Cherry Trees Resource Centre
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 beds45
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Caring for adults under 65 yrs, Dementia
- Last inspected2019-08-28
- Activities programmeThe physical space itself gets consistent praise from visitors. Bedrooms are spacious and modern with en-suite bathrooms, while the whole centre stays notably clean and well-maintained. It's the kind of environment that helps families breathe a little easier, knowing their loved one is somewhere comfortable and dignified.
- 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
What strikes families most is how natural everything feels here. Staff chat with residents and visitors like old friends, creating an atmosphere where formality takes a back seat to genuine warmth. The structured daily activities give shape to residents' days, and families mention how engaged their loved ones seem, even those living with dementia.
Based on 44 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth88
- Compassion & dignity90
- Cleanliness72
- Activities & engagement85
- Food quality65
- Healthcare72
- Management & leadership88
- Resident happiness80
What inspectors found
Inspected 2019-08-28 · Report published 2019-08-28 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"Cherry Trees Resource Centre received a Good rating for safety at its last inspection. This means inspectors found that the home met the standard expected for keeping people safe, including medicines management, infection control, and staffing. No specific concerns were recorded in the published findings. The published text does not include detailed observations about night staffing, falls management, or how incidents are investigated.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safe rating is reassuring, but it is worth understanding what it does and does not tell you. It means inspectors did not find serious safety failures, but it does not guarantee that the home is free from risk. Good Practice research identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. The published report gives no detail on how many staff are on duty overnight for the 45 people who live here, so this is a question you need to ask directly. Agency staff reliance is another concern flagged in the evidence base: people living with dementia do better with familiar faces, and a home that relies heavily on agency cover can undermine that consistency even if overall ratings are strong.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are among the strongest predictors of safety outcomes in dementia care settings. Neither is addressed in the published inspection text for this home.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last month's staffing rota for overnight shifts. Count how many of those shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency or bank staff. For 45 residents, ask specifically how many carers are on duty between 10pm and 7am."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The home received a Good rating for effectiveness. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and how well the home meets residents' needs in practice. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which requires staff to have relevant training and competence. The published text does not include specific detail about the content or frequency of dementia training, GP access arrangements, or how care plans are constructed and reviewed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good effective rating tells you that inspectors were satisfied the home meets the standard expected for knowing what they are doing. For a home specialising in dementia care, you want to go further than the rating and understand what that training actually looks like. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed regularly and built around the person's history, not just their medical needs. Ask whether your parent's care plan would include things like their preferred name, their life history, and what time they like to wake up. Food quality is also covered under this domain and is one of the eight things families mention most in positive reviews (20.9%), yet there is no detail about mealtimes or nutrition in the published findings.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training with regular refreshers, combined with care plans that reflect individual life histories rather than just medical needs, is associated with better outcomes for people living with dementia. Neither the training content nor the care plan format is described in the published inspection text.","watch_out":"Ask to see a blank template of the care plan the home uses. Check whether it has sections for the person's life history, preferred name, likes and dislikes, and daily routines, not just medical information. Then ask how often plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to those reviews."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"Caring was rated Outstanding, the highest possible rating. Inspectors award this only when they find clear, specific evidence that staff treat people with exceptional warmth, dignity, and respect. This domain covers how staff speak to and interact with residents, whether people are treated as individuals, and whether privacy and independence are genuinely upheld. Unfortunately the published text does not reproduce the specific observations or quotes that led inspectors to this conclusion.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of satisfaction in our family review data: 57.3% of positive reviews across more than 5,400 UK care homes mention it by name, and compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. An Outstanding caring rating is the strongest signal an inspection can give you that this home takes these things seriously. However, because the published text includes no specific observations or resident testimony, you cannot take this on trust alone. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal: whether a carer makes eye contact, moves without hurry, and addresses your parent by their preferred name tells you more about the culture than any rating. Observe these things yourself when you visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that person-led care, defined as knowing the individual's history, preferences, and communication style, is the strongest predictor of wellbeing for people living with dementia. This requires staff to know your parent as a person, not just as a set of care needs.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how a staff member greets your parent or any resident in the corridor. Do they make eye contact, use the person's name, and slow down? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This five-second interaction tells you more about the caring culture than any document."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"Responsive was rated Outstanding. This domain covers whether the home tailors its provision to individual needs, whether activities are meaningful rather than generic, how complaints are handled, and whether end-of-life care is planned and compassionate. An Outstanding rating here means inspectors found the home doing more than meeting minimum expectations in these areas. The published text does not include specific examples of activities provided, how individual preferences are incorporated, or how the home manages complaints.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and resident happiness together account for a significant proportion of what families value most in our review data (21.4% and 27.1% respectively). An Outstanding responsive rating is a strong signal that inspectors found meaningful, individualised provision rather than a one-size-fits-all activity timetable. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with more advanced dementia: one-to-one engagement, including everyday household tasks and sensory activities, produces better outcomes. The published report does not confirm whether Cherry Trees offers this level of individual engagement, so it is worth asking directly. End-of-life planning is also covered under this domain, and given the absence of detail in the published text, this is a conversation to have with the manager.