Mountbatten Lodge

What families say

Families talk about feeling genuinely included in the life of the home, with transparent access to see how care happens day to day. The atmosphere strikes visitors as homely and calm, while residents engage in varied activities from structured programmes to community fetes that help maintain their independence.

Based on 41 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement82
• Food quality65
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-06-14 · Report published 2019-06-14 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the May 2019 inspection. This means inspectors found that the home met the required standards for keeping people safe, managing medicines, and maintaining adequate staffing levels. The published summary does not include specific detail about falls management, infection control practices, or night staffing ratios. No concerns were raised in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safe rating is a baseline you need, but it is not a reason to stop asking questions. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in care homes. The published inspection text does not tell you how many staff are on overnight, and the inspection is now over five years old. Staffing levels are also the area most likely to have changed since 2019. When you visit, ask specifically about the overnight staffing ratio and how often agency staff cover night shifts, because permanent, familiar staff matter most to the safety and settled sleep of someone living with dementia.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of safety concerns in care homes, because unfamiliar staff are less likely to recognise subtle changes in a resident's condition or behaviour.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template rota. Count the permanent versus agency names on overnight shifts, and ask what the home's policy is for briefing agency staff before they work with residents living with dementia."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the May 2019 inspection. This covers how well the home plans and delivers care, including training, healthcare access, nutrition, and care planning. The published summary does not include specific observations about how care plans are written or reviewed, how often GPs visit, or what dementia training staff have completed. No concerns were raised in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Dementia-specific training is one of the most important things to probe at this home, because it is a listed specialism and yet the inspection text gives no detail about what training staff have actually received. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated as a person's needs change, ideally with family input. Food quality is also a consistent theme in our family review data, appearing in 20.9% of the weighted themes, and it is often a reliable indicator of how much genuine thought goes into day-to-day care. None of these areas are described in the available published findings, so they all need direct investigation.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that regular, structured GP access and proactive health monitoring, rather than reactive responses to deterioration, are key markers of effective care for older people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what specific dementia training staff have completed in the past 12 months, whether any staff hold a dementia-specific qualification, and how recently your parent's care plan would be reviewed after they moved in."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the May 2019 inspection. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how well staff support independence. The published summary contains no specific inspector observations about staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives recorded during the inspection, and no detail about how privacy is maintained in practice. A Good rating here means the standard was met, but the evidence behind 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, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are the things families notice most and remember longest. The absence of specific inspector observations or resident quotes in the published report does not mean the care is poor; it means you cannot rely on the published text alone and need to see it for yourself. On your visit, pay attention to how staff speak to residents in passing, whether they use preferred names, and whether interactions feel unhurried. These small moments are the most reliable indicators of the culture in a home.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people living with dementia. Staff who crouch to eye level, make unhurried physical contact, and respond calmly to agitation are demonstrating person-led care in ways that no document can fully capture.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff walks past a resident in the corridor or communal lounge. Do they make eye contact, smile, or say something? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small, unrehearsed moment tells you more about the daily culture than any planned interaction."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Outstanding at the May 2019 inspection. This is the home's strongest result and the most meaningful finding in the published report. Outstanding is awarded only when a home clearly exceeds what is normally expected in how it tailors care and activities to individuals, responds to complaints, and meets the specific needs of each person. The home supports people with dementia, physical disabilities, and both younger and older adults. The published summary does not detail the specific features that earned this rating, but the rating itself is a significant signal.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An Outstanding Responsive rating is relatively rare and worth taking seriously. In our family review data, activities and meaningful engagement account for 21.4% of the weighted themes, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A home that earns Outstanding here has demonstrated to inspectors that it goes beyond generic group activities and genuinely tailors its approach to individual people. That matters especially if your parent has dementia, because our Good Practice evidence base shows that individually tailored, non-group activity, things like familiar household tasks, music linked to personal history, or one-to-one conversation, reduces agitation and supports wellbeing in ways that group sessions alone cannot. However, this rating is five years old. Ask specifically what the activities programme looks like now.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review, covering 61 studies, found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including everyday tasks such as folding, sorting, and gardening, produce measurable reductions in agitation and improvements in engagement for people living with dementia, compared with passive or group-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they would do to engage your parent on a day when your parent did not want to join a group session. The answer will tell you whether the Outstanding rating reflects a genuine individual approach or a well-run but group-focused programme."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the May 2019 inspection. The registered manager at the time of inspection was Miss Beth Louise Hoskins, and the nominated individual was Mr Stewart Christopher Mynott. The published summary does not describe the management culture, staff morale, or how the home handles complaints and incidents in any specific detail. A Good rating means governance systems met the required standard, but nothing more can be drawn from the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to our Good Practice evidence base. A manager who has been in post for several years, who staff know well and who knows every resident by name, creates a culture that holds even when individual staff members leave. The inspection was carried out in 2019 and the registered manager named in the report may or may not still be in post. This is one of the first things to check. Communication with families is also a theme that accounts for 11.5% of our weighted family review data, and it is not addressed anywhere in the published findings. Ask directly how the home would contact you if your parent had a fall, a health change, or a difficult night.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identified management stability and a culture where staff feel safe to raise concerns as the two most reliable predictors of sustained care quality. Homes where the manager is a visible, known presence, rather than an office-based administrator, consistently perform better on resident wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current manager has been in post, and ask to meet them during your visit rather than just receiving a tour from a senior carer. A manager who makes time to meet prospective families is demonstrating exactly the visible, engaged leadership that predicts good outcomes."}

  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 physical disabilities, as well as providing specialist dementia support.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff show particular skill in maintaining dignity and personhood for residents living with dementia, understanding how to respond to individual needs while keeping people engaged in meaningful activities. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.