Amarna House Care Home
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Residential homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds80
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Caring for adults under 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities, Sensory impairment
- Last inspected2018-10-18
- Activities programmeThe home maintains high standards of cleanliness throughout, with spotless rooms and well-kept communal areas that create a comfortable living environment. While the physical spaces are clearly well-maintained, it's worth noting that some aspects of daily life, including meal quality, have drawn mixed feedback from families over the years.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Families visiting Amarna House often comment on how welcoming the atmosphere feels from the moment they arrive. Staff take time to chat with residents and visitors alike, creating connections that go beyond routine care tasks. The home has developed a reputation for helping residents transition smoothly from other care settings, with families particularly noting how staff communicate proactively during those crucial early weeks.
Based on 25 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
- Healthcare68
- Management & leadership72
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2018-10-18 · Report published 2018-10-18 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating for safety at its September 2018 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and incidents. No specific concerns were raised. The published findings do not include staffing numbers, night rota details, or examples of how incidents are logged and learned from. The home is registered to support 80 people across a range of needs including dementia and physical disabilities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safe rating tells you that inspectors did not find unsafe conditions on the day they visited. For a home of 80 beds with dementia specialisms, the questions that matter most after that are about night staffing and agency use, because Good Practice research consistently identifies the hours after 8pm as where safety is most likely to slip. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness accounts for 14% of positive review mentions, meaning families notice and remember whether staff are present and responsive. The published findings here do not confirm staffing numbers, so you should ask the home directly before making a decision.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night-time staffing ratios are one of the strongest predictors of preventable harm in care homes. Homes that rely heavily on agency staff at night show less consistent responses to resident distress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not a template. Count how many permanent staff are named on the night shift versus agency or bank staff, and ask what the minimum staffing level is for nights across the 80 beds."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating for effectiveness at its September 2018 inspection. This domain covers staff training, care planning, access to healthcare professionals, and nutrition and hydration. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which means inspectors would have considered whether staff training and care approaches were appropriate for people living with dementia. No specific training content, care plan examples, GP access arrangements, or food quality details are recorded in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness is where the detail of your parent's individual care sits. Care plans that reflect who your parent actually is, their food preferences, their daily routine, their communication needs, are what separate genuine person-centred care from box-ticking. Our family review data identifies dementia-specific care as a concern for 12.7% of reviewers, and food quality features in 20.9% of positive reviews, meaning both matter a great deal to families. The inspection found no problems here, but without specific evidence you should ask to see a sample care plan and ask how often plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans function best as living documents updated with family input after each significant change in a person's condition. Homes that treat care plans as static paperwork tend to show lower responsiveness to individual needs.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed, and whether you would be contacted and invited to contribute when your parent's plan is updated. Ask specifically what dementia training staff complete and when it was last refreshed."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating in the Caring domain at its September 2018 inspection. This domain covers how staff treat residents day to day, including warmth, dignity, privacy, and respect for independence. No specific inspector observations about staff interactions, resident preferences, or dignity practices are included in the published findings. No resident or family quotes are recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews. Compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. A Good Caring rating means inspectors found no concerns, but the published text gives you nothing specific to hold on to. What you are looking for on a visit is whether staff use your parent's preferred name without being prompted, whether interactions feel unhurried, and whether staff make eye contact and speak directly to your parent rather than about them. Those small, observable behaviours are what the Good Practice evidence base identifies as markers of genuinely person-centred care.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication, including eye contact, tone, and pace, is as important as spoken words for people living with dementia. Staff who are trained in this show measurably lower rates of distress in residents.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how a staff member greets your parent during the tour. Do they crouch to eye level, use a calm voice, and use a name? If staff pass residents in corridors without acknowledgement, that is a signal worth noting."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating in the Responsive domain at its September 2018 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its care and activities to individual residents, including people with dementia, and how it handles complaints. No specific activities, individual engagement examples, or complaint-handling details are recorded in the published findings. The home supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means responsiveness to varied and complex needs is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive review mentions in our family data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good Responsive rating is reassuring, but what matters for your parent is whether there is something meaningful to do beyond a group sing-along. The Good Practice evidence base shows that people living with advanced dementia benefit most from one-to-one engagement and familiar household activities, not just organised group sessions. The published findings do not confirm whether this home provides individual activity time. Ask specifically what happens for residents who cannot or do not want to join group activities.