Forrester Court – Care UK

What families say

What strikes families most is how staff seem to genuinely care about the small things that matter. Whether it's making sure someone has their favourite toiletries or taking time to prepare food just the way they like it, there's an attention to personal preferences that goes beyond basic care. The warmth extends to families too, with staff keeping them informed and making them feel part of their loved one's care.

Based on 27 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement68
• Food quality65
• Healthcare72
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-04-25 · Report published 2018-04-25 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The May 2025 inspection rated this domain Good. The home cares for 113 people across a range of complex needs including dementia and physical disabilities, which creates significant demands on safe staffing and medicines management. The published report does not provide specific detail on staffing ratios, agency use, falls rates, or medicines processes at this home. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating suggests that safety concerns identified earlier have been addressed, but the inspection text does not describe what those concerns were or how they were resolved.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but it tells you the home met the threshold rather than giving you a detailed picture of what safety looks like on a Tuesday night shift. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most likely to slip, particularly in homes with complex dementia needs. With 113 beds and multiple specialisms, you want to know whether enough permanent staff are on overnight to respond quickly if your parent needs help. Our family review data shows that attentiveness of staff is mentioned in 14% of positive reviews, so families notice and value this. The previous Requires Improvement rating means there was a period when this home was not meeting the standard: it is reasonable to ask the manager what specifically changed.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies agency staff reliance as one of the clearest risks to consistent, safe care, particularly for people with dementia who rely on familiar faces for reassurance and orientation.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past seven days, not a planned template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, and ask specifically how many carers are on overnight for the dementia unit."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The May 2025 inspection rated this domain Good. The home is registered to deliver care across a wide range of specialisms including dementia, learning disabilities, and mental health conditions, each of which requires distinct training and care planning approaches. The published report does not include specific observations about care plan quality, dementia training content, GP access, or how food and nutrition needs are met for people with complex conditions. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the evidence presented, but the detail of what that evidence showed is not available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a care home means that the people caring for your parent actually know what they are doing, not just in a general sense but specifically for your parent's condition and history. For families of people with dementia, 12.7% of positive Google reviews across our dataset specifically mention dementia-specific care as a reason for satisfaction. Good Practice research highlights that care plans work best when they are treated as living documents, updated regularly and shaped by what the person can still do rather than only what they cannot. Food quality is a concrete marker of genuine care: 20.9% of positive family reviews mention it by name. Ask to see a recent care plan for a current resident (anonymised) to understand how much detail and individuality the home puts into them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular, meaningful GP access and detailed, person-centred care plans as two of the strongest predictors of good health outcomes for older people with complex needs living in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed, who is involved in that review, and whether you as a family member would be contacted before or after a review takes place. Then ask to see a sample menu for this week and find out how the home supports people who have difficulty swallowing or who have lost interest in eating."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The May 2025 inspection rated this domain Good. A Good rating for caring means inspectors were satisfied that staff treated people with dignity and respect and that residents' wellbeing was given genuine attention. The published report does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, quotes from residents or relatives about how staff made them feel, or specific examples of privacy and dignity being upheld. Without that detail, it is not possible to say more than the threshold was met.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of satisfaction in our family review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. These are not abstract ideals: families are describing specific moments, such as a carer using their parent's preferred name, sitting down to have a conversation rather than rushing through a task, or responding calmly when their parent becomes frightened or confused. Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia. The inspection confirms the home met the Good threshold, but you will not know what warmth feels like here until you visit. Watch how staff interact with residents they pass in a corridor when they do not know you are observing.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) highlights that person-led care requires staff to know each individual's history, preferences, and communication style, and that this knowledge is built over time by consistent, permanent staff rather than through agency cover.","watch_out":"During your visit, find a moment to stand quietly in a communal area or corridor and watch how staff greet residents they pass. Are they making eye contact, using names, and pausing even briefly? Or are they moving through without acknowledgement? This is one of the clearest observable signals of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The May 2025 inspection rated this domain Good. Responsiveness covers whether the home tailors its approach to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, supports people to maintain independence, and plans appropriately for end of life. The published report does not include specific detail on the activity programme, examples of individualised support, or how end-of-life care is approached. The Good rating confirms inspectors were satisfied, but families considering the home cannot draw on specific evidence from this report alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness features in 27.1% of our family review data and activities in 21.4%, which tells you that families notice very quickly whether their parent has anything meaningful to do each day. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not enough: people with moderate or advanced dementia often cannot participate in a group setting and need one-to-one engagement tailored to their history and interests. A home that is truly responsive will know that your mum used to love gardening, or that your dad finds comfort in familiar music from a particular era, and will build that into daily life rather than leaving it to chance. The inspection confirms the home reached Good here, but the detail of how that plays out for 113 people with very different needs is something you will need to explore directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies Montessori-based approaches and the use of familiar everyday tasks (folding, sorting, simple cooking) as among the most effective ways to maintain engagement and a sense of purpose for people with dementia, particularly those who can no longer participate in formal group activities.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe a typical Monday for a resident with moderate dementia who does not feel well enough to join a group session. If the answer is vague or defaults to television, that tells you something important about how individualised the home's approach really is."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The May 2025 inspection rated this domain Good. Mrs Ionela Savulescu is the registered manager and Ms Rachel Louise Harvey is the nominated individual for the provider, Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd. The home has improved from a previous Requires Improvement rating, which suggests leadership has been effective in identifying and addressing earlier shortfalls. The published report does not detail the manager's tenure, how the culture is described by staff, or what governance processes are in place at home level. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the leadership evidence.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes: Good Practice research shows that homes with a consistent, visible manager tend to hold and improve their ratings, while those with frequent management changes are more likely to decline. The fact that this home has moved from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains is a positive sign. Our family review data shows that 23.4% of positive reviews specifically mention management as a reason for confidence, and 11.5% mention communication with families. What you want to know is whether the current manager has been in post long enough to have driven that improvement, and whether staff feel able to raise concerns without fear. A manager who is known by name to residents is a good observable signal.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies bottom-up empowerment, the extent to which frontline staff feel able to speak up and are listened to, as a key indicator of a well-led care home, alongside the visible presence of the manager on the floor rather than behind a desk.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly how long she has been in post at this home and what the main changes were that brought the rating from Requires Improvement to Good. Then ask a member of care staff, away from the manager, whether they know who to speak to if they have a concern about a resident's care."}

  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 supports people with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions and physical disabilities. They care for adults over 65 who need nursing support for complex or multiple conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the focus seems to be on maintaining dignity and responding to individual needs as they change. Staff work to understand each person's preferences and routines. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.