Hurstway Care Home
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds42
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities, Sensory impairment
- Last inspected2022-11-17
- Activities programmeThe home has undergone refurbishment that's made a real difference to how welcoming it feels when you walk through the door. Residents are consistently well-presented and comfortable, with attention paid to personal grooming and cleanliness throughout the day.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Families often mention how staff persist in finding ways to connect with residents who might initially resist help or feel anxious about their care. There's a sense that the team genuinely works to understand each person's communication style and preferences. The atmosphere has become noticeably calmer and brighter following recent improvements to the building.
Based on 35 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth72
- Compassion & dignity72
- Cleanliness72
- Activities & engagement70
- Food quality70
- Healthcare72
- Management & leadership72
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2022-11-17 · Report published 2022-11-17 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at the May 2025 inspection. This domain covers medicines management, staffing levels, infection control, and how the home responds to incidents and accidents. The previous inspection had raised serious concerns, and the Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied that those concerns had been addressed. Beyond the rating itself, the published report text does not provide specific observations, staff ratios, or detail on how safety is managed day to day.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Inadequate to Good is not a small step: it means inspectors returned and found enough evidence of safe practice to be satisfied. That said, the Good Practice evidence base, drawing on 61 studies, consistently flags that safety can slip most on night shifts and when agency staff are used. Because the published report does not specify night staffing numbers or agency use at this home, you cannot take the Good rating alone as reassurance. Visit in the evening, ask specifically about overnight cover, and ask how the home logs and learns from falls.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (Leeds Beckett University, March 2026) found that night staffing levels and agency staff reliance are the two factors most consistently linked to avoidable harm in care homes. A Good rating does not in itself confirm adequacy on these specific points.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, not a template. Find out how many permanent carers and how many agency staff were on the dementia unit overnight, and what induction agency staff receive before working with your parent."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the May 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether staff have the right training, whether care plans are detailed and kept up to date, how the home manages healthcare needs including GP access and medicines, and whether nutrition and hydration are well supported. The published report text does not include specific observations on any of these areas, so the Good rating reflects inspectors' overall judgement without recorded examples being available for this analysis.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home specialising in dementia care, effectiveness is particularly important. The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should capture not just medical needs but personal history, routines, and what brings comfort to an individual. It also highlights that dementia-specific training content matters enormously: staff who understand what behaviour communicates are better able to respond without distress escalating. Because the published findings do not describe training content or care plan quality here, these are points you will need to probe directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that where care plans reflected genuine individual preferences and were reviewed regularly with family involvement, residents showed lower rates of distress behaviours and higher reported wellbeing.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample (anonymised) care plan and ask how often plans are reviewed. Specifically ask: when did a member of staff last sit down with your family to update your parent's plan, and what would trigger an unscheduled review?"}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at the May 2025 inspection. This domain is the one most directly connected to whether staff treat your parent with warmth, respect their privacy, support their independence, and respond to distress in a calm and person-centred way. The published report text does not include inspector observations or resident and relative quotes that would allow a more detailed picture of day-to-day caring practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity are mentioned in 55.2%. These are the things families notice most and remember longest. The Good Practice evidence base adds that non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words for people living with dementia: whether a staff member makes eye contact, crouches to the same level, or uses a calm tone of voice are observable signals you can look for yourself. Because the published findings do not include specific observations for this home, your own visit is essential.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led caring, where staff know the individual's history, preferences, and communication style, consistently produced better wellbeing outcomes than task-focused approaches, even when staffing ratios were similar.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff address your parent's floor neighbours: do they use preferred names, do they knock before entering rooms, and do they appear unhurried? These are the observable signals that reflect genuine caring culture, not policy documents."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at the May 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home provides activities that are meaningful and tailored to individual interests, how it responds to complaints, and whether end-of-life care planning is in place. The home's registration confirms it specialises in dementia care, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment. The published report text does not describe the activities programme, individual engagement, or complaints handling in specific terms.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness matters enormously for quality of life, particularly for someone living with dementia who may not be able to ask for what they need. Our review data shows that activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness appears in 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence base specifically highlights that one-to-one engagement for people who cannot join group activities is a marker of genuinely person-centred care, not just a nice addition. Because the published findings give no detail on what the activities programme looks like here, this is one of the most important things to explore on a visit.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and everyday task-based activities, tailored to the individual rather than delivered as group entertainment, produced measurable improvements in engagement and reduced agitation in people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask to see last week's activities schedule, not a printed template. