Hazeldene House

What families say

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity58
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership42
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-06-11 · Report published 2022-06-11 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the April 2022 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous cycle. This rating covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home protects people from harm. The published report does not include specific staffing ratios, details of medication audits, or records of how falls or incidents are managed. The rating indicates that inspectors were satisfied the home met the required threshold, but the level of published detail is limited.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is the baseline you need before considering any home for your parent. However, our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, consistently shows that night-time is where safety slips most often in residential care. The published inspection text does not tell you how many staff are on overnight for 75 residents, nor how much of that cover is agency staff rather than permanent employees who know your parent. These are not small questions. Ask for last week's actual rota, not a template, and count the permanent names against agency names, especially on night shifts.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the clearest risk factors for inconsistent safety outcomes, because agency workers do not know individual residents' behaviour patterns or communication styles, which is particularly significant for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past seven days. Count how many shifts on the dementia unit, particularly overnight, were covered by agency staff rather than named permanent employees."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"Effective was rated Good, covering training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. This rating suggests the home met inspection standards across these areas. The published report does not include specific examples of care plan content, confirmation of GP access arrangements, detail on dementia training curricula, or observations about food quality and choice. The rating is a positive indicator, but the evidence behind it is not visible in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you the home passed inspection on training and care planning, but it does not tell you whether your dad's care plan reads like it was written about him specifically, or whether it uses generic language copied from a template. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans which reflect genuine individual history, including preferred name, daily routines, past occupation, and communication style, produce measurably better outcomes for people living with dementia. Food quality also matters more than it might seem: 20.9% of positive family reviews in our data mention food by name, and for people with dementia, familiar, well-presented food can significantly affect mood and wellbeing. Ask to see a sample anonymised care plan and spend time in the dining room at a mealtime.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans used as living documents, reviewed with families and updated after significant changes in a resident's condition, are strongly associated with better person-centred outcomes in dementia care.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed, who is involved in those reviews, and whether you would be invited to contribute. Then ask to see the current week's menu and whether dietary preferences are recorded in your parent's individual plan."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. This is an improvement from the previous inspection cycle. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative testimony are included in the published report to illustrate what this rating looked like in practice. The absence of detail does not mean good care is not happening, but it does mean you will need to form your own view through a visit.","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 follow closely at 55.2%. A Good Caring rating is encouraging, but the only way to verify it is to visit, and to visit more than once. What you are looking for is unhurried interactions: does a carer stop and make eye contact with your mum when she calls out, or do they keep walking? Are residents addressed by their preferred name or just by first name? Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that non-verbal communication, tone, pace, and touch, matters as much as words for people living with dementia, and these things cannot be captured in an inspection rating alone.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett review found that person-led care, where staff know the individual's life history, preferences, and communication signals, is the strongest observable predictor of dignified, warm interactions, particularly for people with advanced dementia who cannot easily speak up for themselves.","watch_out":"On your visit, spend 15 minutes sitting quietly in a communal area and watch how staff interact with residents who are not directly asking for help. Note whether interactions are unhurried, whether staff use preferred names, and whether anyone is left sitting alone without acknowledgement for a prolonged period."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good, covering activities, individual engagement, and how the home meets people's specific needs including end-of-life care. The home's registered specialisms include dementia and mental health conditions, suggesting provision is intended to be tailored. No specific activity examples, one-to-one engagement observations, or end-of-life care detail are included in the published report. The rating indicates the inspection threshold was met, but you will need to probe further to understand what daily life actually looks like for your parent.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness features in 27.1% of our positive family reviews, and activities are mentioned in 21.4%. For people living with dementia, what matters most is not whether a group singalong is scheduled on Tuesday, but whether your mum has something meaningful to do on a Wednesday afternoon when she is not feeling sociable, or when she cannot follow group instructions any more. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that Montessori-based individual activities and familiar household tasks, folding laundry, tending plants, sorting objects, produce better outcomes than group-only programmes. A 75-bed home supporting mixed needs, including dementia and mental health, needs a credible answer to how it provides one-to-one engagement for people who cannot participate in groups.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that tailored individual activities, particularly those connected to a person's pre-dementia identity and interests, significantly reduce agitation and improve wellbeing, and that group-only activity programmes consistently underserve people with more advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you the actual activity records for the past two weeks, not the planned rota. Ask specifically what happens for a resident living with advanced dementia who cannot join group sessions: who visits them, how often, and what they do together."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Requires Improvement at the April 2022 inspection. This is the one domain that did not improve from the previous cycle. The registered manager is Miss Eva Robinson and the nominated individual is Mrs Nicola Jane Barnes. The published report does not detail what specific leadership failures or governance gaps the inspection identified, nor does it describe what actions the home was required to take in response. This gap in the published record is significant for families, because leadership quality is the single strongest predictor of whether a home's overall quality holds steady or deteriorates over time.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership accounts for 23.4% of positive family review themes in our data, but the weight of the Good Practice evidence on this point is even more direct: homes with stable, visible, empowering leadership consistently outperform those without it, regardless of how well other domains are rated. A Requires Improvement here, at the same time that four other domains reached Good, is a pattern worth taking seriously. It may mean governance systems, quality audits, or staff supervision were not robust enough. It may mean staff were not confident raising concerns. You cannot know from the published report alone, and the inspection is now over two years old. The most important question you can ask is what specifically failed, and what has changed.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett review found that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel safe to speak up are among the strongest predictors of sustained care quality over time, and that homes with weak governance are at significantly higher risk of quality decline during periods of high occupancy or staff turnover.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: what did the inspection identify as the reason for Requires Improvement in Well-led, what specific changes have been made since June 2022, and whether an internal audit or external review has assessed whether those changes have worked. If the manager cannot give you a clear and specific answer, treat that as important information."}

  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 specialist care for people over 65 with dementia and mental health conditions. They have experience supporting residents through complex health changes, including end-of-life care.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team understands the importance of consistent, familiar faces and routines. They work to maintain dignity while managing the changing needs that come with memory loss. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.