Collingwood Grange Care Home – Bupa
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds75
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities
- Last inspected2019-10-19
- Activities programmeThe gardens at Collingwood Grange seem to be a real highlight. Families talk about well-kept outdoor areas where residents can spend time, with some even getting involved in the gardening themselves. The home maintains clean, tidy spaces throughout.
- 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
Visitors often mention how approachable they find the staff here. There's a sense that team members take time to chat and engage with residents throughout the day, creating a friendly atmosphere that helps people feel more at ease.
Based on 14 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
- Healthcare70
- Management & leadership72
- Resident happiness68
What inspectors found
Inspected 2019-10-19 · Report published 2019-10-19 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The inspection rated the Safe domain as Good. This reflects an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. The published summary does not include specific details about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practice at Collingwood Grange. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means a registered nurse is required to be on duty, but no detail about night-time nurse cover or agency use is provided in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe is a positive baseline, particularly given the home previously required improvement. However, safety is where the gap between inspection ratings and lived experience can be widest. Good Practice research consistently finds that night staffing is where safety most often slips, and that high agency use undermines the consistency your parent needs to feel settled and secure. For a 75-bed home with a dementia specialism, knowing the overnight staffing numbers is essential before making a decision. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness features in 14% of positive reviews, which tells you families notice and value it when staff are present and responsive.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of poorer safety outcomes in dementia care, because unfamiliar faces increase distress and reduce the ability to spot early signs of deterioration.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count permanent versus agency names on the dementia unit, and ask specifically how many carers and nurses are present overnight for the full 75 beds."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The inspection rated the Effective domain as Good. The published summary does not provide detail about care plan quality, GP access arrangements, dementia training content, or how food preferences and dietary needs are managed. The home holds a nursing registration, meaning clinical oversight should be present, but the specifics of how healthcare needs are monitored and acted upon are not described in the available report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia nursing home covers a wide range of practice, from how well care plans capture who your parent actually is as a person, to whether staff know what to do when health changes suddenly. Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans work best as living documents that families help to shape, not paperwork completed at admission and filed away. Food quality is also a marker of how well a home knows its residents: 20.9% of the family themes in our review data relate to food, and what matters most to families is whether the home understands individual preferences and adapts meals accordingly. Ask to see an anonymised example care plan to judge its depth.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, including communication techniques and behaviour support, significantly improves quality of care, but only when training is regularly refreshed and directly supervised in practice rather than delivered as a one-off online module.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia training all staff complete, when they last completed it, and whether it includes hands-on communication and behaviour support practice. A Good rating does not tell you whether training is substantive or tick-box."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The inspection rated the Caring domain as Good. No specific inspector observations, resident testimony, or staff interaction examples are included in the published summary. The rating indicates that inspectors were satisfied with how staff treated the people living at Collingwood Grange at the time of assessment, but the published text does not record the detail that would allow a family to judge the quality of moment-to-moment interactions.","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 compassionate, dignified care features in 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities: they show up in observable moments such as whether a carer knocks before entering a room, uses your parent's preferred name, or sits at eye level during a conversation. The absence of specific detail in the published report means you cannot rely on the rating alone here. Good Practice research is clear that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia, and the ability to read and respond to non-verbal cues is a skill that varies enormously between individual carers.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that person-led care requires staff to know each individual's history, preferences, and communication style, and that this knowledge is most reliably built through long-term employment of a consistent, permanent care team rather than through documentation alone.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens in corridors and common areas when a member of staff passes your parent or another resident. Do they make eye contact, use a name, pause even briefly? Unhurried, named interactions are the clearest observable signal of a genuinely caring culture."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The inspection rated the Responsive domain as Good. The published summary does not describe the activity programme, how the home supports individual interests, how end-of-life care is approached, or how complaints are handled. For a home with a dementia specialism and 75 beds, responsiveness to individual need is particularly important because the range of ability and engagement among residents will be significant.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Responsive means inspectors were satisfied that the home was meeting individual needs at the time of the visit, but our family review data shows that activities and engagement (21.4% of positive reviews) and resident happiness (27.1%) are areas where families feel the difference most keenly day to day. Good Practice research highlights that group activities alone are insufficient for people with moderate to advanced dementia: what matters is whether staff offer one-to-one engagement, including everyday household tasks and familiar routines that provide a sense of purpose and continuity. If your parent can no longer join a group, ask specifically what happens for them on a typical afternoon.