Courtfield Lodge Care Home

What families say

Families describe feeling reassured from their very first contact with the home. When they call to check on residents or make initial enquiries, staff take time to provide clear updates and answer questions thoroughly.

Based on 11 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 2022-01-12 · Report published 2022-01-12 · Inspected 9 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the safe domain as Good, representing an improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating. Beyond the headline rating, the published inspection text does not include specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls procedures, or infection control practices. The home is registered and active, with nine inspections on record. A July 2023 review of available data found no evidence to reassess the rating downward.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety after a period of Requires Improvement tells you the home identified and fixed earlier problems, which is genuinely positive. However, Good Practice research consistently shows that safety in care homes is most vulnerable on night shifts and at weekends, when staffing is thinner and oversight is lower. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness is a named concern in a significant proportion of families' accounts. Because this inspection text contains no specifics on night staffing, agency use, or falls logging, you cannot rely on the published report alone to assess whether your parent will be safe around the clock.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios are one of the clearest predictors of safety incidents in residential care homes, and that high agency staff usage is associated with less consistent supervision and higher risk of missed observations.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent care staff are on duty overnight for the 70 beds, and what proportion of shifts in the last month were covered by agency staff? Ask to see an actual rota from last week, not a template."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the December 2021 inspection. The published text does not include detail about how care plans are written, how often they are reviewed, what dementia training staff receive, or how the home manages GP access and health monitoring. The home is listed as having a dementia specialism, but no information about what that means in practice is available in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care context means staff knowing your parent as an individual, not just as a diagnosis. Good Practice research from 61 studies found that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, updated after every significant change in health or behaviour, and when families are included in reviews. Food quality is also a reliable signal of genuine care: poor nutrition is associated with faster cognitive decline. None of these specifics are confirmed or denied in the inspection text, so this is an area where you need to ask direct questions on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found strong evidence that person-centred care planning, including regular family involvement and detailed life history documentation, significantly improves wellbeing outcomes for people living with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"Ask to see an example care plan (anonymised if needed) and ask how frequently plans are reviewed. Specifically ask: if your parent's behaviour changed significantly, how quickly would the care plan be updated and would you be contacted?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the December 2021 inspection. No specific inspector observations about staff warmth, use of preferred names, pace of interactions, or responses to distress are included in the published text. There are no resident or relative quotes available from this inspection. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed, but the detail behind that judgement is not in the public report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not soft extras: they are what families remember and what shapes your parent's day-to-day experience of living in a care home. Because the published findings contain no specific observations on this, you need to gather your own evidence on a visit. Non-verbal communication matters as much as words for people living with dementia, and this can be observed directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base notes that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal cues from staff, including tone of voice, eye contact, and unhurried physical contact, are as significant as verbal communication in determining whether a person feels safe and settled.","watch_out":"During your visit, stand in a communal area for ten minutes and watch how staff approach residents. Do they make eye contact, crouch to the resident's level, and use the resident's preferred name? Or do they talk over residents and move quickly between tasks?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the December 2021 inspection. The published text contains no detail about the activities programme, individual engagement for people who cannot join groups, end-of-life care planning, or how the home responds to individual residents' changing needs and preferences. The home's registration confirms it serves people living with dementia, which implies some level of tailored responsiveness, but this is not evidenced in the report text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is about whether your parent will have a life here, not just a bed. Our review data shows resident happiness is a named theme in 27.1% of positive reviews, and activities are mentioned in 21.4%. Good Practice research is clear that group activities are insufficient on their own: people with moderate or advanced dementia need one-to-one engagement, and household tasks carried out alongside staff (folding laundry, arranging flowers, simple cooking) can provide more meaning than a formal activity session. None of this is confirmed or ruled out by the inspection findings, so it is essential to ask.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found strong evidence for Montessori-based and task-oriented individual engagement approaches in dementia care, with group-only activity programmes significantly less effective at reducing agitation and promoting wellbeing in people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: what would a typical Tuesday look like for your parent if they were unable or unwilling to join a group session? Ask to see last month's activity records, including any one-to-one sessions logged."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the December 2021 inspection, following a previous period of Requires Improvement. Miss Piriya Suresparan is named as the nominated individual for the provider, Flightcare Limited. The published text contains no detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home handles complaints and learning from incidents. The improvement in rating from a lower baseline suggests leadership took earlier concerns seriously.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research is consistent on this point: leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in a care home. A manager who has been in post for several years, is known by name to residents and staff, and is visibly present on the floor is a very different proposition from one who is new, desk-bound, or frequently absent. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is a positive signal, but it is now more than three years since that inspection. Communication with families is mentioned in 11.5% of our positive reviews, which means families notice and value it when it is done well. Ask how long the current manager has been in post.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review identified leadership tenure and bottom-up staff empowerment as two of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality in care homes, with homes that had experienced recent management changes showing significantly higher rates of quality decline in follow-up inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been in this role, and how long has the senior care team been in place? Then ask: what was the main thing that changed between the previous Requires Improvement rating and the current Good rating, and how do you make sure those improvements are maintained?"}

  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 provides care for adults both over and under 65, including those living with dementia. They also offer dedicated short-term care places for those needing temporary support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team focuses on maintaining dignity and providing individualised care. Families have observed how staff adapt their approach to each person's specific needs and preferences. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.