Ashwood Park Residential and Nursing Home – Sanctuary Care

What families say

When residents first arrive, staff work hard to help them settle in comfortably. Families describe feeling welcomed during those crucial early days, with the team making sure new residents quickly feel at ease in their surroundings.

Based on 9 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-09-24 · Report published 2022-09-24 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This domain covers how the home manages risk, staffing levels, medicines, and infection control. The published summary does not include specific detail on staffing ratios, falls management, or medicines administration practices. The improvement from Requires Improvement suggests that identified safety concerns from the previous inspection were addressed. No specific incidents or enforcement actions are recorded in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in safety after a previous Requires Improvement is a positive sign that the management team identified problems and fixed them. However, our family review data shows that attentive staffing, particularly overnight, is where families most often notice safety slipping. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing ratios are where care quality is hardest to verify from an inspection report alone. Because no specific staffing numbers appear in the published findings, this is an area you need to probe directly when you visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (2026) found that night staffing adequacy is one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes, and it is also one of the areas least likely to be captured in detail in published inspection summaries.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template schedule. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff covered night shifts, and ask what the minimum number of carers on duty overnight is for the 65 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers how well staff know and respond to each person's needs, including care planning, dementia training, nutrition, and access to healthcare. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside nursing and rehabilitation. The published summary does not include specific examples of care plan quality, GP visit frequency, or the content of dementia training provided to staff. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests previous shortfalls in effectiveness were addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Dementia is listed as a specialism here, which means the home should have staff with specific training beyond basic care. Our family review data identifies dementia-specific care as a priority concern for 12.7% of positive reviews, and the Good Practice evidence base is clear that the quality of individual care plans, reviewed regularly with family input, is one of the strongest indicators of genuinely person-led care. Because no detail on training content or care plan review processes appears in the published findings, these are questions worth asking directly. Food quality, which accounts for 20.9% of positive family reviews, is also unverified here.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans function best as living documents, updated at least monthly and co-produced with the person and their family. Homes where families are actively included in reviews consistently score higher on person-centred measures.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed, whether families are invited to contribute, and what specific dementia training the permanent care staff have completed in the past 12 months. Request to see an anonymised example of a completed care plan."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how well the home supports people to maintain independence. The published summary does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, resident quotes, or specific examples of dignity practices such as knocking before entering rooms or using preferred names. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the standard of care observed, but the detail that families most value is not recorded in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. These are the things families notice immediately on a first visit: whether staff are unhurried, whether they use your parent's preferred name, whether they make eye contact and speak directly to the person rather than over them. The inspection found this domain to be Good, which is reassuring, but the absence of specific observations means you need to see it for yourself. The Good Practice evidence base confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal in dementia care, so watch how staff move around the building, not just what they say.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that in dementia care, non-verbal cues such as unhurried movement, eye contact, and physical proximity are as important as spoken communication in conveying warmth and safety to the person.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch a mealtime or a corridor interaction without announcing yourself. Notice whether staff address your parent by their preferred name, whether interactions feel rushed, and whether staff speak to the person directly or talk about them to colleagues as if they are not present."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its care and activities to individual needs, including engagement, meaningful occupation, and end-of-life care. The published summary does not include specific examples of activities offered, individual engagement for people who cannot join group sessions, or detail on how end-of-life wishes are recorded and honoured. The Good rating suggests inspectors were satisfied with the home's approach, but no supporting detail is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness and activities engagement together account for nearly half of the themes that drive positive family reviews (27.1% and 21.4% respectively). For people living with dementia in particular, the Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient; one-to-one engagement and everyday purposeful tasks, such as folding, gardening, or sorting familiar objects, make a significant difference to wellbeing. Because the published findings do not describe the activities programme in any detail, this is an area to explore carefully on a visit, particularly if your parent has advanced dementia and may not be able to join group sessions.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-centred individual activities, rather than group-only programmes, produced the strongest improvements in wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that provide one-to-one engagement alongside group activities consistently outperform those that rely on group sessions alone.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe a typical week for a resident who cannot join group sessions due to advanced dementia or mobility difficulties. Ask to see the activities schedule for the past month, not just the planned programme, to check whether activities actually took place as scheduled."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the June 2022 inspection, improving from Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Mrs Denise Diana Newton, and a nominated individual, Mrs Louise Palmer, were identified at the time of the inspection. The home is operated by Sanctuary Care Limited. The improvement across all five domains from the previous inspection suggests the leadership team responded effectively to earlier concerns. The published summary does not include detail on manager tenure, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home handles complaints.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data identifies visible and approachable management as a key driver of family confidence (23.4% of positive reviews). The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with consistent, present managers tend to maintain and improve their ratings, while homes going through management change often see quality dip. The fact that this home has a named manager and has improved from Requires Improvement is encouraging. However, the inspection is now over two years old, and management and culture can change significantly in that time. Communication with families, which accounts for 11.5% of positive reviews, is not described in the available findings.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically a consistent registered manager with strong relationships with both staff and families, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Homes that improved their ratings most durably were those where the manager was described as visible and known by name to residents.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether there have been any changes in senior leadership since the inspection in June 2022. Ask how the home communicates with families when something changes in their parent's health, and how complaints are handled and followed up."}

  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 welcomes younger adults who need care as well as older residents. They also have experience supporting people living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the staff's approach to learning individual preferences becomes even more valuable. They work to understand each person's routines and what brings them comfort. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.