Kings Park Care Home

What families say

Music and activities appear to play a part in daily life here. One family member described how staff organised music sessions that got their relative up and dancing, bringing genuine moments of joy.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-05-21 · Report published 2022-05-21 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for safety at its April 2022 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. This confirms that inspectors found the home had addressed earlier safety concerns. The published summary does not provide specific detail on staffing ratios, medicines management, or falls recording, so it is not possible to give a granular account of how safety is managed. The home cares for 44 residents, including people living with dementia, which means night-time staffing levels are a particularly important consideration.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A move from Requires Improvement to Good in safety is genuinely encouraging. It means inspectors looked at the same home twice and found clear, sustained improvement, not just promises. However, our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is the point where safety most often slips in nursing homes, particularly those caring for people with dementia. Because the published report does not give specific staffing figures, you cannot assume the numbers are adequate without asking directly. Cleanliness accounts for 24.3% of positive family reviews in our data, so do a visual check of corridors, bathrooms, and communal areas when you visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the clearest predictors of inconsistent safety in care homes. Permanent staff who know residents well are better placed to spot subtle changes in health or behaviour.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual night staffing rota for the dementia unit, not the planned template. Count the number of permanent versus agency names, and ask what the minimum number of staff on duty overnight is for 44 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for effectiveness at its April 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether staff know what they are doing, including care planning, dementia training, healthcare access, and food quality. The published summary does not include specific detail on any of these areas, so it is not possible to confirm from the report alone whether care plans are regularly reviewed with families, what dementia training staff have completed, or how GP access is arranged.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in care is about more than a rating. It means that when your parent's needs change, the care plan changes with them, and that staff have the specific skills to support someone living with dementia. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents, updated in partnership with families, not paperwork completed on admission and filed away. Food quality accounts for 20.9% of positive mentions in our review data, so ask to see the menu and, if you can, arrive at a mealtime to see how food is served and how staff support residents who need help eating.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, including understanding non-verbal communication and de-escalation, is strongly associated with better care outcomes. Generic care training alone does not prepare staff for the specific demands of supporting people with advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what specific dementia training all staff on the unit have completed in the past 12 months, and whether training covers non-verbal communication and responding to distress, not just moving and handling."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for caring at its April 2022 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are treated as individuals. The published summary does not include any direct observations of staff interactions or testimony from residents or relatives, so it is not possible to describe specific moments of care. The Good rating confirms inspectors were satisfied, but the detail that would allow a family to picture day-to-day life is not recorded in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews in our data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive responses, and compassionate treatment is mentioned by 55.2%. These are not abstract values. They are visible in small moments: whether a carer knocks before entering a room, whether your parent is addressed by the name they prefer, and whether staff move with unhurried attention during personal care. Because the published report does not record these moments for Kings Park, you need to observe them yourself on a visit. Arrive unannounced if possible, or visit at different times of day.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care requires staff to know the individual, not just their diagnosis. Non-verbal communication matters as much as spoken words for people with advanced dementia, and staff who know a resident's history and preferences are better placed to interpret and respond to changes in mood or behaviour.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how staff address residents in corridors and communal areas. Are they using the person's preferred name? Do they stop and make eye contact, or do they move past without acknowledgement? These small interactions are the most reliable indicator of the day-to-day culture of a home."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for responsiveness at its April 2022 inspection. This domain covers whether residents have a life here, including activities, individual engagement, and end-of-life planning. The published summary does not include specific information about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement for residents who cannot join groups, or how individual preferences are recorded and acted upon. The home specialises in dementia care, which makes individual, tailored activity particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness for 27.1%. For a person living with dementia, this is not about entertainment. It is about having a sense of purpose and connection each day. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that group activities alone are not sufficient. Residents with advanced dementia need one-to-one engagement, and approaches that draw on familiar, everyday tasks, such as folding laundry, handling familiar objects, or listening to music from their past, can make a significant difference to wellbeing. Because the published report does not describe the activity programme at Kings Park, you need to ask and observe directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review identified Montessori-based and individualised activity approaches as having strong evidence for reducing distress and improving engagement in people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that rely only on scheduled group activities often leave the most vulnerable residents without meaningful contact for long periods.","watch_out":"Ask to see the actual activity records for the past two weeks, not the planned schedule. Ask specifically what happens for a resident with advanced dementia who cannot join a group session. Is there a member of staff allocated to one-to-one time, and how is that recorded?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for leadership at its April 2022 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. The registered manager is named as Mrs Anna Marie Phillips, with Ms Anna Gretchen Selby as the nominated individual. The improvement across all five domains from the previous inspection is the strongest signal available that leadership has been effective in driving change. The published summary does not include specific observations about management visibility, staff culture, or how the home handles complaints and feedback.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A home that has moved from Requires Improvement to Good in all five domains has demonstrated that its leadership can identify problems and fix them. That is a meaningful signal. Our Good Practice evidence base finds that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality over time. Frequent manager changes often lead to a decline in standards even when the rating is currently Good. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of positive review mentions in our data, and this is often where trust is built or lost. Ask how the manager communicates with families when something changes, and how easy it is to raise a concern.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that homes with stable, visible leadership and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns consistently outperform homes where governance is driven by compliance alone. Bottom-up empowerment, where carers feel trusted to flag problems early, is a marker of genuinely good leadership.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post, whether there have been significant staffing changes in the past 12 months, and how they found out about the problems that led to the previous Requires Improvement rating. The answer will tell you a great deal about how self-aware and accountable the leadership is."}

  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 cares for adults both under and over 65, with particular experience in dementia care. This means they work with people at different life stages who need nursing support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the home aims to create engaging moments through activities like music sessions. Understanding how each resident responds to different activities helps staff support individual wellbeing. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.