Eastlands Care Home in Sutton-in-Ashfield – Exemplar Health Care

What families say

Based on 4 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-11-04 · Report published 2022-11-04 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Safe is rated Good at the September 2022 inspection, an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. The published summary does not reproduce specific findings about medicines management, falls recording, or infection control, but the overall domain improvement suggests concerns identified previously have been resolved. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means a registered nurse should be on duty at all times. No information about night staffing ratios or agency staff usage is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe means the inspector was satisfied that your parent would not face unacceptable risk, and the improvement from Requires Improvement is reassuring. However, family review data shows that staffing attentiveness matters enormously to families, accounting for 14% of what people comment on most. Good Practice research is clear that safety lapses are most likely to occur on night shifts and where agency staff who do not know your parent are covering. With only 20 beds, the home is small, which can mean more consistent staff relationships, but it also means that if one nurse calls in sick at night, the impact is felt immediately. Ask specifically about how nights are covered before making a decision.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing levels are where safety most commonly deteriorates in care homes, and that over-reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency of care that people living with dementia depend on.","watch_out":"Ask the home: how many registered nurses and care staff are on duty on a typical night shift, and what is your policy when a permanent staff member cannot attend? Check whether the answer is specific or vague."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective is rated Good, covering training, care planning, nutrition, and healthcare access. The home holds specialist registration for dementia and mental health conditions, meaning it is expected to demonstrate appropriate knowledge and practice in these areas. No specific detail about training content, GP visit frequency, or care plan review processes appears in the available summary. The previous Requires Improvement rating may have included concerns about effectiveness, which appear to have been addressed by the time of the 2022 inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent, a Good Effective rating means the inspector was satisfied that staff know what they are doing and that care plans, healthcare access, and nutrition are broadly in order. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should change as your parent changes, and regular GP input as a non-negotiable. Food quality is one of the top eight things families care about, and it is often a very visible signal of how well a home knows individual residents. The dementia specialism registration means the home should have dementia-specific training in place, but you should ask what that training actually covers, not just whether staff have done it.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies personalised, regularly reviewed care plans and reliable GP access as two of the strongest predictors of good outcomes for people living with dementia in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised is fine) and ask when it was last reviewed and whether a family member was present at that review. A care plan that has not been updated in the last three months is a concern."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Caring is rated Good, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. The published summary does not reproduce any direct quotes from residents or relatives, or specific inspector observations about how staff behaved during the visit. The previous rating is not specified at domain level in the available text, but the overall improvement to Good suggests that any concerns about care quality have been addressed. No specific information about how staff support residents with dementia who cannot always express their needs verbally is available.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most important theme in what families tell us matters, accounting for 57.3% of positive family reviews across the country. Compassion and dignity together account for a further 55.2%. A Good Caring rating means the inspector was satisfied, but without specific observations or quotes it is impossible to know how consistently warm care was on a typical day rather than on inspection day. Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words for people living with dementia: how a staff member approaches your parent, makes eye contact, and responds to agitation tells you far more than any document. When you visit, arrive unannounced if possible, and watch how staff interact with residents they pass in a corridor, not just in a formal setting.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care, grounded in detailed knowledge of the individual's history, preferences, and communication style, produces measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people living with dementia than task-focused care models.","watch_out":"On your visit, notice whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they crouch to eye level when speaking to someone seated, and whether they pause to listen rather than move on quickly. These small behaviours are the most reliable indicators of a genuinely caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive is rated Good, covering activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The home's small size (20 beds) and its range of specialisms suggest it is expected to tailor care to a diverse group of residents, including those with dementia, mental health conditions, and physical disabilities. No detail about the activities programme, how one-to-one engagement is provided, or how end-of-life wishes are recorded is available in the published summary. The improvement from the previous rating suggests that responsiveness to individual needs has improved.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of what families highlight in positive reviews, and resident happiness accounts for a further 27.1%. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not enough, particularly for people living with more advanced dementia who may not be able to participate in a group setting. Meaningful one-to-one engagement, including familiar everyday tasks such as folding laundry or looking through photographs, has strong evidence behind it. With 20 residents spanning dementia, mental health, and physical disabilities, the home faces a real challenge in tailoring activity to very different needs. Ask specifically what happens for your parent on a day when the group activity does not suit them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and individual activity approaches, including familiar household tasks, significantly reduce distress behaviours and improve wellbeing in people living with dementia, compared with group-only activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past two weeks and ask what happened on a day when a planned activity was cancelled. Ask specifically what one-to-one engagement your parent would receive if they could not join a group session."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"Well-led is rated Good, and a named Registered Manager (Mrs Debbie Anne Smith) and Nominated Individual (Ms Selina Wall) are formally in post. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains is itself a marker of effective leadership responding to previous concerns. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence to change the Good rating. No detail about management visibility, staff culture, how concerns are raised, or how families feed back is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in a care home. A home with a consistent, visible manager tends to maintain and improve its rating, while leadership instability is often the first sign that things are about to slip. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good suggests the current leadership team has driven genuine change. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of what family reviewers highlight nationally, yet it is one of the areas least covered in this inspection summary. Ask the manager directly how they keep families informed, what happens when something goes wrong, and how long they have been in post.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identified that homes where staff feel empowered to raise concerns without fear, and where managers are visible on the floor rather than office-based, consistently produce better resident outcomes and sustain their ratings over time.","watch_out":"Ask Mrs Smith (or whoever manages the home now) how long she has been in post, whether there have been any significant staff changes in the past year, and what the process is when a family member raises a concern. A manager who gives you specific, confident answers is a positive sign."}

  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 team at Eastlands has experience supporting residents with complex needs, including dementia and mental health conditions. They also care for people with physical disabilities, adapting their approach to each person's requirements.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home provides specialist support tailored to each stage of the condition. The team works to maintain residents' independence and quality of life through appropriate care approaches. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.