Laurel Dene Care Home – Care UK

What families say

Families describe the home as clean and well-kept, with outdoor areas that residents and visitors can enjoy together. Staff come across as friendly and approachable in daily interactions, working together as a team. Some residents have settled well here, with at least one family reporting satisfaction over a two-year placement.

Based on 27 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness72
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare72
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2022-10-06 · Report published 2022-10-06 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the Safe domain as Good. This indicates inspectors were satisfied with the home's approach to safety, staffing, medicines management, and infection control at the time of the September 2022 visit. The home has 99 beds and supports people with a range of conditions including dementia. No specific concerns were recorded in the published summary. Beyond the domain rating, the published text does not provide granular detail about staffing ratios, falls management, or agency use.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but for a 99-bed home supporting people with dementia, the detail behind that rating matters as much as the headline. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most at risk in care homes: the ratio of carers to residents often drops significantly after 8pm, and this is where falls and unmet needs are more likely to occur. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness is mentioned in around 14% of positive reviews, which means families do notice and value it. Because the published report gives no figures for night staffing, agency usage, or falls rates, you will need to ask these questions directly before you can make a confident assessment of whether your parent will be safe here around the clock.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of care quality decline, because agency workers lack the relationship continuity that safety in dementia care depends on. Ask specifically what proportion of night shifts in the last month were covered by permanent staff.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not a template. Count the number of permanent carers versus agency names, and check the night-shift figures separately. Then ask how many of those staff have completed dementia-specific training."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the Effective domain as Good. This domain covers whether staff know what they are doing: training, care planning, access to healthcare professionals, nutrition, and how well the home meets each person's individual needs. The home supports people with dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, and physical disabilities, which requires a broad and specific skill base. No specific observations about training content, care plan quality, or GP access were included in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effective is positive, but families in our review data most frequently praise homes where care plans feel genuinely personal rather than formulaic. Food quality is mentioned in 20.9% of our weighting data as a marker of genuine care, because how a home handles mealtimes, dietary needs, and individual preferences reveals a lot about whether staff truly know each person. For someone with dementia, a care plan should be a living document that captures not just medical needs but preferred names, food dislikes, life history, and daily routines. Because the published report does not confirm whether Laurel Dene's care plans reach that level of detail, this is an area to probe directly. Ask to see a sample care plan format and check whether it includes personal history and preferences, not just medical summaries.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed at least monthly for people with changing dementia needs. Homes where families are actively included in care plan reviews show stronger outcomes for residents in terms of settled behaviour and wellbeing.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed, and whether the last review for a new resident involved their family. Then ask to see the menu for this week and check whether there is a record of each resident's food preferences and dietary requirements alongside it."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the Caring domain as Good. This domain reflects how warm, dignified, and respectful staff interactions are with the people who live at the home. A Good rating here indicates inspectors were satisfied with the culture of care at the time of their visit. No specific observations of staff interactions, use of preferred names, or responses to distress were included in the published summary. The absence of detail makes it difficult to assess the texture of daily care beyond the domain headline.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most important theme in our family review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassionate, dignified treatment follows closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract values: they show up in very concrete, observable moments. Does a carer crouch to make eye contact with your mum when she is seated? Do staff knock before entering a room? Is your dad called by the name he prefers, not just his surname? Good Practice research confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia, and that rushed or task-focused care is the most common family complaint even in homes with Good ratings. The inspection rating is positive, but you need to observe these things yourself on a visit rather than taking the headline on trust.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies person-led care as requiring deep individual knowledge of each resident. Homes that know a person's life history, their preferred name, their daily rhythm, and their communication style consistently produce better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia, even where clinical measures are similar.","watch_out":"During your visit, sit in a communal area for 15 minutes without announcing why you are there. Watch whether staff initiate conversation with residents or focus solely on tasks. Notice whether interactions feel unhurried. If you see a resident who looks unsettled or distressed, watch how long it takes for a staff member to notice and respond."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the Responsive domain as Good. This domain covers whether the home meets individual needs: activities, engagement, personalised care, complaint handling, and end-of-life planning. For a 99-bed home supporting people with dementia alongside other conditions, being genuinely responsive to individual needs is a complex task. No specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, or end-of-life planning was included in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of our positive review weighting, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%, making this domain one of the most practically important for families. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with dementia, particularly those in later stages who cannot participate in communal sessions. Homes that offer meaningful one-to-one engagement, including everyday household tasks, reminiscence, and sensory activities, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes. A 99-bed home has the capacity to run a full programme, but whether that programme reaches every resident individually is the question you need answered. The published inspection gives a Good headline but no activity schedule detail, no evidence of one-to-one provision, and no mention of how the home supports people with advanced dementia to remain engaged.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research review found that Montessori-based and household-task approaches to activity, where people with dementia engage in familiar, purposeful actions rather than passive entertainment, produce the strongest wellbeing benefits. Ask specifically whether the home uses any structured individual engagement approach for residents who cannot join group sessions.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last month's schedule and point out which activities were one-to-one rather than group-based. Then ask how many residents on the dementia unit received individual, tailored engagement in the past week and what form that took."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated the Well-led domain as Good. The home has a named registered manager, Mrs Christine Mary Frances Fisher, and a nominated individual, Ms Rachel Louise Harvey, both confirmed in post at the time of inspection. Laurel Dene is operated by Care UK Community Partnerships Ltd, a large provider. The home has been inspected four times and has maintained a Good rating. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, learning from incidents, or governance processes was published in the summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of our positive review weighting, and Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. A named manager in post is a good sign, but what matters most is whether that manager is visible on the floor, known by name to residents and staff, and whether staff feel able to raise concerns without fear. Large provider organisations like Care UK can offer strong governance structures, but they can also create distance between head office priorities and the daily reality of care. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of our weighting, and this is an area the published report gives no evidence on. Ask directly how the manager would contact you if something changed for your parent, and how quickly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies bottom-up empowerment as a key marker of well-led homes: staff who feel confident to raise concerns and try new approaches produce better outcomes for residents. Ask staff on the floor, not just the manager, whether they feel listened to when they flag a problem.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post at Laurel Dene specifically, not just in the sector. Then ask one or two carers on the floor, separately, what they would do if they had a concern about a resident's care and felt their immediate supervisor was not listening. The answers will tell you a great deal about the culture."}

  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 lists dementia, learning disabilities, mental health conditions, physical disabilities and care for over-65s among its specialisms.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those considering dementia care specifically, families report mixed experiences. Some residents with dementia have been told shortly after admission that their needs cannot be met, so discussing care approaches and staff experience during your visit would be especially important. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.