Hadfield House

What families say

What comes through in family experiences is how staff here respond to the emotional side of care. They've helped residents form new friendships when loneliness creeps in, and families mention feeling reassured by the genuine attention to dignity and respect. The regular programme of singers, quizzes and celebrations gives structure to the days.

Based on 4 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 & leadership65
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-12-19 · Report published 2018-12-19 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection, representing an improvement from the home's previous Requires Improvement status. The home supports 28 people, including those with dementia and mental health conditions, which makes consistent, trained staffing particularly important for safety. The available published text does not provide specific detail about staffing ratios, medicines management practices, or falls monitoring. The July 2023 monitoring review did not identify evidence requiring a rating change, suggesting no significant safety concerns had emerged in the intervening period. No specific infection control observations are reproduced in the available report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating after a previous Requires Improvement is genuinely reassuring u2014 it suggests the home identified and fixed whatever prompted the earlier concern. However, the published text gives you very little to go on in terms of what safe care actually looks like day-to-day at Hadfield House. Good Practice research consistently shows that safety most often slips at night, when staffing is thinnest and supervision lightest u2014 this is the gap families rarely think to ask about. For a home supporting people with dementia, night staffing matters enormously: disorientation, distress, and falls risk all increase in the dark hours. You should also ask whether the home has reduced its use of agency staff since the Requires Improvement period, as staff who don't know your parent cannot keep them as safe as those who do.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that agency staff reliance is one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in dementia care settings, as continuity of staffing underpins the ability to detect subtle changes in a person's condition or behaviour.","watch_out":"Ask: 'How many staff are on duty overnight, and are any of them dementia-trained? What proportion of night shifts are covered by agency staff rather than permanent employees?'"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether staff have the right training and skills, whether care plans are personalised and up to date, whether people's health needs are met through GP and specialist access, and whether food meets individual dietary needs and preferences. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a higher standard of dementia-specific knowledge should be in place. No specific detail about training content, care plan review frequency, GP access arrangements, or food provision is available in the published text. The improvement from Requires Improvement in this domain is a positive sign.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent, 'Effective' means whether the people looking after them actually understand dementia and know how to respond when it changes. A Good rating here suggests inspectors were satisfied u2014 but without knowing what training staff received or how recently, it's hard to judge depth. Good Practice evidence is clear that dementia training should be ongoing and role-specific, not a one-off induction course. Care plans matter enormously too: a genuinely good care plan isn't a filing exercise u2014 it should capture how your parent takes their tea, what unsettles them, what music they love, and it should be reviewed with you as a family at least every three months. Food is also a reliable indicator of genuine person-centred care: ask whether the home can accommodate your parent's food preferences and whether mealtimes are treated as a social occasion rather than a task to complete.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as 'living documents' that should evolve with the person's dementia progression u2014 homes that review plans regularly and include families in that process consistently show better outcomes for residents in terms of reduced distress and better nutritional intake.","watch_out":"Ask: 'How often is my parent's care plan formally reviewed, and will I be invited to take part in that review? Can I see an example of how individual preferences are recorded?'"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. This is the domain most directly concerned with how staff treat the people in their care u2014 warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. For a 28-bed home supporting people with dementia and mental health conditions, the quality of moment-to-moment human interaction is arguably the most important thing a family needs to understand. No direct quotes from residents or relatives are available in the published text, and no specific inspector observations about staff interactions are reproduced. A Good rating in this domain, achieved after a previous Requires Improvement, suggests genuine improvement, but the evidence base for that improvement is not visible in what has been published.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Families consistently tell DCC that staff warmth is the single most important factor in their confidence about a home u2014 it accounts for 57.3% of the weight in our Family Review scoring. For your parent, kindness isn't a nice-to-have: Good Practice research is clear that for people with advanced dementia who may not be able to express distress verbally, the non-verbal quality of staff interactions u2014 tone, pace, touch, eye contact u2014 directly affects their experience of every waking hour. A Good Caring rating is meaningful, but it is also the domain where the gap between a formal inspection visit and everyday reality can be widest. Trust what you observe on an unannounced or informal visit more than what you're told. Watch whether staff use your parent's preferred name, make eye contact, and speak to them rather than about them when you are present.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal interaction in dementia care u2014 staff who maintain eye contact, use a calm tone, and respond to emotional cues rather than behavioural labels consistently produce lower rates of distress in residents.","watch_out":"When you visit, observe how staff greet residents they pass in corridors u2014 do they stop, make eye contact, use the person's name? Ask the manager: 'What name does my parent prefer to be called, and how do you make sure all staff know that?'"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individuals' needs and preferences, whether activities are meaningful and varied, and whether end-of-life care is planned. For a home with a dementia specialism, responsiveness means recognising that one person's meaningful day looks very different from another's u2014 and that for some people with advanced dementia, group activities are not accessible without one-to-one support. No specific activities are described in the available text, and no detail about end-of-life planning, complaints handling, or individual engagement is reproduced. The Good rating represents an improvement on the previous inspection outcome.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent, a Good Responsive rating should mean that their life in the home has genuine shape and meaning u2014 not just safe, clean care, but days that feel worth living. DCC family review data shows that activities and engagement account for 21.4% of what families value most, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. Good Practice evidence is particularly clear that people with moderate to advanced dementia benefit most from one-to-one activities and everyday household tasks u2014 folding, watering plants, sorting objects u2014 rather than group entertainment sessions. Ask specifically what happens for your parent on a Tuesday afternoon, not what the activity schedule says. Also ask how the home would involve you in planning your parent's end-of-life wishes u2014 this conversation is often avoided but is one of the most important a family can have early.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice review found that Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches to activity u2014 where people engage with familiar, purposeful actions rather than audience-style entertainment u2014 produce measurably better engagement and lower agitation in people with dementia across all settings.","watch_out":"Ask: 'What would a typical afternoon look like for my parent specifically u2014 not the general programme, but what would someone with their level of dementia actually do? And is there a member of staff whose role includes one-to-one time with people who can't join group activities?'"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection, with named leadership in place: Mrs Kathleen Adshead as Registered Manager and Mr Ian Marshall as Nominated Individual, both connected to the provider Masterpalm Properties Limited. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no evidence requiring a rating change, suggesting continued stability. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes the current Good rating more meaningful u2014 it indicates the leadership team was able to identify problems and drive improvement. No specific detail about governance systems, staff culture, incident learning, or quality monitoring is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time u2014 DCC family review data shows management and leadership accounts for 23.4% of what families value. The fact that a named Registered Manager is in place and the home has maintained its Good rating since 2022 is a positive sign of continuity. Good Practice evidence shows that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and where the manager is visible on the floor rather than office-bound, consistently outperform those where leadership is distant. When you visit, ask how long the current manager has been in post u2014 manager tenure is a more reliable indicator of quality trajectory than any single inspection. Also ask how the home communicates with families when something goes wrong, not just when things are going well.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that manager tenure and staff empowerment u2014 specifically, whether frontline staff feel able to raise concerns and see action taken u2014 are among the most reliable predictors of sustained quality in care homes, more so than inspection ratings alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: 'How long have you been in post here, and what was the main thing you changed after the previous Requires Improvement rating? How would you let me know if something happened to my parent that concerned you?'"}

  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 cares for adults both over and under 65, including those living with dementia or mental health conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the staff's ability to tune into emotional needs and maintain dignity seems particularly valuable. The regular activities and social structure can help provide reassuring routine. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.