Northwood Nursing & Residential Care

What families say

People talk about residents getting genuinely involved in activities that match what they can manage. The atmosphere seems to lift spirits, with families noticing their relatives becoming more engaged than they'd been in months. Staff appear to understand how to keep people occupied without overwhelming them.

Based on 48 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth65
• Compassion & dignity65
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement55
• Food quality55
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership40
• Resident happiness60

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-09-07 · Report published 2023-09-07 · Inspected 7 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the July 2024 inspection. Beyond the domain rating itself, the published report does not set out specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control. The home cares for adults with dementia, learning disabilities, and physical disabilities across 27 beds, which means safe practice is especially important for people who may be unable to communicate concerns themselves. No specific concerns were recorded under this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but it tells you the minimum was met rather than that everything was excellent. Good Practice research from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most likely to slip in smaller nursing homes, particularly those supporting people with dementia. Because the published report gives no detail on staffing ratios or night cover for this 27-bed home, you cannot rely on the rating alone. Cleanliness is cited by 24.3% of families in our review data as a key concern, and again there is no inspection observation to reassure you either way. This is a home where you need to gather the specifics yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base finds that agency staff reliance undermines consistency of care, particularly for people with dementia who depend on familiar faces and predictable routines. Without information on agency usage at this home, this remains an open question worth pursuing.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not the template. Count how many permanent staff versus agency workers were rostered on night shifts, and ask what the minimum night staffing level is for the full 27 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the July 2024 inspection. The home has registered to care for a wide range of needs including dementia, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which requires staff with a broad range of skills and knowledge. The published report does not include specific observations about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training content, or how food is managed for people with swallowing difficulties or specific dietary needs. No concerns were recorded under this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effective means inspectors were satisfied that staff broadly knew what they were doing at the time of the visit. However, the Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans need to function as living documents, reviewed regularly and updated when a person's needs change, rather than paperwork completed at admission and left untouched. Our family review data shows that dementia-specific care is mentioned as a concern by 12.7% of families choosing a home. Because the report gives no detail on training content or how often care plans are reviewed here, you should ask these questions directly. Food quality is cited by 20.9% of families in our positive review data as a meaningful marker of genuine care, and this too is not addressed in the published findings.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that regular, meaningful GP access and proactive health monitoring are key differentiators in effective dementia care. Ask how the home coordinates GP visits and what happens when a resident's physical health deteriorates between scheduled reviews.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how recently was your parent's equivalent care plan last reviewed by a clinician, and can families attend or contribute to that review? Then ask to see an anonymised example of a care plan to judge how detailed and person-specific it actually is."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the July 2024 inspection. The published report does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, resident testimony about how they are treated, or examples of dignity in practice such as preferred names being used or privacy being protected during personal care. No concerns were recorded under this domain. The home supports people with dementia and learning disabilities, where non-verbal communication and consistent relationships with familiar staff are particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity together account for 55.2%. A Good rating for Caring is encouraging, but the absence of specific inspector observations means you cannot know from this report alone whether warmth here is genuine and consistent or whether it was adequate on the day. Good Practice research is clear that for people with dementia, non-verbal communication, unhurried pace, and being known as an individual matter as much as any formal care task. These are things you can only assess by visiting at different times of day, including early morning when personal care is happening and evening when staffing may be reduced.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base finds that person-led care requires staff to know the individual deeply, including life history, preferences, and what causes distress. Where staff turnover is high or agency use is frequent, this knowledge is easily lost.","watch_out":"On your visit, spend time in a communal area and watch whether staff address residents by name, make eye contact, and move without obvious hurry. Then ask the manager: what is the current staff turnover rate, and how is personal history information shared with staff who are new to the home?"}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the July 2024 inspection. The home is registered to support people with dementia, learning disabilities, and physical and sensory impairments, all of whom may have very different needs for meaningful occupation and individual engagement. The published report does not include specific observations about the activity programme, one-to-one engagement, or how the home supports residents who cannot participate in group activities. No concerns were recorded under this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Responsive means the inspectors were satisfied at the time that the home was meeting individual needs reasonably well. However, activities and engagement are cited by 21.4% of families in our review data as a meaningful quality indicator, and resident happiness by 27.1%. For someone with dementia or a learning disability, having a life in a care home depends heavily on whether staff know what brings them pleasure, what their daily rhythms were before they moved in, and whether someone has time for one-to-one interaction when they cannot join a group. None of this detail is available from the published report, which means you need to ask the activity coordinator directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base highlights that Montessori-based approaches and the involvement of people in everyday household tasks, such as folding laundry or tending plants, support a sense of purpose and identity for people with dementia far more effectively than scheduled group entertainment.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity planner for the past four weeks and check whether activities ran as scheduled or were frequently cancelled. Then ask specifically: what happens for a resident who cannot leave their room or who becomes distressed in group settings? Is there a plan for one-to-one engagement for them?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the July 2024 inspection, and this finding is what reduced the home's overall rating from its previous Good. The registered manager is Mr Munawar Hussain, with two nominated individuals also named. The published report does not set out the specific governance or leadership failures that led to this rating. This is a decline from the previous inspection and represents the most significant concern for families considering this home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to the Good Practice evidence base. When governance is found wanting, the risk is not just a paperwork problem; it affects whether staff feel supported, whether complaints are taken seriously, whether families are kept informed, and whether problems get fixed before they affect residents. Communication with families is mentioned positively by 11.5% of reviewers in our data, and a leadership weakness can quickly erode that. The home has had seven inspections, and this decline to Requires Improvement is a specific signal that something changed. You need to understand what the issues were and what has been done since September 2024 to address them.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base finds that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel safe to speak up are the two strongest structural predictors of consistent care quality. Homes where staff cannot raise concerns, or where managers are rarely visible on the floor, tend to show declining standards over successive inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: what specific issues were identified under Well-led in the July 2024 inspection, what actions have been taken since, and can you see evidence of those actions? Also ask staff informally whether they feel comfortable raising concerns with management, and observe whether the manager is present and recognisable to residents during your visit."}

  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 younger adults with physical disabilities and learning difficulties alongside older residents. They support people with sensory impairments and provide specialist dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Their dementia support focuses on maintaining dignity while managing complex needs. Staff work to keep residents engaged at whatever level they can manage, adapting activities to changing abilities. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.