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett review found that Montessori-based and task-centred individual activity approaches, where residents participate in familiar, purposeful tasks rather than passive entertainment, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia than group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule from last week, not a template for next month. Then ask what actually happened for a resident who could not join group activities that day. The answer to the second question tells you more than any schedule."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The inspection rated the Well-led domain as Good, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. A named registered manager, Miss Maria Louise Waters, is confirmed as in post. A nominated individual, Mr Donald Day, is also named. The published summary does not describe management visibility, staff culture, how concerns are escalated, or how the home governs quality. The improvement from Requires Improvement suggests earlier leadership or governance issues were addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes, and the fact that this home improved from Requires Improvement to Good across all five domains is a meaningful signal. However, that improvement needs to be sustained, and the July 2023 monitoring review confirms regulators are watching. Communication with families features in 11.5% of our positive family review data, and what families value most is a manager they can actually speak to when something is wrong. Ask directly how long the current registered manager has been in post: a manager who drove the improvement and is still present is a very different situation from one who arrived after the work was done.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research from IFF Research and Leeds Beckett found that leadership stability, defined as a consistent registered manager in post for more than 12 months, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality improvement in care homes, particularly in homes recovering from a Requires Improvement rating.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly how long she has been in post at Collingwood Grange, whether the staff team is largely the same as when the improvement was achieved, and what the biggest challenge facing the home is right now. Honest, specific answers to that last question are a strong indicator of a well-led culture."}
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 provides specialist dementia care alongside support for older adults and those with physical disabilities. They work with residents who need varying levels of assistance, from those who remain quite independent to those requiring more intensive daily support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the home offers specialist care approaches. The combination of dedicated staff and accessible outdoor spaces can provide helpful structure and stimulation for residents at different stages of their dementia journey. — 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
Collingwood Grange scored 72 out of 100 on the Family Score, reflecting a home that improved from Requires Improvement to Good across all five domains at its last full inspection. Positive evidence is present, but the published report provides limited specific detail, so several areas need to be checked directly with the home.
Homes in South East typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Visitors often mention how approachable they find the staff here. There's a sense that team members take time to chat and engage with residents throughout the day, creating a friendly atmosphere that helps people feel more at ease.
What inspectors have recorded
Staff interactions appear consistently warm and kind, with team members showing genuine care in their daily work. However, one family did raise concerns about care consistency after finding their relative hadn't received adequate personal support.
How it sits against good practice
If you're considering Collingwood Grange, spending time in their gardens during a visit might give you a good sense of daily life there.
Worth a visit
Collingwood Grange Care Home, on Portsmouth Road in Camberley, was rated Good across all five inspection domains at its last full inspection in April 2021. This represented a meaningful improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating, suggesting the home addressed earlier concerns and stabilised its practice. The home is a 75-bed nursing home run by Bupa Care Homes, with a named registered manager in post, and covers dementia, nursing care, and support for physical disabilities. Regulators reviewed available information in July 2023 and found no reason to reassess the Good rating. The main limitation for families is that the published report is a summary rather than a detailed narrative inspection, so specific evidence about staff warmth, food quality, activities, night staffing, and dementia-specific practice is not available in the public record. Before visiting, prepare a list of concrete questions: how many permanent carers are on the dementia unit after 8pm, what the agency staff rate was last month, and how activities are adapted for your parent if they cannot join group sessions. Use your visit to observe the pace of staff interactions in corridors and at mealtimes, because those moments tell you more than any document.
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In Their Own Words
How Collingwood Grange Care Home – Bupa describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where kindness meets gardens in Surrey care
Nursing home in Camberley: True Peace of Mind
When families search for dementia care, they often find themselves drawn to places where genuine warmth comes through. Collingwood Grange Care Home in Camberley offers specialist support for those living with dementia, along with care for physical disabilities. The home's gardens have become a real focal point for many residents, providing peaceful outdoor spaces that families particularly appreciate.
Who they care for
The home provides specialist dementia care alongside support for older adults and those with physical disabilities. They work with residents who need varying levels of assistance, from those who remain quite independent to those requiring more intensive daily support.
For those living with dementia, the home offers specialist care approaches. The combination of dedicated staff and accessible outdoor spaces can provide helpful structure and stimulation for residents at different stages of their dementia journey.
Management & ethos
Staff interactions appear consistently warm and kind, with team members showing genuine care in their daily work. However, one family did raise concerns about care consistency after finding their relative hadn't received adequate personal support.
The home & environment
The gardens at Collingwood Grange seem to be a real highlight. Families talk about well-kept outdoor areas where residents can spend time, with some even getting involved in the gardening themselves. The home maintains clean, tidy spaces throughout.
“If you're considering Collingwood Grange, spending time in their gardens during a visit might give you a good sense of daily life there.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
