OSJCT Larkrise Care Centre

What families say

Visitors consistently mention how approachable and warm the staff are, always ready to stop for a chat with families. The centre buzzes with daily activities that keep residents engaged and stimulated throughout their day. Many families talk about how quickly their relatives have settled in, finding their place within this inclusive community.

Based on 53 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 & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-09-20 · Report published 2019-09-20 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its August 2019 inspection. The published report does not provide specific detail about what inspectors observed in relation to staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control. The home is a 60-bed nursing home, which means a registered nurse must be on duty at all times, but the actual night staffing numbers are not recorded in the available text. The previous Requires Improvement rating suggests there were safety concerns before 2019 that the provider subsequently addressed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but our review data shows that families most frequently raise concerns about what happens at night, when staffing is thinner and visibility is lower. The Good Practice evidence base (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) identifies night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance as the two areas where safety most commonly slips in otherwise well-rated homes. Because the inspection text gives no specific figures here, you cannot rely on the published rating alone to answer the question of whether your parent will be safe after 8pm. The previous Requires Improvement rating also means it is worth asking the manager precisely what changed and how the home checks that improvements have been sustained.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (2026) found that night staffing is consistently the period where adverse incidents are most likely to occur, and that homes relying heavily on agency staff show weaker safety cultures over time, even when their overall rating is Good.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not the planned template. Count how many permanent carers and nurses were on each night shift, and ask what proportion of those shifts were covered by agency staff."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at its August 2019 inspection. The published report does not include specific detail about care plan quality, dementia training, GP access arrangements, or food provision. The home holds a dementia specialism registration, which confirms it is assessed as appropriate to care for people living with dementia, but the inspection text does not describe how that care is delivered in practice. No specific observations about mealtimes, nutritional monitoring, or health review processes appear in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness covers some of the areas families worry about most when a parent has dementia, including whether staff genuinely understand the condition, whether your parent's care plan reflects who they are as a person, and whether health problems are caught early. Food quality is mentioned positively in 20.9% of our positive family reviews, making it one of the clearest everyday signals of how much a home genuinely attends to individual needs. The Good Practice evidence base emphasises that care plans should be living documents, updated regularly and shaped by family input, rather than filed and forgotten. None of this detail is available in the published inspection text for this home, so these are areas to explore directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (2026) found that dementia training quality varies enormously between homes, and that homes where all staff (including kitchen and housekeeping teams) receive dementia awareness training show measurably better outcomes for residents, particularly around dignity at mealtimes.","watch_out":"Ask to see an anonymised care plan for a current resident and ask how recently it was reviewed. Then ask whether your parent's family would be invited to contribute to that plan and how often it would be updated as their needs change."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at its August 2019 inspection. The published report does not include direct inspector observations of staff interactions, resident or relative testimony about warmth or dignity, or specific examples of how privacy and preferred names are respected. A Good rating in this domain indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they found, but the absence of recorded detail means the evidence cannot be verified or contextualised beyond the headline rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most important driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity is cited in 55.2%. These are not abstract ideals: they translate into whether a staff member knocks before entering your mum's room, uses the name she prefers, or takes time to sit with her when she is distressed rather than moving on to the next task. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that for people with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, facial expression, and unhurried physical contact, often matters more than words. Because the inspection provides no recorded observations or quotes for this home, the only way to assess this for yourself is to visit and observe directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (2026) found that person-led care, where staff know and respond to individual histories, preferences, and communication styles, is associated with significantly lower rates of distress and better quality of life for people living with dementia, regardless of the severity of their condition.","watch_out":"When you visit, watch how staff interact with residents in communal areas and corridors when they think no one is paying attention. Notice whether staff use residents' preferred names, whether they crouch or sit to speak at eye level, and whether interactions feel unhurried."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at its August 2019 inspection. The published report does not include specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement for people living with dementia, or how the home responds to individual preferences and changing needs. The home's dementia specialism registration confirms it is considered appropriate for people living with dementia, but how daily life is structured and what meaningful engagement looks like in practice is not described in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is about whether your parent will have a life here, not just a place to sleep. Activities are mentioned positively in 21.4% of our family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence base is particularly clear on one point: group activities alone are not sufficient for people living with moderate or advanced dementia, who need one-to-one engagement tailored to their individual history and interests. Everyday household tasks, such as folding laundry, tending plants, or helping to lay a table, can provide continuity and purpose for people who can no longer follow a group activity. Whether this home provides that kind of individualised engagement is not answerable from the published inspection text alone.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (2026) found that Montessori-based and task-focused individual activities, designed around a person's life history, produce significantly better outcomes for engagement and wellbeing in people with dementia than group-only activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident who cannot easily join group sessions. Ask specifically what one-to-one engagement your parent would receive if they were unable to participate in the scheduled group activity."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for well-led at its August 2019 inspection, having previously held a Requires Improvement rating in this domain. The provider is The Orders of St. John Care Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, and a nominated individual is named in the registration. The published report does not include specific detail about the registered manager's tenure, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home learns from incidents and complaints. The improvement from Requires Improvement suggests that leadership issues identified earlier were addressed, but the specifics are not available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes, according to the Good Practice evidence base. A home that moved from Requires Improvement to Good in well-led has demonstrated it can improve, but the question for you is whether the leadership that drove that improvement is still in place. Our family review data shows that communication with families is cited positively in 11.5% of reviews, and that families particularly value managers who are known by name and visible on the floor. The fact that the published inspection text contains no specific leadership observations means you need to ask these questions directly on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review (2026) found that registered manager tenure is one of the most reliable predictors of care quality over time, and that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear show consistently better outcomes for the people living there.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether they were in place during the 2019 inspection. Then ask what the biggest change they have made in the last 12 months has been, which will tell you both about their tenure and their priorities."}

  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 centre provides residential and nursing care for adults over 65, with particular expertise in dementia support. They also care for younger adults who need specialist support.. Gaps or open questions remain on The dementia care at Larkrise forms an integral part of the centre's approach, with residents living alongside those receiving general residential and nursing care. Staff understand how to support residents with dementia while maintaining their dignity and engagement in daily life. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.