Fernbank Nursing Home

What families say

Families mention feeling genuinely supported here, particularly during difficult transitions. The staff seem to grasp that caring for someone extends to caring about their loved ones too.

Based on 5 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 & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-05-06 · Report published 2022-05-06 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its March 2022 inspection, having previously held a Requires Improvement rating in this domain. This improvement suggests the home addressed whatever concerns were identified at the earlier inspection. The published report does not provide specific detail on staffing ratios, medicines management, falls monitoring, or infection control practices. The home is registered to provide nursing care, indicating qualified nursing staff are present.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in safety is the most important thing to notice here. It means inspectors found the home had tackled earlier problems, which requires effort and management commitment. That said, our Good Practice evidence base is clear that safety risks most often appear at night, when staffing is thinnest, and the published inspection gives no detail on night staffing numbers for 30 residents. Agency staff usage is another known risk factor: homes that rely heavily on agency cover have less consistent knowledge of individual residents. You cannot verify either of these from the published report alone, so both are priority questions to raise directly with the manager.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing levels and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety risk in care homes. Consistent, permanent staff who know residents individually are better placed to spot early changes in condition.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from the past two weeks. Count how many permanent staff versus agency staff covered each night shift, and confirm how many qualified nurses are present overnight for the 30 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at its March 2022 inspection. The home lists dementia as a specialism and is registered to provide nursing care, treatment of disease, and diagnostic procedures. The published inspection text does not provide specific detail on care plan quality, GP access, dementia training content, or how food and nutrition are managed. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating suggests that care practice was reviewed and strengthened.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness covers some of the things families worry about most: whether staff genuinely understand dementia, whether your parent's care plan reflects who they actually are as a person, and whether health problems are caught early. Our Good Practice evidence identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated regularly and shaped by the person's life history, not just their clinical needs. The inspection does not tell us whether Fernbank's care plans meet that standard. Dementia training is another gap: the home declares dementia as a specialism, but the inspection does not confirm what training all staff, including night staff and kitchen staff, have completed. These are direct questions to put to the manager.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that dementia training which covers non-verbal communication, behavioural responses to unmet need, and life history approaches produces measurably better outcomes for people with dementia. Generic or infrequent training does not produce the same results.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to describe the dementia training that all staff complete, including domestics, kitchen staff, and night carers, and ask when the training was last updated. Then ask to see an example of how a care plan is structured, specifically whether it includes the person's preferred name, daily routine, and life history."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at its March 2022 inspection. Staff warmth and compassion are the highest-weighted themes in our family review data, and a Good rating in this domain is therefore an important signal. However, the published inspection text contains no specific observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives about how they feel treated, and no examples of dignity-preserving practice. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes the current Good rating more meaningful, but the absence of detail limits what can be verified.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes mention it by name, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. The things that signal genuine caring are often small and observable: staff using your parent's preferred name, moving at a pace that does not feel rushed, sitting down to have a conversation rather than talking while passing through. The inspection found this home Good for caring, but the published text gives no specific examples to confirm what that looks like day to day. This is something you need to observe yourself. A visit that includes a mealtime, when staffing pressures are visible and the pace of interactions can be seen, will tell you a great deal.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia. Staff who make eye contact, use touch appropriately, and approach at the resident's level produce calmer, more settled responses even when verbal communication has been lost.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff passes a resident in the corridor or communal area. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small, unscripted moment is one of the most reliable indicators of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at its March 2022 inspection. Responsiveness covers activities, individual engagement, and how well the home adapts to each person's needs and preferences. The home specialises in dementia care, which requires tailored, individual approaches rather than generic group programmes. The published inspection text does not provide specific detail on the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or how the home responds to changing needs. No resident or relative quotes about daily life or activities appear in the published report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is the third most important theme in our family review data, mentioned in 27.1% of positive reviews. For people with dementia, meaningful activity is not a luxury: the Good Practice evidence base is clear that purposeful engagement, including everyday tasks like folding, gardening, or cooking, reduces distress and supports wellbeing. Activities that work for someone in the early stages of dementia are very different from those that work for someone with more advanced needs. A home that only offers group activities effectively excludes your parent if their dementia has progressed. The inspection gives no detail on whether Fernbank offers one-to-one engagement or how the programme is tailored. This is a priority question.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review identified Montessori-based and life history approaches as having strong evidence for reducing agitation and improving quality of life in people with dementia. Critically, individual rather than group-only activity delivery was consistently associated with better outcomes, particularly for people with more advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity log, not the planned schedule on the wall. Check whether any activities took place one-to-one with residents who cannot join groups, and ask how the programme is adapted for someone whose dementia has progressed to the point where group participation is no longer possible."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for being well-led at its March 2022 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Ms Nelisiwe Sylvia Mthabela, is in post, and the home is operated by Mr and Mrs K Bhanji. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in well-led is significant because leadership quality is one of the strongest predictors of overall home quality trajectory. The published inspection text does not provide specific detail on manager visibility, staff empowerment, governance processes, or how the home handles complaints and incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership account for 23.4% of positive review scores in our data, and our Good Practice evidence is clear that leadership stability predicts the direction a home is travelling. The fact that this home improved from Requires Improvement to Good under the current management team is a positive sign. However, the inspection was conducted in March 2022, and the review in July 2023 did not trigger a reassessment. That means the published picture is now over two years old. Staff turnover, occupancy changes, and management changes can all shift a home's quality significantly in that time. Communication with families, covering how the home keeps you informed about your parent's condition and responds to your concerns, is something 11.5% of positive reviews specifically mention, and it is not covered in the inspection text.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers are regularly visible on the floor rather than office-based, consistently produce better outcomes for residents. Bottom-up empowerment and staff voice are stronger predictors of sustained quality than top-down governance processes alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post at Fernbank specifically, and whether there have been any significant staffing changes in the past 12 months. Then ask a care worker you meet during your visit whether they feel comfortable raising a concern with the manager directly. The answer, and the way it is given, will tell you more than any document."}

  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 Fernbank specialises in caring for adults over 65 and those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home provides dementia care, specific approaches and programmes would be best discussed directly with the team during a visit. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.