Cheriton Care Home | Agincare

What families say

Families appreciate the effort individual staff members put into caring for residents. The team tries to create meaningful moments, with one family describing how staff arranged a special gathering that brought everyone together.

Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-07-22 · Report published 2022-07-22 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good. The home is registered to provide personal care and accommodation for up to 71 people, including adults living with dementia and adults under 65. A Good rating for safety covers staffing levels, medicines management, and infection control. The published summary does not include specific inspector observations, incident data, or staffing ratios to illustrate how safety was evidenced.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but it is worth understanding what sits behind it. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most likely to slip in care homes, and agency reliance is a known risk factor for inconsistency of care. Our review data shows that families mention staff attentiveness in around 14% of positive reviews, often describing the feeling that someone is always nearby. Because the published report does not detail night staffing ratios or agency use at Cheriton, these are questions you should put directly to the manager before deciding. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes it especially important to ask what specific safety improvements were made and how they are now being maintained.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice in Dementia Care evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, March 2026) found that night staffing ratios are among the strongest predictors of safety outcomes in care homes. Homes that rely heavily on agency staff show greater variation in care quality, particularly for residents who cannot self-report concerns.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not the template. Count the number of permanent staff on night shifts versus agency names, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for 71 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good. Effectiveness covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. The home's specialisms include dementia care for both older and younger adults, which means staff should be equipped to support a wide range of needs. The published summary does not describe the content of dementia training, the quality of care plans, or how the home manages GP access and health monitoring.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good effectiveness rating tells you the inspection found no significant concerns about training or care planning, but it does not tell you how detailed your parent's care plan would be or how often it would be reviewed. Our review data shows that food quality appears in around 20.9% of positive family reviews, often as a proxy for how much the home genuinely cares about the person. Dementia-specific training appears in 12.7% of reviews as a specific driver of family confidence. Because neither food nor training is described in specific terms in the published report, ask the home directly about both. The Good Practice evidence base highlights care plans as living documents that should be updated after every significant change, so ask how often reviews happen and whether you would be invited to contribute.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that care plans which reflect individual life history, preferences, and communication styles produce measurably better outcomes for people living with dementia. Plans that are updated only annually, or that are written without family input, are associated with poorer person-centred care.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if necessary) and ask how often care plans are reviewed. Also ask what dementia training all staff complete and when the most recent training took place for the team currently working on the dementia unit."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good. Caring covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. For a home supporting people living with dementia, this domain is particularly important because residents may not always be able to tell you themselves how they are being treated. The published summary does not include specific inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony, or examples of how dignity was maintained in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities: they show up in concrete, observable moments such as whether staff knock before entering a room, whether your parent is called by their preferred name, and whether conversations are unhurried. A Good rating here is positive, but because the published report contains no direct observations or quotes to confirm what was seen, the only reliable way to assess this for yourself is to visit and watch. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal cues, tone of voice, and pace of interaction matter as much as spoken words.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice in Dementia Care evidence review found that person-centred caring interactions depend heavily on staff knowing the individual, including their life history, preferences, and non-verbal communication signals. Homes where staff can describe residents as individuals rather than as diagnoses consistently produce better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent or any resident in a corridor or communal area. Notice whether they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name. If you see a resident appear distressed, observe how staff respond: does the interaction slow down, or does it speed up?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good. Responsiveness covers activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life care. The home supports people living with dementia as well as adults under 65, which means the activities programme needs to be broad and adaptable. The published summary does not describe specific activities, how the programme is tailored to individuals, or what arrangements are in place for end-of-life care.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness, which is closely linked to how well people are engaged during the day, accounts for 27.1% of what families mention most. For someone living with dementia, group activities are not always accessible or meaningful, and the Good Practice evidence base is clear that one-to-one engagement and familiar everyday tasks often produce better outcomes than scheduled group sessions. Because the published report gives no detail on the activity programme at Cheriton, this is an area to investigate directly. Ask specifically about what happens for a resident who cannot join a group, and what a typical Tuesday afternoon looks like for someone on the dementia unit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found strong evidence that individualised activity programmes, including Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, reduce agitation and improve wellbeing in people living with dementia. Group-only activity programmes are associated with poorer outcomes for residents with more advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened last Tuesday afternoon, specifically for a resident who cannot participate in group sessions. Ask whether there is a dedicated budget and staff time for one-to-one engagement, separate from group activities."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good. A named registered manager, Mrs Raina Marina Taylor Taylor-Summerson, is in post, and a nominated individual, Mr Matthew James Dennis-Andrews, is identified for the provider organisation. The home has moved from a Requires Improvement rating to Good, which suggests leadership has driven meaningful improvement. The published summary does not describe management visibility, staff culture, how feedback is acted on, or how long the current manager has been in post.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership quality is a strong predictor of care home trajectory. Our review data shows that management and communication with families together account for around 34.9% of what families mention in positive reviews. The Good Practice evidence base identifies manager stability as one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality: homes where managers change frequently tend to show cyclical quality dips. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is an important signal, but the key question is whether the changes that drove that improvement are now embedded in how the home runs, or whether they depended on specific individuals. Communication with families appears in 11.5% of positive reviews, so ask directly how the home keeps you informed if your parent's condition changes.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice in Dementia Care evidence review found that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns are among the strongest organisational predictors of good care quality. Homes that empower staff to speak up and act on feedback, rather than waiting for management instruction, consistently outperform those with top-down cultures.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager how long they have been in post and what specific changes were made following the previous Requires Improvement rating. Ask how staff are supported to raise concerns about care quality and what has changed in practice as a result of feedback from residents or families in the past six months."}

  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 cares for adults both over and under 65, including people living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the emotional impact of transitions can be particularly challenging. Families stress the importance of maintaining familiar belongings and routines during the adjustment period. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.