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and household activity approaches, folding, sorting, simple cooking tasks, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group entertainment alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past two weeks and ask how many one-to-one activity sessions were recorded for residents with advanced dementia. Ask who provides those sessions if the activity coordinator is off."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating for leadership at its September 2018 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Linda Clorinda Donnellan-Beevers, and a nominated individual, Mrs Natasha Southall, were recorded as accountable for the home at the time of inspection. The home is run by Avery Homes (Nelson) Limited. No specific examples of governance practices, staff culture, audit processes, or how the home responds to feedback are included in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of consistent care quality, according to Good Practice research. A named manager in post is a good sign, but it is worth checking whether the same manager is still in post, since this inspection took place in September 2018. Our family review data shows that communication with families features in 11.5% of positive reviews, meaning families notice and value being kept informed. Ask whether the registered manager is still in post, how long they have been there, and how the home typically contacts families when something changes with their parent's care.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically a consistent registered manager rather than frequent change, is one of the clearest predictors of sustained care quality. Homes with high manager turnover show more variable outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"Ask whether the registered manager named in the 2018 inspection report is still in post. If there has been a change, ask how long the current manager has been in role and whether a new inspection has taken place since. A home that has grown in occupancy under new leadership without a recent inspection carries more uncertainty."}
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 specialises in supporting people with dementia alongside physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They welcome both younger adults under 65 and older residents, bringing specialist knowledge to complex care situations.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the staff work to create familiar routines and maintain dignity through all stages of the condition. The team's experience with dementia care shows in their patient approach and understanding of how the condition affects each person differently. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
Amarna House Care Home received a Good rating across all five inspection domains in September 2018, which is a genuinely positive baseline. However, the published inspection text contains very limited specific detail, so scores reflect a confirmed Good rating rather than strong observational evidence.
Homes in Yorkshire & Humberside typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Families visiting Amarna House often comment on how welcoming the atmosphere feels from the moment they arrive. Staff take time to chat with residents and visitors alike, creating connections that go beyond routine care tasks. The home has developed a reputation for helping residents transition smoothly from other care settings, with families particularly noting how staff communicate proactively during those crucial early weeks.
What inspectors have recorded
The management team at Amarna House maintains a visible presence, with families often meeting senior staff during visits and assessments. However, some longer-term families have raised concerns about how management responds to feedback, particularly around fall prevention and staffing levels. These experiences suggest the importance of establishing clear communication expectations from the start.
How it sits against good practice
Visiting Amarna House will give you the clearest picture of whether their approach matches what your family needs.
Worth a visit
Amarna House Care Home, on Rosetta Way in York, was rated Good across all five inspection domains following an inspection in September 2018. That is a positive and consistent result for an 80-bed home that supports people living with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment alongside older and younger adults. A named registered manager and nominated individual were in post at the time of inspection, providing clear accountability at the top of the home. The main uncertainty here is straightforward: the published inspection report contains very little specific detail beyond the ratings themselves. There are no inspector observations, no resident or family quotes, and no examples of what good care looked like day to day. That means this report cannot tell you whether your parent would be warm and well-engaged, only that the inspection found no reason to mark the home down. Before you decide, visit in person during a weekday afternoon, ask to see the staffing rota for the past two weeks (including nights), and ask what one-to-one activity provision looks like for someone who cannot join group sessions.
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In Their Own Words
How Amarna House Care Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where warmth meets expertise in specialist dementia care
Amarna House Care Home – Your Trusted residential home
Finding the right care feels overwhelming when your loved one needs specialist support. Amarna House Care Home in York brings together experienced staff who understand complex needs with a genuine warmth that helps residents settle quickly. The team here supports people with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments, creating an environment where individual needs shape the care approach.
Who they care for
The home specialises in supporting people with dementia alongside physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They welcome both younger adults under 65 and older residents, bringing specialist knowledge to complex care situations.
For residents with dementia, the staff work to create familiar routines and maintain dignity through all stages of the condition. The team's experience with dementia care shows in their patient approach and understanding of how the condition affects each person differently.
Management & ethos
The management team at Amarna House maintains a visible presence, with families often meeting senior staff during visits and assessments. However, some longer-term families have raised concerns about how management responds to feedback, particularly around fall prevention and staffing levels. These experiences suggest the importance of establishing clear communication expectations from the start.
The home & environment
The home maintains high standards of cleanliness throughout, with spotless rooms and well-kept communal areas that create a comfortable living environment. While the physical spaces are clearly well-maintained, it's worth noting that some aspects of daily life, including meal quality, have drawn mixed feedback from families over the years.
“Visiting Amarna House will give you the clearest picture of whether their approach matches what your family needs.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
