Ocean Breeze Residential Care Home

What families say

Based on 14 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership35
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-04-29 · Report published 2021-04-29 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"Inspectors rated Safety as Good at the March 2021 inspection. This is an improvement from the previous inspection where the overall rating was Requires Improvement. The published summary does not include specific detail on medicines management, falls prevention, infection control practices, or night staffing arrangements. No serious safety concerns were recorded. The home accommodates 24 residents, including people living with dementia.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the absence of specific detail in the published report means you cannot yet picture what keeping your parent safe looks like day to day at this home. Our Good Practice evidence review found that night staffing is the area where safety most often slips in smaller residential homes, yet this inspection gives no information about overnight cover for 24 residents. Agency staff reliance is another known risk factor for continuity and consistency. You will need to ask these questions directly rather than assume the Good rating covers them.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care, yet they are among the least consistently reported in published inspection summaries.","watch_out":"Ask the manager: how many staff are on duty overnight, is a senior carer always present, and how many of last month's night shifts were covered by agency staff rather than permanent employees?"}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the March 2021 inspection. This covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, and nutrition. The published summary does not include specific observations about how care plans are written, how often they are reviewed, what dementia training staff have completed, or how the home manages GP access and health monitoring. No concerns were recorded in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you inspectors did not find serious problems with how care is planned and delivered. However, our Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans need to function as living documents, updated when your parent's needs change, not filed and forgotten. The inspection gives no detail on how often reviews happen or whether families are included. Dementia training quality also varies enormously between homes, even those rated Good. Food quality is a particularly telling marker of genuine care, but no mealtime observations or menu details appear in the published text.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans which actively incorporate personal history, preferences, and family input are associated with better wellbeing outcomes for people living with dementia, compared to plans that record clinical needs alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see how your parent's personal history and daily preferences would be recorded in their care plan, and ask when the last formal review of a resident's plan took place and who was involved in it."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the March 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are treated as individuals. The published summary contains no direct observations of staff interactions, no resident or family quotes, and no examples of how staff address residents by preferred names or respond to distress. No concerns were recorded. The rating represents the inspector's overall judgement rather than a detailed account of daily interactions.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most mentioned theme in our family review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. Families notice whether staff are unhurried, whether they use a person's preferred name, and whether they respond calmly to distress. A Good Caring rating is the most directly relevant to how your mum or dad will experience daily life, but with no specific observations in this report, you cannot yet judge whether this home meets that standard for someone with dementia. Observe this yourself: watch a staff member walk past a resident in the corridor, notice whether they stop and acknowledge the person, and note the pace.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that non-verbal communication, including eye contact, touch, and an unhurried manner, matters as much as spoken words for people with advanced dementia who may have limited verbal communication. These qualities are rarely captured in inspection summaries and must be observed directly.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff interact with residents who are not speaking or who appear unsettled. Do staff stop, make eye contact, and respond? Or do they walk past? This is one of the most reliable observable signals of genuine caring culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the March 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities, individualised care, complaint handling, and end-of-life planning. The published summary includes no detail about the activity programme, how one-to-one engagement is provided for residents who cannot join groups, or how the home handles complaints and end-of-life planning. Dementia is listed as a specialism. No concerns were recorded in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive themes in our family review data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. For someone living with dementia, meaningful occupation matters enormously, not just organised group sessions, but also everyday tasks, music, familiar objects, and one-to-one time. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that group-only activity programmes often fail people with more advanced dementia. The inspection gives no information about whether this home provides individual engagement for residents who cannot or choose not to join group sessions. Ask about this directly, because the answer will tell you a great deal about how much the home understands dementia.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that Montessori-based and activity-based approaches tailored to individual ability, including everyday household tasks and sensory activities, significantly reduce distress and improve wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared to group-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident with advanced dementia who cannot join a group session. If the answer is vague or defaults to television, probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the March 2021 inspection. This is the one domain that did not improve from the previous overall rating of Requires Improvement. A named registered manager, Mrs Elaine Halligan, is confirmed as in post, and a nominated individual, Ms Mary Katherine McGowan, is also named. The published summary does not explain what specific governance or leadership concerns were identified. The four remaining domains were all rated Good, suggesting the quality of direct care has improved even where leadership oversight has not fully met the standard.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Well-led is the most important flag in this report, and it deserves your attention even if the four other domains are Good. Our Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability and a culture where staff can speak up are among the strongest predictors of sustained quality. Management quality accounts for 23.4% of positive themes in our family review data, and communication with families accounts for a further 11.5%. The inspection gives no detail on what the specific concerns were, so you cannot yet judge whether they have been addressed in the three years since the inspection. This home has not been re-inspected since April 2021, which means the Well-led rating may no longer reflect current reality, for better or worse.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes. Homes where managers are visible, where staff feel empowered to raise concerns, and where governance is genuinely embedded tend to sustain Good ratings, while those with weak leadership often slip back after an improvement.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager two specific questions: what did the Requires Improvement finding in Well-led identify, and what has changed since the inspection in April 2021? If the manager cannot answer clearly or seems unfamiliar with the finding, treat that as a significant concern."}

  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 living with dementia. They offer respite care alongside permanent placements.. Gaps or open questions remain on For families navigating dementia care, the home accepts residents with various stages of the condition. The mix of younger and older adults might suit those looking for a more diverse community. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.