Meadowfield House

What families say

Residents describe making proper friendships here, settling into routines that work for them. There's talk of feeling safe and looked after, with people mentioning how staff take time to really engage — whether that's during physiotherapy sessions or just everyday conversations. The activities programme gets people involved, though experiences seem to vary depending on which team is on duty.

Based on 25 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 quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-09-25 · Report published 2018-09-25 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the last full inspection in September 2018. This represents an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating, meaning inspectors were satisfied that earlier concerns had been addressed. The home supports 47 residents, including people living with dementia and physical disabilities. No specific detail about staffing ratios, medicines management, or falls recording is available in the published summary. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no new evidence of concern.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Safe means inspectors found no significant gaps in how risks are managed, but the evidence behind that rating is now more than five years old. Our Good Practice research highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and that heavy reliance on agency staff can undermine the consistency that keeps people safe, particularly those with dementia who depend on familiar faces. Because the published findings contain no detail on staffing rotas or medicines records, these are the questions you need to ask directly rather than take on trust.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that consistency of staff, particularly at night and at weekends, is one of the strongest predictors of safety for people living with dementia. Homes with high agency use show measurably lower scores on safety indicators.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, including night shifts. Count how many names are permanent staff versus agency, and ask whether the same agency workers return regularly or whether it is a different person each time."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the last full inspection in September 2018. This covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which means the home should have specific knowledge and adapted practice for people living with dementia. No detail about care plan content, GP access arrangements, or dementia training programmes is available in the published summary. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to change the rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective gives a reasonable baseline, but food quality and care plan specificity are the two areas where families most often find a gap between what a rating suggests and what they experience day to day. Food quality features in 20.9% of positive family reviews in our data, and families who mention it tend to describe specific detail: whether the home knows a person's preferred foods, how texture-modified meals are presented, and whether mealtimes feel sociable. Because the inspection findings contain no detail on any of this, you need to see it for yourself.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed with the resident and their family at least monthly for people with progressing dementia. Plans that reflect personal history, preferences, and known triggers for distress are directly associated with fewer episodes of agitation and better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask to read a sample care plan (with names removed if necessary) and check whether it describes the person as an individual: their preferred name, their daily routine before coming into care, their food preferences, and what comforts them when they are anxious. A plan that reads like a medical form rather than a personal profile is a warning sign."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the last full inspection in September 2018. Inspectors were satisfied with how staff treated residents, covering dignity, respect, and warmth of interaction. No specific observations, resident quotes, or family testimony are available in the published summary to illustrate what that looked like in practice. The home cares for people with dementia and physical disabilities, where the quality of everyday interaction carries particular weight. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to prompt a change.","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 together account for a further 55.2%. What families describe when they use these words is not a general impression but specific observable moments: a carer crouching to eye level, a knock before entering a room, a preferred name used without prompting. Because no specific observations are recorded in the published findings, the only way to assess this for your parent is to visit and watch how staff behave when they do not know they are being observed.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, including tone of voice, pace of movement, and physical touch, matters as much as words. Staff who are trained in this and given time to use it are associated with significantly lower rates of distress in residents.","watch_out":"Arrive unannounced if you can, or ask to walk through a communal area during a quiet time rather than being taken straight to a meeting room. Watch how staff address residents as they pass, whether they make eye contact and use names, and whether the atmosphere feels calm or hurried."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the last full inspection in September 2018. This covers how well the home tailors its care to individuals, including activities, engagement, and end-of-life planning. Dementia is a listed specialism, which implies some structured approach to individual engagement. No detail about the activities programme, one-to-one provision, or how the home responds to changing needs is available in the published summary. The July 2023 monitoring review found no cause for reassessment.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and resident happiness together account for nearly half of all positive themes in our family review data (21.4% and 27.1% respectively). What families describe when they rate a home highly on these themes is not a busy timetable but whether their parent seems settled, has things to do that feel meaningful, and is known as an individual rather than a bed number. Our Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with moderate or advanced dementia, who need one-to-one engagement built into their daily routine. This is not assessed in the published findings and needs to be explored directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and household-task approaches to engagement, where people with dementia participate in familiar, purposeful activities rather than passive entertainment, are associated with measurably better mood, reduced agitation, and greater sense of self.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records from the last four weeks, not the planned timetable. Check whether activities happen on weekends and in the evenings, and ask what a typical day looks like for a resident who cannot participate in group sessions."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the last full inspection in September 2018, having previously been rated Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Miss Chloe Louise Walmsley, is recorded in the registration data, and a nominated individual, Mr John Alexander Williams, provides organisational oversight. The home is operated by Lancashire County Council. No detail about the manager's tenure, staff satisfaction, or internal governance processes is available in the published summary. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence of deterioration.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in Well-led is a meaningful signal. It indicates that a previous inspection found gaps in leadership or governance that were then addressed before the next visit. Our Good Practice research shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory: homes where the manager has been in post for more than two years, knows residents and families by name, and has built a stable staff team consistently outperform those with high turnover at the top. Communication with families features in 11.5% of positive reviews in our data, and the most common complaint in low-rated homes is that families find out about incidents too late or not at all.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identified that a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, sometimes called psychological safety, is a leading indicator of care quality. Homes where frontline staff can speak up are significantly less likely to have undetected safeguarding concerns.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether she is present most days. Then ask a carer, not a manager, what they would do if they saw a colleague treating a resident unkindly. The confidence and directness of the answer tells you more about the culture than any policy document."}

  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, including those with physical disabilities and people living with dementia. Their rehabilitation support stands out, with residents mentioning structured therapy programmes that have helped them regain independence after injuries.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the home provides specialist care as part of their broader support. While some families have praised the patient approach of individual staff members, others have raised concerns about communication barriers that need addressing. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.