Berrycroft Manor Care Home

What families say

Families describe finding real peace here, particularly in how staff respond to both residents and visitors. There's a sense that everyone matters, from the person living here to the relatives who visit. The atmosphere feels settled and content, with residents engaging in activities they enjoy and spending time in the outdoor spaces.

Based on 15 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth62
• Compassion & dignity65
• Cleanliness58
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality58
• Healthcare62
• Management & leadership45
• Resident happiness60

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-09-16 · Report published 2022-09-16 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Safe was rated Requires Improvement at the October 2025 inspection. The published summary does not give specific detail about what inspectors found, but a Requires Improvement in this domain typically reflects concerns about risk management, medicines handling, staffing, or systems for responding to incidents. This is a 78-bed home specialising in dementia care, which makes safe staffing particularly important. The previous inspection had rated the home Good overall, meaning this represents a deterioration.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement for safety is the finding that should give you most pause. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawing on 61 studies, consistently shows that night staffing levels and agency staff reliance are the points where safety most often slips in care homes. For a 78-bed dementia-specialist home, knowing how many permanent, trained staff are on duty after 8pm is not a minor administrative question: it is the difference between prompt, familiar support and a confused, distressed parent waiting for someone who does not know them. The published findings do not tell us the specific reasons for this rating, so you need to ask the home directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that incident-learning systems, specifically whether a home analyses patterns in falls and near-misses and changes practice accordingly, are among the strongest predictors of sustained safety improvement in care homes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count the number of permanent versus agency names, and ask specifically how many carers are on duty on the dementia unit between 10pm and 6am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the October 2025 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. A Good rating here suggests inspectors were broadly satisfied with how the home assesses needs, trains its staff, and works with health professionals. However, no specific observations, examples, or staff quotes are available in the published summary, so the evidence behind this rating cannot be independently verified from what has been published.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Food quality and dementia-specific training are the two Effective sub-themes that our family review data highlight most. Twenty-one percent of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes mention food quality by name, and 12.7% specifically mention dementia-appropriate care. A Good rating for Effective is encouraging, but it does not tell you whether your parent's care plan would reflect their actual life history, food preferences, or communication style. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans used as living documents, updated after every significant change and reviewed with families, produce measurably better outcomes for people with dementia than plans that are written once and filed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that regular, structured GP access and medication reviews, combined with dementia-specific staff training that goes beyond basic awareness, are the strongest predictors of good health outcomes for care home residents with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) and find out when it was last updated and whether the resident's family was involved in the review. Ask specifically what dementia training staff complete beyond induction, and when the most recent refresher took place."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the October 2025 inspection. This domain covers kindness, dignity, respect, and whether staff treat people as individuals. A Good rating indicates inspectors found broadly positive interactions between staff and the people who live here. The published summary does not include specific observations or direct quotes from residents or relatives, so it is not possible to say what particular practices the inspectors saw or heard.","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 together appear in 55.2%. What families are looking for is whether staff use your mum's preferred name, whether they move without hurry, and whether they respond to distress with patience rather than routine. A Good rating for Caring is a positive sign, but it is the one domain where you can gather your own evidence simply by visiting. The Good Practice research is clear that non-verbal communication, tone, pace, and physical proximity, matters as much as words for people with advanced dementia who may not be able to tell you how they feel.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that person-centred care outcomes depend on staff knowing individual histories, preferences, and communication styles, not just on having good intentions. Homes where this knowledge is embedded in daily practice, rather than recorded in a plan that is rarely read, produce consistently better emotional wellbeing for residents.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent or any resident they pass in the corridor. Do they use a name? Do they slow down and make eye contact? Do they knock before entering a room? These small acts are the most reliable observable indicators of a caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the October 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home tailors its care and activities to individual needs, responds to complaints, and plans appropriately for end of life. A Good rating here is a positive indicator for families concerned about whether a parent with dementia will have a life with meaning, not just basic care. As with the other domains, the published summary does not provide specific examples of activities, individual engagement, or complaint handling.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and individual engagement matter more to families than is often assumed, appearing in 21.4% of positive reviews in our data. For a person with dementia, structured, meaningful activity is not a luxury: the Good Practice evidence base links it directly to reduced distress, better sleep, and slower decline. A Good rating for Responsive is encouraging, but the critical question is whether the activities on offer would suit your parent specifically, not just the group. Residents with advanced dementia who cannot join group sessions need one-to-one engagement, and that requires dedicated staffing time that is often the first thing squeezed when a home is under pressure.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household task involvement, such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking activities, produce significantly better engagement outcomes for people with dementia than passive group entertainment, because they draw on procedural memory that is preserved longer than other forms of recall.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past month, not just this week. Then ask specifically what is planned for a resident who cannot or will not join group sessions. If the answer is vague, ask who is responsible for one-to-one engagement and how many hours per week that amounts to per resident."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Requires Improvement at the October 2025 inspection, alongside Safe. This is significant because leadership quality is the strongest single predictor of whether a home improves or continues to decline. A named registered manager, Mr Richard Odell, is in post, and the service is run by Finbrook Limited with Mr Michael Andrew Blissett as the nominated individual. The published summary does not specify what governance or leadership failures inspectors identified, which makes it difficult to assess how serious the concerns are or what progress has been made since October 2025.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability predicts quality trajectory more reliably than almost any other single factor in the Good Practice evidence. When a home has a Requires Improvement in Well-led alongside a declining overall rating, families need to understand whether there is a clear, credible improvement plan in place and whether the manager has the authority and support to carry it out. Our review data shows that communication with families is cited in 11.5% of positive reviews, and that breakdown of communication is one of the most common sources of formal complaints. If you are seriously considering this home, the quality of information you receive from the manager in your initial meeting is itself evidence of leadership quality.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers act visibly on feedback from both staff and families, show the most sustained improvement trajectories after a Requires Improvement rating.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what specific issues did the October 2025 inspection identify in Well-led and Safe, and what actions have been completed since then? A manager who gives you a specific, honest answer with evidence is a positive sign. A manager who responds with generalities or defensiveness is itself useful information."}

  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 Berrycroft Manor provides specialist dementia care alongside general support for people over 65. The home focuses on matching care to what each resident needs, whether that's memory support or help with daily living.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team creates routines and activities that feel familiar and engaging. Staff understand how to provide reassurance during difficult moments, helping people feel secure in their surroundings. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.