Kimberley Grace Care Home
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Residential homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds17
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Caring for adults under 65 yrs, Dementia
- Last inspected2021-12-24
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Based on 9 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth55
- Compassion & dignity55
- Cleanliness55
- Activities & engagement50
- Food quality50
- Healthcare55
- Management & leadership65
- Resident happiness55
What inspectors found
Inspected 2021-12-24 · Report published 2021-12-24 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. This represents an improvement from the previous inspection, when the home was rated Requires Improvement overall. The published report does not include specific detail about what inspectors observed in relation to safety, staffing levels, medicines management, or falls prevention. The registered manager was in post at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in safety is reassuring, but the lack of specific detail in this report means you cannot confirm from the published text alone how safe your parent would be day to day. Good Practice research consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in small residential homes, and that reliance on agency staff can undermine the consistency your parent needs, particularly if they have dementia. With only 17 beds, this is a small home, and the ratio of staff to residents overnight matters enormously. Ask directly rather than assuming the Good rating answers those questions for you.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff usage is one of the most reliable early warning signs of deteriorating safety standards, particularly on night shifts, because unfamiliar staff are less likely to notice subtle changes in a resident's condition.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how many permanent staff are on duty on the dementia unit after 8pm on a typical weekday, and request to see last week's actual rota rather than the staffing template. Count the number of agency names against permanent ones."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. No specific detail is provided in the published text about training, care plan content, healthcare access, or how the home supports people with dementia day to day. The home is registered to provide dementia care, but the inspection report does not describe what that means in practice here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that healthcare quality (cited in 20.2% of positive family reviews) and dementia-specific care (12.7%) are among the things families most want reassurance about. The Good rating suggests inspectors were satisfied, but without knowing what they looked at or what they found, you have no way to judge whether the care would match your parent's specific needs. Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans should be living documents, reviewed regularly with families involved, not paperwork filed away after admission. Ask to see how the home would record and respond to changes in your parent's condition.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review identified that dementia training quality varies widely between homes, and that homes which invest in structured, accredited dementia training produce measurably better outcomes for residents in areas including reduced use of sedating medication and better nutrition.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia training staff have completed, whether it is accredited, and when it was last updated. Ask how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed and whether you would be invited to take part in those reviews."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. The published report contains no inspector observations about staff interactions, no resident quotes, and no family testimony about how staff treat the people who live here. The Good rating was awarded, but the basis for it is not visible in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are things you can observe directly on a visit: watch whether staff knock before entering rooms, whether they use your parent's preferred name, whether they move at the resident's pace rather than their own. The inspection rating here is Good, but the absence of specific evidence means you should treat the visit itself as your primary source of information on this theme.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia, and that staff who have received person-centred care training are significantly more likely to use positive touch, eye contact at the resident's level, and unhurried body language.","watch_out":"On your visit, stand quietly in a communal area for ten minutes and watch how staff move through the space. Are they stopping to speak to residents or passing through without acknowledgement? Do they use names? Do residents appear calm and at ease in their presence?"}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection. The published text does not describe what activities are available, how the home meets individual preferences, or how end-of-life care is planned. The home is registered for dementia care, but there is no description of how it responds to the specific and changing needs of people living with dementia.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For a parent with dementia, the question is not just whether group activities exist, but whether someone will sit with your parent individually on a day when they cannot manage to join a group. Good Practice evidence shows that tailored one-to-one engagement, including everyday tasks like folding, sorting, or gardening, produces better wellbeing outcomes than group activities alone, particularly for people with moderate to advanced dementia. This is an area where the inspection gives you no specific information and you will need to ask.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and household-task approaches to activity, where residents engage in familiar, purposeful activities scaled to their current abilities, significantly reduce agitation and improve mood in people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator to show you last week's actual activity records, not the printed programme. Ask specifically what happened for any resident who was in their room and did not come to a group session. Was anyone visited individually?"}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2021 inspection, contributing to the home's overall improvement from Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Miss Elizabeth Ann Hay, was recorded as being in post. The published report does not describe management visibility, staff culture, how the home handles complaints, or how governance systems work in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership is cited in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families in 11.5%. Good Practice research is consistent that leadership stability predicts quality trajectory over time, meaning a settled, visible manager who knows residents and staff by name is one of the strongest predictors of sustained good care. The improvement from Requires Improvement is genuinely positive, but you should ask how long the current manager has been in post and what changed between the previous inspection and this one. That conversation will tell you a great deal about how self-aware and accountable the leadership is.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of negative consequences consistently perform better on safety and caring indicators, and that this culture of openness is most reliably created by a stable, visible manager rather than by written policies alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what did the previous inspection identify as needing improvement, and what specifically did the home change? If the manager can answer that question clearly and with examples, it is a strong sign that the leadership is engaged and accountable."}
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 younger adults under 65 as well as older residents, which can create a more varied community. They have experience supporting people at different stages of dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on The team at Kimberley Grace has experience caring for residents with various forms of dementia. They provide specialised support for people living with these conditions as part of their residential care service. — 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
The home achieved a Good rating across all five domains at its last inspection, improving from Requires Improvement, which is an encouraging sign. However, the published inspection text provides very little specific detail, so most scores sit in the mid-range, reflecting a genuine positive picture with limited evidence to confirm it.
Homes in East typically score 68–82.Worth a visit
Kimberley Grace Care Home, a small 17-bed residential home in Westcliff-on-Sea, was rated Good across all five inspection domains at its last inspection in November 2021. That rating represented a meaningful improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating, which is a positive signal that the home identified problems and addressed them. The home is registered to care for people with dementia as well as older and younger adults. The most important thing to understand before visiting is that the published inspection report provides almost no specific detail about day-to-day life in the home. There are no inspector observations about staff interactions, no resident or family quotes, and no description of care practices, food, activities, or the environment. The Good rating is real, but you cannot rely on this report alone to judge whether the home is right for your parent. Visit in person, ask the questions in the checklist below, and pay close attention to how staff talk to and about the people who live there.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
Let our analysis show you how Kimberley Grace Care Home measures up against the other homes you’re considering. Free account.
In Their Own Words
How Kimberley Grace Care Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Care home in Westcliff with dementia support for different age groups
Dedicated residential home Support in Westcliff On Sea
Kimberley Grace Care Home in Westcliff On Sea provides residential care for adults both under and over 65, with particular experience supporting people living with dementia. The home offers full-time residential care in the East area of Westcliff On Sea.
Who they care for
The home cares for younger adults under 65 as well as older residents, which can create a more varied community. They have experience supporting people at different stages of dementia.
The team at Kimberley Grace has experience caring for residents with various forms of dementia. They provide specialised support for people living with these conditions as part of their residential care service.
“If you're looking for residential care in the Westcliff area, visiting the home will help you get a feel for whether it's the right fit.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
