Briarscroft Residential Care Home – Sanctuary Care

What families say

What strikes many families is how settled their relatives seem after moving in. People talk about seeing their loved ones looking happy and engaged in activities, rather than just sitting passively. The staff get particular praise for being relatable and responsive, creating an atmosphere where residents feel genuinely cared for.

Based on 41 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 & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-09-11 · Report published 2019-09-11 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection, an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. The published summary does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control practices. The home is registered for 66 beds and lists dementia as a specialism, which means safe management of behaviours that can increase risk is relevant. No concerns about safety were flagged in the published findings. The home was reviewed again in July 2023 and no evidence was found to reassess the rating downward.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safety rating after a Requires Improvement is genuinely encouraging, because it means inspectors identified specific problems and the home fixed them. That said, the published text gives you very little to go on. Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety risks are most likely to materialise in residential dementia homes, and that over-reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that people with dementia particularly need. You cannot assess either of those risks from this report alone. Ask the home directly about night staffing numbers and how many shifts in the last month were covered by agency workers.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that continuity of care staff is a significant protective factor for people with dementia, and that safety incidents are disproportionately concentrated in night shifts where staffing is thinner and less experienced.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not the planned template. Count how many night-shift slots were filled by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask what the minimum number of carers on duty overnight is for 66 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. The domain covers training, care planning, nutrition and hydration, and healthcare access. No specific detail about dementia training content, GP visit frequency, care plan review cycles, or meal quality is included in the published text. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which implies the home is expected to demonstrate relevant staff competency. The published summary does not describe how that competency is assessed or maintained.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care home comes down to whether staff genuinely know your parent as an individual and whether care plans are treated as living documents rather than paperwork filed and forgotten. Our family review data shows that healthcare access and dementia-specific care are important to around one in five families choosing a home. The inspection confirms no major failures here, but offers no specific reassurance either. Ask to see a sample care plan (with personal details removed) to judge for yourself whether it reads like a portrait of a real person or a checklist.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans which incorporate detailed life history, personal preferences, and communication style are associated with better behavioural outcomes and reduced use of as-needed sedation in people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Then ask to see the review log for one resident (anonymised) to check whether reviews actually happened on schedule."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative feedback are included in the published text. A Good rating means inspectors were satisfied that the standard of caring interactions met the threshold, but the evidence base for that judgment is not visible in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews in our dataset, mentioned in 57.3% of all positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow at 55.2%. These are the things families notice immediately on a visit and remember long after. The inspection confirms no concerns were found, but you will learn far more in 20 minutes of sitting quietly in a communal lounge than from any published rating. Watch whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they crouch to eye level when speaking to a seated resident, and whether the pace feels unhurried. These are the observable signals the Good Practice research identifies as markers of genuine person-centred care.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review emphasises that non-verbal communication, tone of voice, and physical proximity matter as much as spoken words for people with advanced dementia, and that staff who understand this deliver measurably calmer interactions.","watch_out":"On your visit, sit in a communal area for at least 15 minutes without announcing yourself as a prospective family. Watch how staff greet residents who pass them in the corridor. Do they make eye contact, use a name, and pause? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities, individualised care, complaints handling, and end-of-life planning. No specific activities programme, examples of individual engagement, or details about how the home tailors its approach for people with dementia are included in the published text. The published summary does not describe whether one-to-one engagement is available for residents who cannot participate in group activities.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness and activities engagement both feature in the top drivers of family satisfaction in our review data, at 27.1% and 21.4% respectively. For a parent with dementia, the quality of daily life often comes down to what happens in the hours between personal care routines. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people in later stages of dementia, and that tailored one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, significantly reduces distress and agitation. The inspection gives you a Good rating here but no detail. Ask specifically what happens for a resident who cannot follow a group session.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and familiar everyday activities, such as folding laundry, tending plants, or sorting objects, provide meaningful engagement for people with advanced dementia who cannot participate in structured group programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe a typical Tuesday for a resident with moderate-to-advanced dementia who finds group settings overwhelming. If the answer is vague or defaults to describing group sessions only, that is worth pressing further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection, improving from a previous Requires Improvement rating. Named leadership is in place: Miss Hayley Norman is the registered manager and Mrs Louise Palmer is the nominated individual. The published text does not describe the manager's tenure, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home responds to feedback and complaints. A review in July 2023 found no evidence to reassess the rating downward, which indicates no major concerns have emerged since the inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality and family communication appear in our review data as concerns for around one in four families. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in Well-led is the most meaningful single data point in this report. It tells you that someone in charge recognised what needed fixing and followed through. Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory: homes with a settled, visible manager tend to sustain and build on their ratings, while frequent manager changes often precede deterioration. Ask how long Miss Norman has been in post and whether she is regularly present in the home rather than largely office-based.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that staff empowerment and psychological safety, meaning staff feeling able to raise concerns without fear, are the strongest organisational predictors of consistent, compassionate care in residential dementia settings.","watch_out":"Ask Miss Norman directly how long she has been registered manager at Briarscroft and what the biggest change she made after the previous Requires Improvement rating was. A specific, concrete answer is a good sign. A vague or deflecting answer deserves follow-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 Briarscroft provides residential care for people over 65, including those living with dementia. They offer both permanent placements and short-term respite stays.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home accepts residents with dementia, some families have raised concerns about the specialist support available. It's worth having a detailed conversation with the management team about their approach to dementia care to ensure it matches your loved one's specific needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.