Grove Hill Care Home

What families say

Families describe a warm welcome when their loved ones first arrive, with staff taking time to help new residents settle in. The social atmosphere helps people connect with others, and residents seem to enjoy spending time together in the communal areas.

Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership45
• Resident happiness50

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-09-28 · Report published 2022-09-28 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. The published report does not provide specific detail about staffing numbers, falls management, medicines handling, or infection control practices. A Good rating in this domain indicates inspectors were broadly satisfied, but the absence of published specifics means families cannot assess the detail from the report alone. The home supports people with a range of needs including dementia and physical disabilities, which makes robust safety practices particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring as a baseline, but it tells you very little on its own. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the area where safety is most likely to slip, particularly in smaller homes like this one with 27 beds. Our family review data shows that attentive, responsive staff are mentioned in 14% of positive reviews as a specific safety signal. Because the published findings contain no staffing ratios or specific incident data, you will need to ask these questions directly on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance and low night staffing ratios are the two factors most commonly associated with safety deterioration in residential dementia care. A home this size is particularly vulnerable to gaps if one or two permanent staff leave.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many named permanent staff were on night shifts versus agency cover. For a 27-bed home with dementia residents, ask specifically how many staff are on duty overnight and whether there is always a senior carer present."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. The published summary does not record specific findings about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training, or food. The home is registered as a dementia specialism service, which means inspectors would have considered whether staff have appropriate knowledge and whether care plans reflect individual needs. No direct observations or quotes are available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating suggests the home's care planning and training met the inspection standard, but without published detail it is hard to know what that means in practice for your parent. Our family review data shows that dementia-specific care is mentioned in 12.7% of positive reviews, and families particularly value staff who know their parent as an individual, not just as a diagnosis. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed with families regularly, not filed and forgotten. Ask to see your parent's draft care plan before or shortly after admission.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that regular, structured dementia training (covering communication, behaviour as expression of need, and personal history) is associated with significantly better outcomes for people living with dementia in residential care. Generic care training alone is not sufficient.","watch_out":"Ask what specific dementia training staff have completed in the past 12 months and whether it covers communication with people who have limited verbal ability. Ask how frequently care plans are reviewed and whether you would be contacted to take part."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This is the domain most directly related to how staff treat your parent day to day: whether they are kind, unhurried, respectful of privacy, and responsive to distress. The published report does not include specific inspector observations, resident testimony, or relative feedback from this domain. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied overall, but families should not rely on the rating alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews by name. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract qualities; they show up in specific observable behaviours: does a carer knock before entering a room, do they use your mum's preferred name, do they sit at eye level when speaking to her? The inspection's Good rating is a positive signal, but because no specific observations are published, you will need to observe these things yourself on a visit. Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that person-led care requires staff to know the individual's life history, preferences, and communication style. Homes that embed this knowledge in everyday practice, rather than only in written care plans, show measurably better wellbeing outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"On your visit, pay attention to corridor interactions: do staff greet residents by name without prompting, do they pause and make eye contact, or do they walk past? Ask staff what your parent's preferred name is and what they most enjoy. If staff do not know, that is a concern worth raising."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the March 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home adapts to your parent's individual needs, whether activities are meaningful and accessible, and whether end-of-life wishes are recorded and respected. No specific detail about the activity programme, individual engagement, or end-of-life planning is available in the published report summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is mentioned in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and meaningful activities are mentioned in 21.4%. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people living with dementia, particularly those with advanced needs who cannot reliably engage in structured sessions. One-to-one engagement, including simple household tasks and sensory activities, is associated with better wellbeing. Because the published findings contain no activity detail, you cannot assess this from the report. A Good rating is the floor, not the ceiling, and the actual quality of daily life depends heavily on staffing and creativity.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identified Montessori-based and task-oriented individual activities as among the most effective approaches for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that rely solely on group entertainment sessions often fail to reach the residents who most need engagement.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity schedule for the past two weeks, then ask what provision exists specifically for residents who cannot join group sessions. Ask how many hours per week of one-to-one engagement each resident receives, and who is responsible for delivering it."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Requires Improvement at the March 2025 inspection. This is the only domain below Good and it is the one that matters most for the home's future trajectory. The registered manager is named as Mrs Jae-Marie Lisa Woolford and the nominated individual as Mr Fezan Islam. The published summary does not detail what specific concerns inspectors identified in this domain, which makes it impossible to assess the scale or nature of the problem from the published text alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Well-led is the finding that should most prompt you to ask questions before making a decision. Our family review data shows that management quality is mentioned in 23.4% of positive reviews, and Good Practice research consistently identifies leadership stability as the strongest predictor of whether a home's quality improves or declines over time. A Requires Improvement here does not automatically mean the home is unsafe, but it does mean inspectors identified problems with governance, culture, or accountability that were not yet resolved at the time of inspection. The home's overall rating improved from a previous Requires Improvement to Good, which is a positive trend, but the Well-led concern needs a direct answer.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where managers act visibly on feedback, show the most sustained quality improvements. Leadership that is distant or reactive rather than proactive is associated with slower recovery after inspection concerns.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what specific concerns did inspectors identify in the Well-led domain, and what has been done about them since March 2025? Ask whether an action plan was submitted to the regulator and whether you can see a summary. Also ask how long the current registered manager has been in post, as tenure is a key indicator of stability."}

  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 supports younger adults under 65 as well as older residents, with experience caring for people with sensory impairments and physical disabilities. Mental health support is available alongside dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff work with residents living with dementia, helping them feel secure and maintaining their dignity. The home provides specialist dementia support as part of its broader care services. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.