The Coppice Nursing Home

What families say

What strikes families is how often staff check in throughout the day — not just during scheduled care times, but dropping by to see how residents are settling in. The nursing team seems particularly skilled at adapting care quickly when someone returns from hospital with changed needs.

Based on 8 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-07-16 · Report published 2019-07-16 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the June 2019 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and incidents. No specific concerns were raised. However, the published report does not include detail about actual staffing ratios, night cover arrangements, or how incidents are logged and acted upon. The home's nursing registration means a qualified nurse should be on duty at all times, which is an important baseline for a 44-bed home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but our Good Practice evidence base flags night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. The published report gives no detail about how many staff are on overnight for 44 residents, or what proportion of those are permanent rather than agency staff. Research from the IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that consistent staffing, meaning the same people working regularly with the same residents, is one of the strongest predictors of safe, calm care for people with dementia. You cannot confirm this from the published text alone, so it needs to be a direct question on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies agency staff reliance as a significant risk factor for people with dementia, who rely on familiar faces and consistent routines to feel safe and settled.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not a template. Count how many names appear more than twice and how many are from an agency. Then ask specifically how many staff, and how many qualified nurses, are on duty between 10pm and 6am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the June 2019 inspection. This domain covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a registered specialism, which means inspectors expected to see appropriate training and care approaches in place. No specific concerns were recorded. The published summary does not include detail about how care plans are written, how frequently they are reviewed, or what dementia training staff have completed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the Effective domain is where the detail really matters. A Good rating tells you inspectors did not find serious problems, but it does not tell you whether your parent's care plan will reflect their actual life history, food preferences, or communication needs. Our Good Practice evidence base stresses that care plans should be living documents, updated regularly and shaped by families as well as professionals. Food quality is also a key signal: 20.9% of positive family reviews in our data mention food by name, and a home that invests in nutritious, well-presented meals with real choice is usually one that invests in care more broadly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that regular, documented GP access and dementia-specific training for all care staff, not just senior staff, are among the strongest indicators of genuinely effective care for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see an example of a care plan, with personal details removed if needed. Check whether it includes the person's preferred name, food likes and dislikes, daily routine before moving in, and the date it was last updated. If it was not reviewed in the last three months, ask why."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the June 2019 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. No concerns were raised. The published summary does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, for example whether staff knocked before entering rooms, used preferred names, or moved at an unhurried pace. There are no resident or relative quotes in the published text. Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, at 57.3% of positive reviews, so the absence of specific detail here is a meaningful gap.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth, at 57.3% of positive family reviews in our data, and compassion and dignity, at 55.2%, are the two things families notice and remember most when visiting a care home. The Good Caring rating means inspectors were satisfied at the time of the 2019 inspection, but the published text gives you nothing specific to hold onto. On a visit, the most reliable signals are informal: does a member of staff greet your parent by their preferred name without being prompted, do they make eye contact and speak directly to your parent rather than past them, and do they move without rushing? These small moments predict the quality of daily life far better than any rating.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (2026) identifies non-verbal communication, including eye contact, physical touch, and an unhurried pace, as equally important as verbal communication for people with dementia, particularly those who have lost some ability to use language.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a staff member passes a resident in a corridor or common room. Do they pause, make eye contact, and say something personal? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This simple interaction, repeated dozens of times each day, is one of the clearest indicators of a genuinely caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the June 2019 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, responsiveness to changing needs, and end-of-life care. The home's registered specialisms include dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which suggests inspectors expected to see tailored approaches. No concerns were recorded. The published summary contains no detail about what activities are on offer, whether one-to-one engagement is available for residents who cannot join groups, or how end-of-life wishes are discussed and recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. For a parent with dementia, the question is not just whether there is an activity programme but whether there is someone who will sit with your parent individually on a day when they cannot manage a group setting. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, such as folding, sorting, or simple cooking, as particularly effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia because they draw on long-term procedural memory. The inspection gives no detail on whether Coppice uses any of these approaches.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) found that tailored one-to-one activity, rather than group-only provision, is one of the most significant factors in reducing agitation and improving wellbeing for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the last four weeks. Check whether they show individual as well as group sessions, and whether any resident who did not attend a group session received one-to-one time instead. Ask who is responsible for activities and what happens to that cover when the activities coordinator is off sick or on leave."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the June 2019 inspection. A named registered manager, Ms Colette Grace, and a nominated individual, Mr Alan Goldstein, were in post at the time. This domain covers management culture, governance, accountability, and the extent to which staff feel able to raise concerns. No specific concerns were recorded. The published summary does not include detail about manager visibility, staff survey results, or how the home uses feedback from residents and families to make improvements.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes, according to our Good Practice evidence base. A home where the manager is well known to residents and staff, and has been in post for several years, tends to have lower staff turnover and more consistent care. The 2019 inspection confirmed a Good rating and named the registered manager, but the inspection is now several years old. Our family review data shows that communication with families, at 11.5% of positive reviews, is a key marker of good leadership in practice: families who hear proactively from the manager when something changes feel significantly more confident in the home.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (2026) found that bottom-up empowerment, specifically staff feeling safe to raise concerns without fear of reprisal, is one of the most reliable cultural markers of a well-led home. Homes where this culture is strong show better outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post and whether they were in the same role at the time of the 2019 inspection. Then ask how they communicate with families when a resident's health or mood changes between scheduled reviews. A confident, specific answer to that second question is a reliable sign of genuine leadership."}

  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 over 65 with complex needs including dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, and eating disorders.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team's experience with sensory impairments and mental health conditions means they can provide more comprehensive support when multiple conditions affect someone's care needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.