios and reliance on agency staff are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. A home that has moved from Requires Improvement to Good should be able to show you what changed.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not a blank template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff covered the overnight shifts, and ask the ratio of carers to residents on the dementia unit after 8pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good. This covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. The inspection does not detail specific findings on GP access, dementia training content, medication management, or how care plans are reviewed and updated. The home's specialisms include dementia and mental health conditions, which require staff with specific, up-to-date skills.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied that the home broadly knows what it is doing, but the lack of published detail means you cannot rely on the rating alone to confirm your parent will receive truly personalised care. Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans should function as living documents, updated regularly and shaped by the person's own history, preferences, and changing needs. Food quality is cited positively in over 20% of family reviews and is a reliable indicator of whether a home genuinely attends to individual needs. Ask whether you can be part of the care planning process from the start.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated as a person's condition changes, not filed away after admission. Homes where families are actively included in reviews tend to produce better outcomes for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask how often your parent's care plan would be formally reviewed, who is involved in that review, and how you as a family member would be invited to contribute. Ask whether staff have completed any named, accredited dementia training programme."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. The published report does not include specific observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they are treated, or examples of dignity in practice. The home supports people with a wide range of needs, including those who may have limited verbal communication.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews by name. Compassion and dignity together appear in 55.2% of positive reviews. These are things you can observe directly on a visit: do staff make eye contact with your parent, use their preferred name, and move without hurry? Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia, so watch how staff approach and engage with residents in communal spaces, not just in formal care tasks.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know an individual's history, preferences, and communication style, produces measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people living with dementia than task-focused care routines.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff passes a resident in a corridor. Do they stop, make eye contact, and speak? Or do they walk past? This small interaction is one of the most reliable indicators of the culture in a care home."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good. This covers activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life care. The published report does not include specific detail on the activities programme, whether one-to-one engagement is available for people unable to join groups, or how end-of-life plans are managed. The home supports people with dementia and other complex needs, for whom tailored individual activity is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. These are closely linked: a home where your parent has purposeful things to do is a home where they are more likely to be content. Good Practice evidence strongly supports tailored one-to-one activity for people in later stages of dementia who cannot participate in group sessions, including everyday household tasks that provide continuity with familiar life. The published findings do not confirm whether Adelaide Care Home offers this, so it is a question to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including familiar household tasks, significantly reduce agitation and improve wellbeing in people living with dementia, compared to group-only activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you the actual activity record for the past four weeks, not just a printed schedule. Ask specifically what happens for a resident who is unable or unwilling to join group activities: how would they be engaged one to one, and by whom?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, and the home has a named registered manager, Mrs Shiella Davies, and a nominated individual, Mrs Natasha Southall. This represents a move up from Requires Improvement at the prior inspection, suggesting leadership has been active in driving improvement. The published report does not detail the manager's tenure, how staff are supported to raise concerns, or how the home uses feedback from residents and families.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership appear in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families in 11.5%. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good tells you that leadership responded to criticism and made changes, which is a positive signal about accountability. Good Practice research shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes: a manager who has been in post for a sustained period, who is visible on the floor, and who staff feel comfortable speaking to, tends to produce more consistently good outcomes. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether there have been significant staffing changes recently.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that homes where staff feel genuinely empowered to raise concerns without fear of reprisal, and where managers are physically present and known to residents, show more sustained improvement over time than those relying on top-down governance alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long she has been in post, and ask what the main changes were that led to the improvement from the previous inspection rating. A manager who can answer that question clearly and specifically is one who understands what happened and why."}

  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 Adelaide provides specialized support for residents with dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments. They care for adults both under and over 65, adapting their approach to suit different life stages and needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on The dementia unit has built a strong reputation over many years. Staff show particular skill in connecting with residents living with dementia, maintaining that crucial thread of compassion even through the most challenging moments. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.