Hesslewood House Care Home

What families say

Several families have described feeling at ease when visiting, with staff taking time to chat and help where needed. The atmosphere feels relaxed and homely, which visitors say helps their loved ones settle in.

Based on 8 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement70
• Food quality65
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-12-24 · Report published 2021-12-24 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Safe was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. This indicates inspectors were broadly satisfied with how risks were managed, how medicines were handled, and how staffing was organised. The home supports adults with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments across 66 beds, so the Good rating in Safe is an important baseline. The published report does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, falls management, or infection control observations, so the picture is positive but not granular.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe is reassuring, but it does not tell you everything your parent needs you to know. Our review data show that families are particularly anxious about what happens at night and whether staff know your parent well enough to spot a change quickly. The Good Practice evidence from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review is clear that night staffing is where safety most often slips, and that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency that people with dementia especially need. Because the published report does not confirm staffing ratios or agency use, you need to ask those questions yourself before making a decision.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. A Good rating in Safe does not automatically mean these risks are absent; it means inspectors found no current failure.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent carers were on each night shift and how many shifts were filled by agency staff. For 66 beds with a significant dementia cohort, you want to see consistent named staff on nights, not a different face every week."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Effective was rated Requires Improvement at the July 2025 inspection. This domain covers the knowledge and skills of staff, the quality of care planning, access to healthcare professionals, nutrition and hydration, and how well the home supports people to maintain their health. A Requires Improvement rating here means inspectors found something that needed to change, though the published text does not specify whether the concern was about training, GP access, nutrition, or care plan quality. This is the only domain where the home fell below Good.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"This is the finding that should prompt the most questions on your visit. If your parent has dementia, a physical disability, or a sensory impairment, the Effective domain is directly about whether staff have the right skills and knowledge to care for them safely and well. Our family review data show that families rate healthcare access and dementia-specific care highly among their concerns. The Good Practice evidence is equally clear: care plans need to be living documents reviewed with families regularly, and dementia training must go beyond a one-off induction. A Requires Improvement here does not mean the home is unsafe, but it does mean something was not good enough at the time of inspection, and you need to understand what it was and what has been done since.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that the quality of care planning, including how often plans are reviewed and whether they reflect the individual's changing needs, is one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes for people living with dementia. Generic or out-of-date care plans are consistently associated with poorer resident experience.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to explain specifically what the inspector found in the Effective domain and to show you the action plan that was produced in response. Then ask to see a care plan for a current resident (with personal details removed) to check whether it contains specific information about that person's history, preferences, and health needs, or whether it reads like a template."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Caring was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. This domain covers how staff treat the people who live at the home, including whether they are kind and compassionate, whether privacy and dignity are respected, and whether people are supported to remain as independent as possible. A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied with the overall quality of care interactions. The published text does not include specific inspector observations or quotes from residents and relatives, so it is not possible to describe exactly what was seen.","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, and compassion and dignity account for another 55.2%. A Good rating in Caring is therefore meaningful reassurance. The Good Practice research reminds us that for people living with dementia, non-verbal communication matters as much as words: how quickly a carer responds to distress, whether staff use your parent's preferred name, and whether interactions feel unhurried are all observable on a visit and are often more revealing than any rating. You should use your visit to look for these signals directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care requires staff to know each individual well, including their life history, preferences, and communication style. Homes where staff demonstrate this knowledge in everyday interactions consistently show better outcomes for people with dementia, including lower rates of distress and better engagement.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how staff interact with residents in communal areas and corridors when no one is formally observing them. Do they use your parent's preferred name? Do they stop and engage, or pass by without acknowledgement? Ask one carer directly: what do you know about this person's life before they came here?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Responsive was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether care is tailored to individual needs and preferences, whether activities and engagement are meaningful, whether complaints are handled well, and whether end-of-life care is planned appropriately. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied that the home was responding to individual needs rather than treating everyone the same. As with the other Good-rated domains, the published extract does not include specific examples or quotes to illustrate what was found.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive suggests the home is making reasonable effort to ensure your parent has a life here, not just a bed. The Good Practice research is particularly clear that for people living with dementia, group activities are not enough on their own: one-to-one engagement, including familiar household tasks and personalised activities based on life history, makes a measurable difference to wellbeing. Because the published findings do not describe what activities look like in practice, this is worth investigating directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks, such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking activities, provide meaningful engagement for people with dementia who cannot participate in formal group sessions. Homes that rely solely on scheduled group activities typically leave the most vulnerable residents without stimulation for long periods.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity records, not the programme template. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot join a group session because of advanced dementia or a difficult day. Is there a plan for one-to-one engagement, and who delivers it?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"Well-led was rated Good at the July 2025 inspection. This domain covers the quality of leadership, the culture of the home, whether staff feel supported and able to raise concerns, and whether the home learns from incidents and complaints. A Good rating here is significant context for the Requires Improvement in Effective: it suggests inspectors believed the leadership team was capable of addressing the issues found, even if they had not yet been fully resolved. The home is run by Strong Life Care (Hesslewood House) Limited, with a named registered manager and a nominated individual both on record.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership account for 23.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and families consistently tell us that a visible, stable manager makes a real difference to how confident they feel. The Good Practice research is unambiguous: leadership stability predicts quality trajectory. The fact that Well-led was rated Good despite the overall Requires Improvement is a cautiously positive signal, because it suggests the people in charge are aware of the gaps and are working to address them. However, you should ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and what specific changes have been made since the July 2025 inspection.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that leadership stability is one of the most consistent predictors of care quality in care homes. Homes with a stable, empowering manager who is known to staff and residents by name consistently outperform those with frequent leadership changes, even when other resources are comparable.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: how long have you been in post, what did the inspector identify in the Effective domain, and can you show me the improvement plan and what has been completed since September 2025? A confident, specific answer is a good sign. Vague or defensive responses are worth noting."}

  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 supports residents with sensory impairments and physical disabilities, alongside those living with dementia. They care for both younger adults under 65 and older residents.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home provides specialist support as part of their range of services. The team has experience supporting people at different stages of their dementia journey. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.