Ifield Park Care Home
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Residential homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds30
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities
- Last inspected2020-09-18
- Activities programmeThe dining experience gets positive mentions, with meals that residents seem to genuinely enjoy at lunchtime. The home keeps all areas clean and properly maintained. There's also an on-site café that serves good coffee at reasonable prices, giving families a comfortable spot to spend time during visits.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Visitors often notice how staff take time to sit and chat with residents throughout the day. The home maintains a notably clean and well-kept environment that families appreciate. Some relatives have found their loved ones settling well into the routines here, with long-term residents appearing comfortable in their surroundings.
Based on 31 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
- Healthcare68
- Management & leadership70
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2020-09-18 · Report published 2020-09-18 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, risk assessment, safeguarding, and infection control. No specific detail from the inspection is available in the published summary. A Good rating indicates inspectors did not identify significant concerns in these areas, but the absence of published detail means it is not possible to say how staffing ratios, night cover, or falls management were assessed in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring as a starting point, but it tells you less than you might hope without supporting detail. Our review data shows that families rate staff attentiveness highly, and the Good Practice evidence base highlights night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes. With 30 beds and a dementia specialism, you need to know how many staff are on the floor after 8pm. The inspection summary does not answer that, so you will need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies night staffing ratios as a key safety indicator, particularly in homes supporting people with dementia who may be at higher risk of falls and disorientation overnight.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the planned template. Count the number of permanent carers versus agency workers on night shifts, and ask whether a senior carer or nurse is always present overnight."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers care planning, training, nutrition, healthcare access, and how well the home applies its knowledge of each resident. The home specialises in dementia care, which means inspectors would have considered dementia-specific training and care plan quality. No specific observations, quotes, or examples are available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective suggests care plans and training were found to be acceptable, but the detail matters enormously when your parent has dementia. Our review data shows that families value dementia-specific understanding (mentioned in 12.7% of positive reviews), and the Good Practice evidence highlights that care plans should be living documents, updated regularly and shaped by family input. The inspection does not tell us how often plans are reviewed or whether families are involved. Food quality, which 20.9% of family reviews mention positively, is also covered in this domain but is not described in the available findings.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) finds that regular, meaningful care plan reviews, especially those involving family members, are strongly associated with better outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (with personal details removed) and ask how often plans are formally reviewed. Then ask whether families are invited to review meetings and how the home would update the plan if your parent's needs changed."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are supported to maintain independence. For a home specialising in dementia care, this domain is particularly important because non-verbal communication, patience, and knowing each person's history all matter greatly. No inspector observations, direct quotes, or specific examples are available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity account for 55.2%. A Good rating here is positive, but it is one you need to verify yourself on a visit. The Good Practice evidence is clear that for people with dementia, how staff interact matters as much as what they do: whether they use your parent's preferred name, whether they move without hurry, and whether they notice and respond to non-verbal distress are the signals to watch for.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) emphasises that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal interaction in dementia care, and that staff who know an individual's personal history are significantly better placed to provide person-centred support.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch how staff greet residents in the corridor and at mealtimes. Do they use preferred names? Do they crouch to eye level? Do they move without rushing? These small behaviours are the most reliable indicators of genuine warmth that no inspection summary can confirm for you."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers activities, engagement, individualised care, complaints handling, and end-of-life planning. For a dementia-specialist home, responsiveness includes how well the home tailors engagement to people at different stages of dementia, including those who cannot participate in group activities. No specific activities, examples of individual engagement, or end-of-life care detail are available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and meaningful engagement are mentioned positively in 21.4% of family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive is encouraging, but the Good Practice evidence base is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people with advanced dementia. Tailored one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and sensory activities, is what makes a real difference to your parent's daily experience. The inspection does not tell us whether Ellwood Place offers this, so it is worth asking directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) finds that Montessori-based and everyday task approaches, where individuals are supported to do familiar activities at their own pace, produce significantly better wellbeing outcomes than group-only activity programmes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator (or manager, if there is no dedicated coordinator) to describe what a typical day looks like for a resident who cannot or will not join group sessions. Ask for a specific example of a one-to-one activity that was arranged for someone in the past month."