Harbour Care Centre – Residential, Dementia & Nursing Care.

What families say

Visitors often mention feeling genuinely welcomed from the moment they arrive. Staff greet families by name and take time to chat, creating an atmosphere where both residents and their loved ones feel valued. The sense of community extends throughout the home, with residents joining in varied activities that bring purpose to each day.

Based on 20 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-01-26 · Report published 2023-01-26 · Inspected 8 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and safeguarding concerns. The published inspection text does not include specific detail about what inspectors observed, what records they reviewed, or what residents and relatives said about feeling safe. The improvement in this domain is meaningful, as it indicates that concerns identified previously have been addressed to the inspector's satisfaction.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"When a home moves from Requires Improvement to Good in Safety, it usually means that specific problems, whether in medicines recording, incident reporting, or staffing gaps, have been identified and fixed. That is a more encouraging sign than a home that has always scraped a Good without ever being tested. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights night staffing as the area where safety most commonly deteriorates, and with 108 beds this is a genuine consideration. The published text does not tell you what the night ratios are, so you will need to ask directly. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive family reviews in our data, and again, the inspection gives you no specific observations here, making a visit essential.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff consistency are the two areas where safety most commonly slips in homes that otherwise perform well during daytime inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many permanent carers and senior staff are on duty overnight across the dementia unit specifically, and what was the total number of agency shifts used in the last four weeks? Request to see the actual rota rather than the template."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, covering care planning, staff training, healthcare access, nutrition, and how well the home meets individual needs. The published inspection text does not include specific detail about the content of care plans, how frequently they are reviewed, what dementia training staff have completed, or how GP and specialist access is arranged. A Good rating in this domain suggests that inspectors were satisfied with the systems in place, but the absence of specific findings means families have limited independent information to work from.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home specialising in dementia across 108 beds, the quality of care planning and dementia-specific training matters enormously. Our Good Practice evidence base emphasises that care plans should function as living documents, updated regularly and shaped by family knowledge of the person, not just clinical observation. Healthcare access is referenced positively by families in 20.2% of our review data, and food quality in 20.9%, but neither is described in specific terms in this inspection. Ask to see a sample care plan structure on your visit and ask how recently the dementia training that all staff receive was last updated.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia training programmes that include non-verbal communication and person-centred approaches produce measurably better outcomes for residents than compliance-focused training alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: what specific dementia training have all staff on the unit completed in the last 12 months, who delivers it, and does it cover how to respond when someone cannot express distress verbally? Ask to see the training log."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, privacy, and support for independence. This is the domain most directly tied to the day-to-day experience of living in the home. The published inspection text includes no specific observations about how staff interacted with residents, no quotes from residents or relatives about kindness or respect, and no examples of dignity being promoted in practice. The Good rating is positive, but families should be aware that it is based on inspector judgement without published supporting detail in this report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity appear in 55.2%. These are the things families feel most strongly about and remember most clearly. The inspection gives you a Good rating but no observable evidence to point to. What to look for on a visit: do staff address your parent by their preferred name without prompting, do they make eye contact and slow down rather than rushing past, and how does a member of staff respond when a resident appears confused or distressed in a corridor? These are things you can assess yourself in 30 minutes.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that non-verbal communication, particularly pace, eye contact, and physical positioning at the resident's level, is as important as verbal interaction for people living with dementia, and is a reliable observable signal of a genuinely caring culture.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit in a communal area for at least 20 minutes and watch how staff pass through. Do they stop, make eye contact, and speak to residents by name, or do they move through purposefully without engaging? That pattern tells you more than any brochure."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, covering activities, individual engagement, responsiveness to changing needs, and end-of-life care. The published inspection text does not describe the activity programme, give examples of person-centred responses to individual needs, or reference how the home supports residents who cannot participate in group activities. The Good rating indicates that inspectors found the home's approach satisfactory at the time of inspection, but no specific examples are available in the published text to help families assess the quality of daily life.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness appears in 27.1% of positive family reviews in our data, and activities in 21.4%. For a 108-bed home with a dementia specialism, the risk is that activities become group-focused and programme-led rather than individually tailored. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that people with more advanced dementia benefit most from one-to-one engagement and familiar everyday tasks rather than organised group sessions. The inspection does not tell you whether this home does that well or not. Ask to see the activity schedule and ask specifically what happens for residents who cannot join a group.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking, produce better engagement and wellbeing outcomes for people with advanced dementia than traditional group activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator: for a resident who cannot join group sessions because of advanced dementia, how many hours of one-to-one engagement would they receive in a typical week, and what form would that take? Ask to see an example from a current resident's care plan."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the January 2023 inspection, covering management culture, governance, staff empowerment, accountability, and continuous improvement. The Registered Manager is named as Mr Samuel Maierovits and the Nominated Individual as Mr Wayne Daniel Price. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all five domains is the strongest available signal of effective leadership. The published text does not describe specific governance structures, staff culture observations, or how the home handles complaints and learning from incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management leadership accounts for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and communication with families for 11.5%. The trajectory here, from Requires Improvement to a full Good across every domain, suggests a leadership team that identified problems and acted on them rather than managing perceptions of them. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies management stability as a predictor of ongoing quality, so it is worth asking how long the Registered Manager has been in post and whether any significant staffing changes have happened since the January 2023 inspection. A home improving under a stable manager is a better prospect than a home holding a Good rating while leadership changes frequently.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that leadership stability is the strongest structural predictor of sustained quality in care homes, and that cultures where staff feel safe to raise concerns without fear produce consistently better outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: how long have you been Registered Manager here, what were the main changes made between the Requires Improvement and the Good rating, and how do staff currently raise concerns if they see something they are uncomfortable with?"}

  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 provides nursing care for adults over 65, including those with dementia and physical disabilities. They also support younger adults under 65 who need specialist care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff demonstrate real understanding of dementia care, with families particularly noting the compassionate approach to residents with complex needs. The team combines professional expertise with the patience and warmth that helps residents feel secure and understood. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.