Halden Heights Nursing Home

What families say

Based on 23 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement68
• Food quality68
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-10-12 · Report published 2019-10-12 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the August 2019 inspection. The published summary does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls prevention processes, or infection control arrangements. The rating indicates that inspectors were satisfied with safety standards at the time of the visit. A monitoring review in July 2023 did not identify concerns that would require a reassessment. No information about agency staff use or night staffing levels is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the inspection report does not tell you the details that matter most when your parent has dementia. Good Practice research consistently shows that safety risks, particularly falls and medication errors, are most likely to occur at night, when staffing is thinnest. For a 101-bed home, you need to know specifically how many staff are on the dementia unit after 8pm. Agency staff are a known risk factor for consistency of care; a home with a stable permanent team is far safer for someone living with dementia than one that patches gaps with unfamiliar faces. The inspection does not cover either of these points, so you need to ask directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (March 2026) found that night staffing levels and reliance on agency staff are two of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes for people with dementia. Neither is addressed in this report.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the dementia unit for the last two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many carers are on duty overnight."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the August 2019 inspection. The published summary does not describe the content of dementia training, how care plans are structured, how frequently they are reviewed, or how the home coordinates healthcare with GPs and other professionals. The Good rating indicates that inspectors considered training, care planning, and healthcare arrangements to be satisfactory at the time of the visit. No specific examples, resident testimony, or record reviews are described in the available text. Food quality and dietary support are not mentioned.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, effectiveness is about more than passing an inspection. It means staff who know your parent's history, triggers, and preferences well enough to pre-empt distress, not just respond to it. Good Practice research from 61 studies identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated regularly and co-produced with families, not filed and forgotten. The inspection does not tell you whether care plans here meet that standard. Food quality is one of the clearest markers of genuine person-centred care, because it requires knowing the individual, but this inspection report says nothing about mealtimes. These are questions you need to answer yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies regular GP access, dementia-specific training for all staff (not just senior carers), and care plans reviewed at least monthly as the three components most strongly associated with positive health outcomes for people living with dementia in residential settings.","watch_out":"Ask to see your parent's proposed care plan structure and ask when it would last have been reviewed if your parent were already living there. Ask specifically whether care plans are updated after every significant change in health or behaviour, and who in the family would be contacted when that happens."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the August 2019 inspection. The published summary includes no specific inspector observations about staff manner, dignity practices, use of preferred names, or how staff support people living with dementia who become distressed. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the quality of caring interactions at the time of the visit. No quotes from residents or relatives are available in the published text. Independence and privacy are not specifically described.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. What families are looking for is not a policy statement but observable behaviour: staff who use your parent's preferred name without being prompted, who make eye contact, who do not talk over your parent as though they are not in the room. Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal for people living with dementia. The inspection report does not give you evidence one way or the other on any of these points. You need to spend time on the unit and watch, not just talk to the manager.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that for people living with advanced dementia, non-verbal cues from staff, including tone, pace, and physical proximity, are more predictive of emotional wellbeing than the content of verbal communication. Training in this area is not consistently provided across care homes.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch how a member of staff greets your parent or another resident in a corridor. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use a name? Or do they walk past with a nod? That interaction, repeated dozens of times a day, is what your parent's experience will be built from."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the August 2019 inspection. The published summary does not describe the activities programme, individual engagement for people who cannot join group activities, how the home responds to changing needs, or how complaints are handled. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with responsiveness to individual need at the time of the visit. No specific examples of tailored activities or resident feedback mechanisms are described. End-of-life planning is not mentioned in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness accounts for 27.1% of positive family reviews in our data, and activities engagement accounts for 21.4%. These two themes are closely linked: a home where your parent has something meaningful to do each day is a home where your parent is more likely to be settled and content. Good Practice research identifies one-to-one engagement as particularly important for people at a more advanced stage of dementia who cannot participate in group activities. A home with 101 beds needs dedicated resource for this, not just a communal sing-along once a week. The inspection report does not tell you whether this home provides that. Ask specifically what happens for a resident who finds group activities overwhelming or distressing.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based and everyday task approaches, including folding laundry, tending plants, and preparing simple food, produced measurably better engagement and reduced agitation in people living with dementia compared to scheduled group entertainment activities alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity rota for the past two weeks, not the planned schedule. Ask what specific one-to-one engagement is available for a resident who cannot join group sessions, and who on the staff team is responsible for making that happen on days when the activity coordinator is absent."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the August 2019 inspection. The registered manager is named as Mrs Daisy Delgado, and the nominated individual is Mrs Katie Rose Wordley. The published summary does not describe the manager's visibility on the floor, how staff are supported to raise concerns, how the home monitors quality, or how families are kept informed. The Good rating indicates inspectors considered governance and leadership satisfactory at the time of the visit. The inspection is now over five years old, which means leadership continuity since that date is unknown from the published information.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families accounts for a further 11.5%. Good Practice research identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in a care home: a manager who has been in post for several years, who staff know and trust, and who is regularly visible on the floor, tends to run a home that maintains and improves its standards. The inspection that generated this Good rating was conducted in August 2019, more than five years ago. You do not know from the published information whether Mrs Delgado is still in post, whether there has been significant staff turnover since, or how the home has changed under occupancy pressure. These are important questions.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes where frontline staff felt able to raise concerns directly with the manager, without fear of being dismissed, had significantly lower rates of dignity breaches and medication errors than homes where staff described a top-down culture.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post and whether the same person was in post at the 2019 inspection. Ask how staff are encouraged to raise concerns and what the most recent example was of something changing because a carer spotted a problem. A manager who can answer that last question with a specific story is a good sign."}

  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 over 65 and has experience supporting people with dementia. They can arrange assessments for prospective residents, including hospital visits when needed.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff at Halden Heights support residents living with dementia. The home's peaceful setting and secure outdoor areas provide space for residents to spend time outside when weather permits. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.