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers the quality of management, governance, culture, staff support, and how the home responds to feedback and incidents. The registered manager is listed as Mrs Peng Li-Poole, with Mr Ernest Joseph as the nominated individual. No specific observations about manager visibility, staff culture, or governance processes are available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality is mentioned positively in 23.4% of family reviews, and communication with families in 11.5%. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of consistent care quality over time. A Good rating in Well-led is a positive signal, but you cannot tell from the summary alone how long the current manager has been in post, how staff feel about raising concerns, or how the home has responded to occupancy changes. These are questions worth asking directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) finds that leadership stability, combined with a culture where staff feel able to speak up, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained care quality in residential dementia settings.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and whether there have been significant changes in the senior team in the past 12 months. Then ask staff you encounter on your visit whether they feel comfortable raising concerns with management. Their body language and hesitation are often as informative as their words."}
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 specialist dementia care alongside support for physical disabilities. They also run a day centre service that operates separately from the residential care.. Gaps or open questions remain on As a dedicated dementia care home, Ellwood Place has experience supporting residents through different stages of their dementia journey. The specialist focus means staff understand the unique challenges families face when a loved one's needs become more complex. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
Ellwood Place Dementia Care Home received a Good rating across all five domains at its most recent inspection in March 2025. However, the published report text provided contains very limited specific detail, so scores reflect a confirmed Good rating without the granular evidence needed to push into the 80s or 90s.
Homes in South East typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Visitors often notice how staff take time to sit and chat with residents throughout the day. The home maintains a notably clean and well-kept environment that families appreciate. Some relatives have found their loved ones settling well into the routines here, with long-term residents appearing comfortable in their surroundings.
What inspectors have recorded
You'll find staff who show real warmth in their daily interactions with residents. However, some families have raised concerns about communication, particularly around keeping relatives informed about important events. The home has faced questions about response times to resident needs and how consistently care standards are maintained across different shifts.
How it sits against good practice
Finding the right dementia care home takes time, and visiting in person will help you get a feel for whether Ellwood Place could work for your family.
Worth a visit
Ellwood Place Dementia Care Home, located in Crawley, was rated Good across all five inspection domains at its most recent assessment in March 2025, with the report published in May 2025. The home specialises in dementia care and supports up to 30 adults over 65, including people with physical disabilities. A consistent Good rating across Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led is a meaningful baseline: it means inspectors found no significant concerns in any area. The main limitation here is that the published report summary provides only the headline ratings, with no inspector observations, resident or relative quotes, or specific examples to draw on. This means you cannot yet tell from inspection findings alone whether staff warmth is exceptional or merely adequate, whether activities are genuinely tailored to individuals with dementia, or what night staffing looks like. A visit is essential. When you go, ask to see last week's actual staffing rota (not the template), watch how staff interact with residents in corridors and at mealtimes, and ask the manager directly about agency use and how families are kept informed.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
Let our analysis show you how Ifield Park Care Home measures up against the other homes you’re considering. Free account.
In Their Own Words
How Ifield Park Care Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Specialist dementia care with dedicated staff in Crawley
Compassionate Care in Crawley at Ellwood Place Dementia Care Home
Choosing dementia care can feel overwhelming when you're looking for somewhere that truly understands your loved one's needs. Ellwood Place Dementia Care Home in Crawley focuses on supporting people over 65 who are living with dementia. The home also welcomes residents with physical disabilities, providing specialised care in a purpose-built environment.
Who they care for
The home provides specialist dementia care alongside support for physical disabilities. They also run a day centre service that operates separately from the residential care.
As a dedicated dementia care home, Ellwood Place has experience supporting residents through different stages of their dementia journey. The specialist focus means staff understand the unique challenges families face when a loved one's needs become more complex.
Management & ethos
You'll find staff who show real warmth in their daily interactions with residents. However, some families have raised concerns about communication, particularly around keeping relatives informed about important events. The home has faced questions about response times to resident needs and how consistently care standards are maintained across different shifts.
The home & environment
The dining experience gets positive mentions, with meals that residents seem to genuinely enjoy at lunchtime. The home keeps all areas clean and properly maintained. There's also an on-site café that serves good coffee at reasonable prices, giving families a comfortable spot to spend time during visits.
“Finding the right dementia care home takes time, and visiting in person will help you get a feel for whether Ellwood Place could work for your family.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