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot leave their room or cannot participate in group activities: who provides one-to-one time, how often, and what does that look like in practice?"}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for leadership at the May 2025 inspection. Kerry Louise Mullender is the registered manager and Sandeep Singh Dhami is the nominated individual. The home has been inspected seven times and has moved from a previous Inadequate rating to Good across all domains, which suggests sustained effort under the current leadership structure. The published report text does not describe how visible the manager is, how staff are supported, or how the governance system works in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of ongoing quality: homes where the registered manager has been in post consistently, and where staff feel able to speak up, tend to maintain standards between inspections rather than only performing well during them. The improvement from Inadequate to Good here is encouraging, but the key question for you is whether the improvements are embedded in daily practice or reflect a focused effort around inspection. Communication with families appears in 11.5% of our positive review data, and families consistently describe it as a signal of whether leadership is genuinely accountable.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that bottom-up empowerment, where staff at all levels feel able to raise concerns without fear, is a stronger predictor of sustained quality than formal governance structures alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long she has been in post, whether there have been significant staffing changes in the past 12 months, and how she would contact you if something went wrong with your parent's care. Ask also what the complaints process looks like and whether you can speak to a relative of a current resident."}
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 support for residents with sensory impairments, working to ensure communication remains possible despite hearing or vision challenges. They also care for people with physical disabilities, adapting daily routines to maintain independence where possible.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff show particular skill in supporting residents with dementia who may feel confused or resistant to care. Rather than rushing, they take time to find approaches that work for each individual, using creative communication techniques when words alone aren't enough. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
Every domain was rated Good at the most recent inspection in May 2025, which is a meaningful step up from the previous Inadequate rating. However, the published report text contains very limited specific detail, so scores sit in the 70-72 range rather than higher: there is positive direction of travel, but not enough inspector observations or testimony to confirm the depth of improvement.
Homes in West Midlands typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Families often mention how staff persist in finding ways to connect with residents who might initially resist help or feel anxious about their care. There's a sense that the team genuinely works to understand each person's communication style and preferences. The atmosphere has become noticeably calmer and brighter following recent improvements to the building.
What inspectors have recorded
What stands out is how the team keeps families in the loop — regular updates about activities, medical appointments and daily life help relatives feel connected even when they can't visit. Staff develop lasting relationships with residents, with the same carers often remembered fondly years into someone's stay. While there have been some concerns raised about care standards in the past, many families report significant improvements under the current management team.
How it sits against good practice
Every family's experience matters, and finding the right fit takes time and careful consideration.
Worth a visit
Hurstway Care Home, at 142 The Hurstway, Birmingham, was rated Good across all five domains at its most recent inspection on 8 May 2025, with the report published in July 2025. This is a significant improvement from a previous Inadequate rating, and inspectors judged the home to be Good for safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness, and leadership. The home cares for up to 42 people, including those living with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment. The main uncertainty here is that the published report text provided for this analysis contains very little specific detail: no inspector observations, no resident or relative quotes, and no named examples of practice. That makes it impossible to confirm how deeply rooted the improvements are. Before committing to this home, visit in person, speak to the registered manager Kerry Louise Mullender directly, and use the checklist questions below to test whether the Good rating reflects day-to-day reality for your parent.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
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In Their Own Words
How Hurstway Care Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Finding comfort through genuine connections and thoughtful care
Nursing home in Birmingham: True Peace of Mind
When someone you love needs specialist support, you want to know they'll be treated with patience and understanding. Hurstway Care Home in Birmingham offers residential care that focuses on building real relationships with each resident. The home supports people living with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments, with staff who take time to understand what makes each person feel secure and valued.
Who they care for
The home provides specialist support for residents with sensory impairments, working to ensure communication remains possible despite hearing or vision challenges. They also care for people with physical disabilities, adapting daily routines to maintain independence where possible.
Staff show particular skill in supporting residents with dementia who may feel confused or resistant to care. Rather than rushing, they take time to find approaches that work for each individual, using creative communication techniques when words alone aren't enough.
Management & ethos
What stands out is how the team keeps families in the loop — regular updates about activities, medical appointments and daily life help relatives feel connected even when they can't visit. Staff develop lasting relationships with residents, with the same carers often remembered fondly years into someone's stay. While there have been some concerns raised about care standards in the past, many families report significant improvements under the current management team.
The home & environment
The home has undergone refurbishment that's made a real difference to how welcoming it feels when you walk through the door. Residents are consistently well-presented and comfortable, with attention paid to personal grooming and cleanliness throughout the day.
“Every family's experience matters, and finding the right fit takes time and careful consideration.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
