OSJCT The Meadows Care Centre

What families say

Visitors often mention feeling genuinely welcomed when they arrive. Staff create an atmosphere where relatives can relax during visits, taking time to chat and share updates. There's a sense that families matter here as much as residents do.

Based on 32 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement65
• Food quality65
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership75
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-03-12 · Report published 2019-03-12 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The safe domain is rated Good at the most recent assessment. The previous rating was Requires Improvement, so this represents a genuine step forward. The published inspection report does not include specific observations about staffing levels, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control. It is not possible from the published text to say what specifically changed to achieve the improved rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, and an improvement from Requires Improvement suggests the home has actively addressed earlier concerns. However, our Good Practice evidence base identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes, and agency reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs. Because the published report gives no detail on either of these, you will need to ask directly. In our family review data, families who felt confident about safety consistently mentioned knowing the staff by name, which points to low agency use and a stable permanent team as key indicators to check.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review (IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University, 2026) found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety risk in care homes, and that learning from incidents, falls, medication errors, and near misses, is a reliable marker of whether a home's safety culture is genuinely improving or just compliant on paper.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not a template. Count the number of permanent staff versus agency names, particularly on night shifts, and ask what the current nursing vacancy rate is."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The effective domain is rated Good. This domain covers training, care planning, access to healthcare, nutrition, and how well the home meets the specific needs of people living with dementia. The published report does not include specific evidence about care plan quality, GP access arrangements, dementia training content, or how food and hydration are managed. The home is registered for nursing care, which means qualified nurses should be available around the clock, but the report does not confirm shift patterns or nursing staffing levels.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home caring for people with dementia, the effective domain matters enormously. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that care plans should be living documents, updated regularly and co-produced with families, not completed at admission and filed away. Dementia training that covers non-verbal communication and behavioural responses to distress is also strongly linked to better outcomes. The Good rating here is positive, but without specific inspection detail, you should ask to see how care plans are written, how often they are reviewed, and what dementia training all staff have completed, not just a yes or no answer, but actual content and dates.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans which incorporate a person's life history, daily routines, and individual preferences are strongly associated with reduced distress and better quality of life for people living with dementia, particularly in the later stages.","watch_out":"Ask to see an example of how a care plan is structured, with personal history and preferences included. Ask when care plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to those reviews. Ask what dementia training all staff complete, including kitchen and housekeeping staff, and when it was last updated."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The caring domain is rated Good. This domain covers warmth of staff interactions, dignity, respect, privacy, and independence. The published report does not include specific inspector observations of staff interactions, resident quotes about how they are treated, or examples of how dignity is upheld in practice. The improved rating from Requires Improvement suggests caring practice has developed positively, but no direct evidence is available in the published text.","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 follow closely at 55.2%. What families describe in those reviews are very specific things: staff using preferred names, moving without hurry, noticing when someone is having a difficult day, and responding without fuss. These are observable behaviours you can look for on a visit. The inspection does not give us evidence to confirm or challenge this at OSJCT The Meadows, so a visit during a busy period, such as mid-morning or lunchtime, will tell you more than any document.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with dementia, and that staff who know individual residents well, their histories, preferences, and triggers, consistently deliver more person-centred and dignified care than those relying on care plans alone.","watch_out":"On your visit, notice whether staff greet your parent by their preferred name without being prompted, whether conversations about personal care happen in private, and whether staff make eye contact and speak at a calm pace. These small details are reliable indicators of the everyday culture in the home."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The responsive domain is rated Good. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, how the home responds to changing needs, and end-of-life care planning. The published inspection report does not include specific detail about the activities programme, how engagement is tailored to individuals with advanced dementia, or how the home approaches end-of-life planning. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but no specific examples or observations are available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that resident happiness, closely tied to meaningful activity and engagement, is mentioned in 27.1% of positive family reviews. For people living with dementia, group activities alone are rarely sufficient. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that one-to-one engagement, including everyday household tasks and sensory activities, is particularly important for people who cannot join group sessions. Because the published report gives no specific detail here, ask the activities coordinator directly how much time is spent with residents individually, not just what activities are on the schedule.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday purposeful activities, such as folding laundry, tending plants, or simple cooking tasks, are more effective at reducing distress and increasing engagement for people with moderate to advanced dementia than structured group entertainment alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for the past four weeks, not the planned schedule but the actual records of what happened and who took part. Ask specifically how the team supports residents who cannot engage with group activities, and how often one-to-one time is recorded for them."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The well-led domain is rated Good, improving from Requires Improvement at the previous inspection. The home has a named registered manager and a nominated individual recorded with the regulator. The published report does not include specific information about management visibility, staff culture, how concerns are raised and acted on, or the stability of the leadership team. The improvement in this domain is meaningful because leadership quality predicts the trajectory of care quality over time.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and communication with families account for a combined weighting of around 35% in our family review scoring, because families consistently tell us that knowing who is in charge, and feeling they can call and get a straight answer, makes an enormous difference to their confidence. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of whether a care home maintains or improves its quality over time. The previous Requires Improvement rating makes it especially important to understand whether the current registered manager has been in post throughout the improvement period or arrived more recently.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes with stable, visible leadership, where staff feel empowered to raise concerns without fear, consistently outperform homes with frequent management changes or a top-down culture, even when other resources are comparable.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager how long they have been in post, and whether the management team has been stable throughout the improvement from Requires Improvement to Good. Ask how staff are encouraged to raise concerns, and what the last significant change was that came from a staff suggestion or a family complaint."}

  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 provides specialist dementia care alongside general support for adults over 65.. Gaps or open questions remain on For those living with dementia, the structured activity programmes and consistent staffing approach help create familiar routines. Staff show they understand the importance of maintaining family connections throughout the care journey. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.