Oaklands Nursing Home

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 warmth82
• Compassion & dignity85
• Cleanliness75
• Activities & engagement78
• Food quality72
• Healthcare85
• Management & leadership92
• Resident happiness78

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-05-02 · Report published 2019-05-02 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. This means inspectors were satisfied that your parent would be protected from avoidable harm, that medicines are managed safely, and that staffing levels are sufficient to meet people's needs. Infection control and the physical environment were also assessed as part of this domain. No concerns were identified that would move this rating below Good.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Safe is a reassuring baseline, but our family review data shows that attentiveness of staff, rated as important by 14% of families in positive reviews, is what matters most in practice. Good Practice research is clear that night staffing is where safety most often slips in homes like this, and the inspection summary does not give specific staffing ratios. For a parent with dementia, who may be at risk of falls or disorientation at night, that figure matters. Ask the home directly: how many staff are on after 8pm, and is a registered nurse always present overnight? A home with a Good Safe rating should answer that question without hesitation.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of safety incidents in care homes, because agency workers lack the contextual knowledge to recognise when a resident with dementia is behaving unusually. Ask what proportion of shifts in the last month were covered by permanent staff.","watch_out":"Ask: how many permanent staff are on the dementia unit after 8pm on a typical weeknight, and when did the home last use an agency nurse to cover a night shift?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Effective was rated Outstanding at the September 2025 inspection. This is the highest rating available and indicates that inspectors found exceptional practice in training, care planning, healthcare coordination and outcomes for residents. For a home specialising in dementia care for adults over 65, this rating is significant. Outstanding in Effective is relatively rare and suggests that staff knowledge, care plan quality and access to healthcare professionals are all operating above the standard expected.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the Effective domain is arguably the most important. Our family review data shows that dementia-specific care quality influences 12.7% of positive reviews, and Good Practice evidence is consistent: care plans that are treated as living documents, updated regularly and co-produced with families, produce significantly better outcomes than those written at admission and left unchanged. An Outstanding rating here is a strong signal that Glentworth House takes this seriously. Ask to see how your parent's care plan would be structured, how often it is reviewed, and how you would be involved in those reviews.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base from 61 studies identifies regular, structured GP access as a key marker of effective care in nursing homes. Residents with dementia are at high risk of undetected infections, pain and medication side effects, and proactive health monitoring, rather than reactive crisis responses, is associated with fewer hospital admissions.","watch_out":"Ask: how often is your parent's care plan formally reviewed, and can you as a family member request a review at any time? Also ask what dementia-specific training the care staff have completed and when it was last updated."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. Inspectors assessed whether staff treat residents with kindness, respect their dignity, protect their privacy and support their independence. A Good rating means these standards were consistently met. The published summary does not include specific observations or quotes from residents or relatives recorded during the inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most important theme in our family review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good Caring rating means inspectors observed respectful, kind practice, but the detail behind that finding is not available in the published summary. Good Practice research highlights that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, physical gentleness and facial expression, matters as much as what staff say. On your visit, watch how staff greet your parent on a corridor, whether they use their preferred name, and whether interactions feel unhurried. Those observations will tell you more than any rating.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-centred care in dementia depends heavily on staff knowing each individual's life history, preferences and communication style. Homes where this knowledge is embedded in care planning, and not just held in staff memory, show consistently better dignity outcomes.","watch_out":"On your visit, ask a member of staff what your parent's preferred name would be and observe how staff on the unit acknowledge residents they pass in corridors. Warmth in small, unrehearsed moments is the most reliable indicator of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home provides care that meets each individual's needs and preferences, including activities, engagement, and planning for end of life. A Good rating indicates that inspectors found the home to be meeting these requirements. The published summary does not describe specific activities, individual tailoring arrangements, or end-of-life planning practices in detail.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows that resident happiness is important to 27.1% of families leaving positive reviews, and activities engagement to 21.4%. Good Practice evidence is consistent that for people with dementia, group activities alone are not sufficient: tailored one-to-one engagement, including everyday tasks such as folding laundry, tending plants or looking at photographs, produces better wellbeing outcomes than structured group programmes. A Good Responsive rating means the home met the standard, but ask specifically what happens for a resident who cannot or will not join a group. That is where the quality of individual responsiveness is truly tested.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies Montessori-based approaches and meaningful occupation, including familiar household tasks, as particularly effective for people with mid-to-late stage dementia. Engagement does not require formal activity programmes; it requires staff who know what a person's life was like and can bring small moments of connection into the day.","watch_out":"Ask: if your parent reaches a point where they cannot join group activities, what structured one-to-one engagement would be provided, how would that be planned, and who would be responsible for delivering it on a daily basis?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Outstanding at the September 2025 inspection. This is the highest rating and covers the quality of management, governance, staff culture, accountability and continuous improvement. The registered manager is Mr Paul William Cartwright and the nominated individual is Ms Anita Redwood. An Outstanding rating in this domain indicates that inspectors found leadership to be genuinely embedded, staff to be supported and empowered, and governance systems to be robust and actively used to improve quality.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows that trust in management influences 23.4% of positive reviews, and the Good Practice evidence is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality trajectory. A home with a stable, visible manager, where staff feel supported to raise concerns and where governance data is used to drive improvement, tends to improve over time. An Outstanding Well-led rating is the most encouraging single finding in this inspection for a family making a long-term placement decision. Ask how long Mr Cartwright has been in post and how long the core nursing and care staff team has been together. Stability at the top tends to flow through to the floor.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that bottom-up empowerment, where frontline staff are encouraged to flag concerns without fear and where managers are visibly present on the floor rather than office-based, is the leadership characteristic most strongly associated with sustained quality improvement in care homes.","watch_out":"Ask: how long has the current registered manager been in post, and how many of the permanent care staff on the dementia unit have worked here for more than two years? Staff continuity is one of the most reliable proxies for a stable, well-led culture."}

  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 Glentworth House specializes in dementia care for adults over 65. They understand the unique challenges memory conditions bring and shape their approach around each resident's needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on Structured activities form part of daily life here, designed to engage residents at different stages of their dementia journey. The care team works to maintain a stimulating environment that supports cognitive function while ensuring physical safety. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.