Kings Lodge Care Centre

What families say

Visitors often comment on the friendly atmosphere they encounter when arriving at the home. Staff create opportunities for residents to join in with social events and activities throughout the day. The team includes support staff from housekeeping and kitchen departments who contribute to the welcoming environment.

Based on 32 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 quality62
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-12-08 · Report published 2022-12-08 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This means inspectors were satisfied with staffing levels, medicines management, safeguarding arrangements, and infection control as standard criteria. The home improved from a previous Requires Improvement rating overall, which suggests that any earlier safety concerns have been addressed. No specific staffing ratios, falls data, or detailed observations about medicines administration are recorded in the published summary. The home supports people with dementia and physical disabilities, which makes night-time staffing levels a particularly important question.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the published report does not tell you how many staff are on the floor overnight for 44 beds, and that number matters enormously if your dad has dementia and is at risk of falls or becoming distressed at night. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes. The fact that the home moved up from a previous Requires Improvement rating is a positive signal, but you should find out specifically what changed. Agency staff usage is also worth asking about: homes that rely heavily on agency workers tend to have less consistent care for people with dementia, who benefit most from familiar faces.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency reliance are the two factors most strongly associated with safety incidents in dementia care settings. A Good domain rating confirms minimum standards were met but does not specify ratios.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not the planned template. Count how many permanent staff were on each night shift and note how many agency names appear. For 44 beds with a dementia specialism, you want to understand the overnight cover specifically."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff training, care planning, healthcare access, nutrition, and hydration. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which means inspectors expect to see dementia-specific training in place. No detail on training content, care plan review frequency, GP access arrangements, or food quality observations is recorded in the published summary. A Good rating here confirms that inspection standards were met across these areas.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home that lists dementia as a specialism, the Effective rating matters because it signals that staff should know how to support your mum or dad beyond basic personal care. Good Practice research from the Leeds Beckett review identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated as the person's needs change, not filed away after admission. Healthcare access is also covered here: find out how quickly a GP can be called and whether there is regular input from a community mental health or dementia specialist. Food quality, which 20.9% of positive family reviews mention directly, is not described in the published text at all, so make a point of staying for a meal or at least observing a mealtime.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as meaningful only when they are updated regularly and when family members are actively included in reviews. A Good rating confirms the plans met inspection standards but does not confirm that families are meaningfully involved.","watch_out":"Ask when your parent's care plan would next be reviewed and how you would be invited to contribute. Also ask what dementia-specific training staff have completed and when it was last updated, as opposed to a general moving and handling or safeguarding certificate."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. Inspectors must be satisfied that staff treat residents with dignity and respect, respond to individual needs, support independence, and maintain privacy for this rating to be awarded. The home improved from a previous Requires Improvement overall rating, and a Good for Caring suggests that the quality of staff interactions met the required standard. No specific inspector observations about staff behaviour, preferred names, pace of care, or response to distress are recorded in the published summary. No direct quotes from residents or relatives are available 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 Google reviews, and compassion and dignity appear in 55.2% of positive reviews. A Good rating for Caring tells you inspectors were satisfied, but the most reliable way to judge this for yourself is to visit at an unscheduled time, ideally around a mealtime or in the mid-morning when personal care is happening, and watch how staff move through the building. Are they unhurried? Do they use your parent's preferred name? Do they knock before entering rooms? These small, observable behaviours are the indicators that families remember long after the inspection report date.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication, including touch, tone, and pace, matters as much as spoken interaction for people with advanced dementia. These qualities are difficult to capture in an inspection report but are visible on a visit.","watch_out":"During your visit, observe a corridor interaction between a staff member and a resident who was not expecting attention. Notice whether the staff member stops, makes eye contact, and uses the resident's preferred name, or whether they pass through quickly. This unscripted moment tells you more than any formal answer to a direct question."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. This domain covers activities and social engagement, individualised care, complaints handling, and end-of-life care. The home supports adults with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, which means a genuinely responsive home needs to offer activities adapted to varied levels of ability. No detail on the activity programme, individual engagement for people who cannot join groups, visiting arrangements, or complaints processes is recorded in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness, which depends heavily on meaningful engagement, appears in 27.1% of positive reviews. For a home that supports people with dementia and physical disabilities, the quality of one-to-one engagement matters as much as group activities, because many residents at an advanced stage of dementia cannot reliably participate in group sessions. The Good Practice evidence base specifically identifies tailored individual activities, including everyday household tasks and sensory activities, as more effective than structured group programmes for people with later-stage dementia. Ask the home to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident who cannot easily join a group.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that Montessori-based and task-based individual activities, such as folding, sorting, and familiar household tasks, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia than group-only activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they do with a resident who has advanced dementia and cannot join a group session. If the answer is vague or refers only to one-to-one time that happens when a carer has a spare moment, push for a more specific answer about scheduled individual engagement time."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2022 inspection. Named leaders are in post: Mrs Shabina Rai as registered manager and Mrs Tracy Lazell as nominated individual. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement rating across the whole service is a meaningful signal that leadership has driven change rather than allowed problems to persist. A Good Well-led rating requires inspectors to be satisfied with governance systems, staff culture, learning from incidents, and accountability. No detail on manager tenure, staff survey findings, or specific governance arrangements is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in a care home. Good Practice research identifies that homes where the registered manager has been in post for more than two years and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear tend to maintain quality between inspection visits, not just during them. The fact that Kings Lodge improved from a previous Requires Improvement rating tells you that someone in the leadership team identified what was wrong and fixed it, which is a better signal than a home that has always been Good without ever being tested. Communication with families, which appears in 11.5% of positive reviews, is worth probing directly since it is not covered in the published findings.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability and a culture of staff empowerment as the two variables most predictive of sustained quality in care homes. Homes where staff can raise concerns are more likely to catch problems early.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager how long she has been in post and what specifically changed between the previous Requires Improvement rating and this Good rating. A confident, specific answer with examples is a good sign. A vague or deflecting answer is 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 caters to residents with sensory impairments and physical disabilities, with nursing staff experienced in managing complex health conditions. They accept adults under 65 as well as older residents.. Gaps or open questions remain on Kings Lodge includes dementia care among its specialisms. The home accepts residents living with dementia alongside those with physical disabilities and sensory impairments. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.