Normanhurst

What families say

What strikes families most is how staff tune into what each resident actually wants from their day. Rather than following rigid schedules, the team here notices whether someone prefers quiet mornings or bustling activity rooms, solitary reading or group conversations. This attention to individual rhythms helps residents feel genuinely at home.

Based on 19 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth70
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality55
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership52
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-10-21 · Report published 2021-10-21 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous inspection. This indicates inspectors were satisfied that medicines management, staffing levels, and infection control met required standards at the time. The published summary does not record specific observations about night staffing ratios or agency staff usage. No serious safety concerns are noted in the published text. The home has a registered manager in place, which is a basic safety requirement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but it is a baseline rather than a guarantee of consistent safety over time. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most likely to slip in nursing homes: fewer staff, less oversight, and the hours when falls most commonly happen. With 31 beds and a dementia specialism, knowing the overnight staffing numbers matters. The inspection did not publish specific detail on this, so you need to ask directly. Agency staff usage is also worth checking: our review data shows that families notice quickly when unfamiliar faces appear on the unit, and consistency of staffing is closely linked to how settled people with dementia feel.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Homes that maintain consistent, named night staff have better falls records and lower rates of avoidable deterioration.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count the number of permanent versus agency names on night shifts, and ask what the minimum qualified nurse cover is overnight across all 31 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This covers care planning, training, healthcare access, and nutrition. The published summary does not record specific examples of care plan content, GP access frequency, or dementia training provision. A Good rating in this domain indicates inspectors found the home met required standards across these areas at the time of the visit. The home's dementia specialism means there is a reasonable expectation of relevant staff training, but this is not confirmed in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a parent with dementia, the Effective domain is where the detail of daily care lives. A Good rating tells you the home passed the inspection test, but it does not tell you how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed, whether you would be asked to contribute to it, or how staff would handle a health change overnight. Good Practice research from the Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated whenever a person's condition changes, not just on a fixed annual cycle. Ask to see a sample care plan format on your visit, with resident details removed, to judge how specific and personal it looks.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that care plans which include detailed personal histories, preferred routines, and communication preferences are associated with better outcomes for people with dementia, including lower rates of distress and reduced use of sedating medication.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are reviewed and give a specific scenario: if your mum stopped eating well for three days, who would update her care plan, and when would you be told?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether people's independence is supported. The published summary does not include specific inspector observations about staff interactions, use of preferred names, or how distress was managed. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the standard of caring interactions they observed. No concerns about dignity or respect are noted in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of positive family reviews in our data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive Google reviews across more than 5,400 UK care homes. Compassion and dignity come second at 55.2%. These are the things families notice most and remember longest. The inspection confirmed a Good standard, but without specific quotes or observations in the published text, this report cannot tell you what that warmth looks like day to day at Normanhurst. The most reliable way to assess this is to visit unannounced if possible, walk along the corridor at a quiet time of day, and notice whether staff greet your parent by name, make eye contact, and move without apparent hurry.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies non-verbal communication as equally important as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia. Staff who make unhurried physical contact, maintain eye contact, and use a calm tone produce measurably lower rates of agitation, regardless of the activity or task being carried out.","watch_out":"During your visit, notice what happens when a member of staff passes a resident in the corridor or common room. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This small moment is one of the clearest indicators of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, and how well the home responds to each person's preferences and changing needs. The published summary does not include specific detail about the activity programme, one-to-one provision, or how individual preferences are recorded and acted on. No concerns about responsiveness are noted in the published text. The home's dementia specialism suggests an expectation of tailored approaches, but this is not confirmed with specific examples.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Responsive rating is encouraging, but activities provision is one of the areas our family review data shows the widest variation between homes with the same rating. Activities are mentioned in 21.4% of positive reviews, and what families consistently value most is not the number of events on a timetable but whether their parent is genuinely engaged. Good Practice research highlights that for people with advanced dementia, individual one-to-one activities, including familiar household tasks, looking at photographs, or listening to personal music playlists, matter more than group sessions. Ask the home specifically what would happen for your parent on a day when they did not want to join a group, or when they were too unwell to leave their room.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including familiar domestic tasks and sensory engagement, produced significant reductions in agitation and improvements in mood for people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared with group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity timetable for last week, not a planned template. Then ask what one-to-one provision exists for residents who cannot or do not want to join groups, and ask for a specific example of something that was done for an individual resident in the past month."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2021 inspection, meaning this was the one area where the home did not meet Good standards. The home is run by named owners, Mr David Lewis and Mrs Rohan Hebbes, with Sister Alison Bowles-Martin as registered manager. The published summary does not record the specific governance or leadership shortcomings that led to the Requires Improvement rating. The overall trajectory is positive, with the home improving from Requires Improvement overall to Good overall at this inspection, but leadership remains an open question.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating for Well-led is the finding that most warrants your attention, even though four other domains are Good. Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in our Good Practice evidence: homes with consistent, visible management and staff who feel able to raise concerns tend to sustain and improve their quality over time, while homes with weak governance can slip back. Our family review data shows that communication with management is mentioned in 11.5% of positive reviews, and families who feel they can easily reach someone in charge report significantly higher satisfaction. Without knowing what specific shortcomings the inspector identified in September 2021, it is difficult to assess how much progress has been made. This is the most important question to ask on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that management stability and a culture where staff feel empowered to raise concerns are among the strongest predictors of sustained quality improvement in care homes. Homes that improve under one inspection cycle but lack embedded governance processes are at higher risk of regression.","watch_out":"Ask Sister Alison Bowles-Martin directly: what specific issues did the inspector raise about leadership in September 2021, and what has changed since then? A manager who can answer this clearly and specifically is demonstrating exactly the kind of reflective leadership the inspection was looking for."}

  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 specialises in dementia care alongside general nursing for over-65s. Their approach focuses on maintaining and even improving residents' abilities through individualised care.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the team's ability to read individual preferences and adapt routines accordingly becomes especially valuable. Staff work to keep residents engaged at whatever level feels comfortable for them, celebrating small victories in communication and participation. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.