Connaught House Care Home

What families say

Visitors often comment on the warm greetings they receive from staff when arriving at the home. Several families have noted how their relatives appear well-cared for physically, with attention paid to personal hygiene and appearance. The home organises structured activities that help residents stay engaged during the day.

Based on 27 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 happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-01-27 · Report published 2022-01-27

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to incidents and accidents. The published inspection text does not include specific observations or detail about how safety is managed in practice at Connaught House. No concerns were recorded by inspectors. The home operates across 86 beds, which means night staffing ratios are a particularly important question that the inspection text does not answer.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating means inspectors were satisfied that the broad framework for keeping your parent safe was in place. However, Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety risks are most likely to emerge in larger homes: a home with 86 beds that runs a lean overnight rota can leave residents waiting a long time for help. The inspection findings do not tell you what the overnight staffing numbers actually are, so this is the single most important question to ask directly. Agency staff usage is another gap: homes that rely heavily on agency workers often struggle to maintain the consistency of care that people with dementia need, because familiar faces matter enormously for reducing anxiety.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is a consistent risk factor in dementia care quality, with unfamiliar faces increasing distress and reducing the quality of person-led interaction. Permanent staff who know your parent's routines, preferences, and communication styles deliver meaningfully better outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual staffing rota for the previous week, not a template rota. Count how many permanent staff names appear on night shifts compared with agency names, and ask what the minimum overnight staffing number is for a night when the home is at full occupancy."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. Dementia is a listed specialism, meaning the home is registered to provide care for people living with dementia, and Effective being rated Good implies inspectors were satisfied that staff had the training and knowledge to do so. The published text does not describe the content of dementia training, how care plans are structured, how frequently GP or specialist input occurs, or what food provision looks like in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a dementia care home, the Effective domain matters because it covers whether staff actually know how to support your parent as dementia progresses. A Good rating is reassuring, but the evidence base on dementia care is clear: training quality varies enormously between homes even when headline ratings are similar. You want to know whether staff have been trained in non-verbal communication, behaviour that challenges, and how to support someone who can no longer express their needs clearly. Food quality, which accounts for 20.9% of positive themes in family reviews, is also unanswered here. When families in our review data mention food positively, they are typically describing choice, texture modification for those with swallowing difficulties, and the social experience of mealtimes, none of which the inspection text addresses.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans function best as living documents updated regularly with family input, rather than administrative records completed at admission and rarely revisited. Homes where families are actively involved in reviewing care plans report higher satisfaction and better outcomes for residents with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask when your parent's care plan would first be reviewed after admission, who would be involved in that review, and whether you as a family member would be invited to contribute. Also ask specifically what dementia training staff complete and whether it covers communication with people who have lost verbal ability."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity and respect, privacy, and whether residents are treated as individuals. A Good rating means inspectors did not find evidence of poor practice in these areas. The published text contains no direct observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives, and no specific examples such as staff using preferred names or residents appearing settled and content. The absence of detail here is notable rather than concerning, but it does mean the rating alone has to carry the weight of what is described.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the most important factor in family satisfaction by a considerable margin: 57.3% of positive family reviews in our data mention it directly, and compassion and dignity feature in 55.2% of positive reviews. These are the things families notice first and remember longest. What you are looking for on a visit is very specific: do staff use your parent's preferred name without being prompted, do they crouch to eye level when speaking to someone who is seated, do they move without hurry even when the corridor is busy. These are the observable signals the inspection text would ideally have described but does not. Good Practice research is clear that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia, and whether staff are skilled at this is something you can only assess in person.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that person-led care in dementia requires staff to know the individual deeply, their history, preferences, communication style, and what brings them comfort. This knowledge is built over time by a stable, permanent staff team rather than through paperwork alone.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent or another resident who passes them in a corridor. Do they make eye contact, use a name, and stop briefly? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small interaction is one of the most reliable indicators of the home's actual culture of care."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individuality, and how the home responds to complaints and changing needs. Dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment are all listed as specialisms, which means the home should have adapted its activity and engagement offer to reflect those specific needs. The published inspection text does not describe any specific activities, group programmes, one-to-one engagement, or how the home supports residents who cannot participate in group settings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive themes in family review data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. Families who rate homes positively on these themes typically describe specific things: an activities coordinator who knows their parent's former interests, a music session that prompted a response from someone who rarely communicates, or a member of staff who spends ten minutes looking at a photograph album with someone who cannot join a group. The Good Practice evidence review found that tailored one-to-one activities, including everyday household tasks such as folding, sorting, or simple gardening, are significantly more effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group activities alone. Whether Connaught House provides this level of individual engagement is not answered by the inspection text and should be a direct question on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and activity-based approaches, where residents with dementia engage in purposeful, familiar tasks at their own pace, produce measurable improvements in wellbeing and reductions in anxiety. The key is that activities are matched to the individual's history and abilities, not offered uniformly.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for last week, not a future planned programme. Then ask specifically what provision exists for your parent if they cannot participate in group activities, and whether there is a dedicated activities coordinator or whether this role falls to care staff alongside other duties."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Debra Joan Green, and a named nominated individual, Miss Cheri Jeanette Law, are formally recorded. Well-led covers management visibility, staff culture, governance, and whether the home learns from incidents and feedback. The rating of Good means inspectors were satisfied that leadership and governance met the required standard. The published text does not describe management visibility on the floor, staff morale, how complaints are handled, or what systems are in place for monitoring care quality.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. A home with a consistent registered manager who is known to staff and residents, and who creates a culture where concerns can be raised without fear, tends to sustain quality better than one where management changes frequently. The Well-led rating here tells you inspectors were satisfied at the time of inspection. The more practical question for your visit is how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether staff speak about them in a way that suggests genuine respect rather than formal compliance. Communication with families, which features in 11.5% of positive family reviews, is also a leadership question: ask how the home will keep you informed if your parent's health changes, and who your point of contact would be.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where staff feel empowered to raise concerns and where management responds visibly to feedback consistently outperform homes with top-down cultures on resident wellbeing measures. The presence of a stable, known manager is a leading indicator of this kind of culture.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly how long they have been in post at Connaught House, and ask what has changed in the home over the past twelve months as a result of feedback from residents or families. A manager who can give you a specific example of a change made in response to a concern is demonstrating exactly the kind of learning culture that Good Practice research says matters most."}

  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 specialises in caring for people with dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. They have facilities and equipment designed to support residents with complex needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home provides structured activities and maintains routines that help with daily life. The physical environment includes features designed specifically for dementia care. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.