Centrum Care Homes – Croft Lodge

What families say

What strikes families is how the team here really sees each person as an individual. They take time to understand what matters to each resident, marking personal milestones and adapting their approach to suit different needs.

Based on 16 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth70
• Compassion & dignity70
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-08-12 · Report published 2022-08-12 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the July 2022 inspection. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home manages risk. The home improved from Requires Improvement to Good overall, which means inspectors were satisfied that the previous safety concerns had been addressed. No specific observations, quotes, or examples were published in the available report text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the absence of published detail means you cannot yet be confident about the specifics that matter most for a parent with dementia. Good Practice research consistently highlights night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in smaller homes: 24 beds with two or three residents needing significant support overnight can stretch a small team. Our family review data flags staff attentiveness (14% of positive reviews mention it directly) as a key concern for families. Ask specifically about night cover before you decide.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency reliance undermines consistency of care and is associated with poorer outcomes for people with dementia, particularly in managing behavioural distress overnight.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count the permanent names versus agency names, and ask how many staff are physically present in the building between 10pm and 7am."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good, covering staff training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and dementia-specific practice. Dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment are all listed specialisms, so inspectors would have considered whether training and care plans reflected these needs. No specific findings, training records, or care plan examples were published in the available report text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a parent with dementia, effectiveness is about whether staff truly know your parent as a person, not just their diagnosis. Our family review data shows dementia-specific care is mentioned in 12.7% of positive reviews, and families consistently describe the difference between staff who know their parent's history, preferences, and triggers and those who are simply following a task list. Care plans should be living documents reviewed at least quarterly with family input. Good Practice evidence is clear that regular GP access and proactive health monitoring, particularly for pain, which is often under-reported in people with advanced dementia, are markers of genuinely effective care.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans which reflect personal history, preferred routines, and communication style are associated with significantly lower rates of distressed behaviour in people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) and ask when it was last reviewed and whether the family was involved. Then ask what dementia training staff completed most recently and what it covered in practice."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are supported to maintain independence. This is the domain families weight most heavily in our review data. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or staff interactions were published in the available report text, so it is not possible to verify what the inspection actually found beyond the rating itself.","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%. A Good Caring rating is the right starting point, but the only way to assess warmth is to observe it in person. When you visit, watch how staff move through corridors: do they make eye contact and use your parent's preferred name, or do they walk past without acknowledging anyone? Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication, pace, tone, and eye contact, matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia who may have lost much of their language.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know an individual's life history and adapt their communication accordingly, is the strongest predictor of reported wellbeing for people with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask a member of staff what your parent's preferred name is, what they enjoy most in the morning, and one thing that unsettles them. If staff cannot answer without checking a file, that tells you something important about how well they know the people in their care."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good, covering activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The home cares for people with a range of needs including dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means activities and individual programming need to be genuinely varied. No details about specific activities, one-to-one engagement, or end-of-life planning were published in the available report text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive reviews in our data, and activities and engagement account for 21.4%. For a parent with advanced dementia who may not be able to join group activities, the question of what happens on a quiet afternoon is critical. Good Practice evidence supports the use of familiar, everyday tasks (folding laundry, tending plants, sorting objects) as meaningful occupation for people who no longer engage with structured activities. Ask specifically what happens for residents who cannot or will not join a group session: whether a member of staff sits with them, and what that looks like in practice.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-centred individual activities, rather than group-only programmes, are associated with reduced agitation and improved mood in people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities schedule for the past month and check whether it includes one-to-one sessions, not just group events. Then ask what your parent would do on a day when they did not want to leave their room."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, and the home has a named registered manager and a nominated individual. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across the whole service suggests that leadership has driven meaningful change since the previous inspection. No specific details about management culture, staff feedback processes, governance systems, or how the home learns from incidents were published in the available report text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality trajectory: homes with a consistent, visible manager who knows both staff and residents by name tend to sustain improvement. Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive reviews in our data, and families often describe it in terms of whether the manager is someone they can actually speak to when something goes wrong. The improvement from Requires Improvement is a genuine positive signal, but the key question is whether the current manager has been in post long enough to have driven that change, and whether they plan to stay.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of reprisal, and where managers act visibly on those concerns, consistently outperform on resident wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post, what the main change they made after the previous inspection was, and how staff raise concerns if they are worried about a resident's care. A confident, specific answer is a good sign; a vague or deflecting answer is worth noting."}

  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 Croft Lodge cares for adults of all ages with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The team has experience supporting both younger adults under 65 and older residents with complex needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on For people living with dementia, the calm environment and individual-focused approach helps create consistency and routine. Staff understand how to adapt their communication and support as needs change. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.