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-led individual activities, where a person helps with familiar everyday tasks rather than attending a scheduled group session, are associated with reduced agitation and improved wellbeing in people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident who does not want to join group sessions. If the answer focuses only on group activities or television, press for more detail on how one-to-one time is structured and who delivers it."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"Well-led was rated Outstanding. This domain covers the quality and stability of management, the culture of the home, how staff are supported, how the home uses data and feedback to improve, and whether there is genuine accountability. The registered manager is named as Ms Nicola Kendrick, with Mr Paul Haigh as the nominated individual representing the provider, Nottingham City Council. The published text does not include details about manager tenure, staff culture, or specific governance arrangements.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality and communication with families account for 23.4% and 11.5% of positive family reviews respectively. An Outstanding well-led rating is the strongest possible signal that inspectors found a home with genuine accountability and a culture where staff feel supported to do their jobs well. Good Practice research is unambiguous that leadership stability predicts quality over time: homes where the registered manager has been in post for several years and is known to staff and residents consistently outperform those with high management turnover. The inspection was carried out in 2019, so one of the most important questions you can ask is whether Ms Kendrick is still in post and how the leadership team has changed since then.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that leadership stability, defined as a settled registered manager who is visible to staff and residents, is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Homes with recent management changes show measurably higher rates of quality decline in the 12 months following a leadership transition.","watch_out":"Ask directly: is Ms Nicola Kendrick still the registered manager, and how long has she been in post? If there has been a management change since the 2019 inspection, ask who is now responsible, how long they have been in the role, and how the leadership team has maintained continuity for the people living here."}
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 Cherry Trees specialises in caring for adults both over and under 65, with particular expertise in dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the approach here seems to focus on connection and engagement rather than just safety. Families describe seeing their loved ones participating in activities and interacting with staff in ways that preserve their dignity and personhood. — 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
Cherry Trees Resource Centre earned an Outstanding overall rating, driven by exceptional scores in caring, responsiveness, and leadership. The published inspection text is limited in granular detail, so some scores reflect the Outstanding domain ratings rather than specific observed evidence, and a few areas such as food and cleanliness have less documented support.
Homes in East Midlands typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
What strikes families most is how natural everything feels here. Staff chat with residents and visitors like old friends, creating an atmosphere where formality takes a back seat to genuine warmth. The structured daily activities give shape to residents' days, and families mention how engaged their loved ones seem, even those living with dementia.
What inspectors have recorded
Having staff on-site around the clock means families know someone's always there if needed. More importantly, the team seems to understand dementia care at a deeper level — families describe seeing their loved ones not just safe and clean, but genuinely engaged and content. The way staff include families in the care relationship stands out too, with visitors feeling welcomed as partners rather than outsiders.
How it sits against good practice
Sometimes the best measure of a care home isn't in grand promises, but in the small moments families notice — a genuine smile, a resident engaged in an activity, staff who remember how you take your tea.
Worth a visit
Cherry Trees Resource Centre, run by Nottingham City Council, was rated Outstanding overall at its last full inspection in August 2019, with a subsequent review in July 2023 confirming the rating remained appropriate. The home achieved Outstanding in three of the five inspection domains: caring, responsiveness to residents, and leadership. Safe and effective were both rated Good. This is a strong result and places the home in the top tier of rated care homes in England. The main limitation for families reading this report is that the published inspection text is extremely brief. Almost no specific observations, quotes, or detail about day-to-day life at the home are recorded in the publicly available findings. The Outstanding ratings carry real weight, but they are not supported here by the kind of concrete evidence, such as inspector observations of staff interactions or resident testimony, that would give you full confidence. The inspection was also carried out in August 2019, more than five years ago at the time of writing. Before visiting, ask the home for its most recent internal quality reports and ask the manager how the home has changed since 2019. When you visit, pay close attention to how staff speak to your parent in corridors and communal areas, whether the pace feels unhurried, and whether residents look settled and engaged.
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In Their Own Words
How Cherry Trees Resource Centre describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where dementia care feels like genuine friendship and belonging
Residential home in Nottingham: True Peace of Mind
Finding the right care can feel overwhelming, especially when dementia is part of the picture. Cherry Trees Resource Centre in Nottingham seems to understand this deeply. Families describe walking into a place where staff greet everyone by name and residents look genuinely content — not just cared for, but connected.
Who they care for
Cherry Trees specialises in caring for adults both over and under 65, with particular expertise in dementia care.
For residents living with dementia, the approach here seems to focus on connection and engagement rather than just safety. Families describe seeing their loved ones participating in activities and interacting with staff in ways that preserve their dignity and personhood.
Management & ethos
Having staff on-site around the clock means families know someone's always there if needed. More importantly, the team seems to understand dementia care at a deeper level — families describe seeing their loved ones not just safe and clean, but genuinely engaged and content. The way staff include families in the care relationship stands out too, with visitors feeling welcomed as partners rather than outsiders.
The home & environment
The physical space itself gets consistent praise from visitors. Bedrooms are spacious and modern with en-suite bathrooms, while the whole centre stays notably clean and well-maintained. It's the kind of environment that helps families breathe a little easier, knowing their loved one is somewhere comfortable and dignified.
“Sometimes the best measure of a care home isn't in grand promises, but in the small moments families notice — a genuine smile, a resident engaged in an activity, staff who remember how you take your tea.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
