Paddock Lodge

What families say

Families often mention how the colourful, friendly environment helps residents settle in — especially those who worried about institutional settings. Staff take time to learn what matters to each person, whether that's keeping up with personal grooming routines or making sure favourite snacks are always available.

Based on 13 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity74
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement62
• Food quality60
• Healthcare58
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-08-19 · Report published 2023-08-19 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Requires Improvement at the July 2023 inspection, making it the only domain below Good. The published summary does not specify which aspect of safety fell short, whether staffing numbers, medicines management, incident recording, or infection control. The home has 24 beds across a residential setting and supports people with dementia and physical disabilities, populations where safe staffing and falls management are particularly important. No specific observations, quotes, or examples relating to safety were included in the published findings available for this report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Safe is the finding that should give you most pause here. Our review data shows that families rarely mention safety directly in positive reviews, because they tend to take it as a baseline, but it is the first thing that goes wrong when a home is under pressure. The Good Practice evidence from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid review is clear that night staffing is the point where safety most commonly slips in residential homes, and that agency reliance undermines the consistency of care that people with dementia depend on. You need specific answers about what drove this rating and what has changed before you can feel confident placing your parent here.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that inconsistent staffing, particularly overnight and at weekends, is one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care. Knowing your parent is with a familiar face at 3am matters as much as anything that happens in the day.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by the same permanent staff members versus agency workers, paying particular attention to nights. Then ask what specific issue caused the Requires Improvement Safe rating and what evidence they have that it has been resolved."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside physical disabilities, and the published rating suggests inspectors were broadly satisfied with how care is planned and delivered. However, the published summary does not include any specific examples of care plan content, dementia training programmes, GP access arrangements, or how the home monitors changes in health. The detail that would let you fully evaluate this domain is not available in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you that inspectors did not find significant gaps in training or care planning, which is reassuring. Our review data shows that families rate dementia-specific care highly (12.7% of positive reviews mention it explicitly), and the Good Practice evidence is clear that care plans need to function as living documents, updated when your parent changes, not filed away after the initial assessment. Because the published report does not show us the detail, it is worth asking the home to walk you through how they would build and update a care plan for your parent, and how you would be kept involved.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that regular, structured GP access and proactive health monitoring reduce avoidable hospital admissions in residential care. Homes where a GP visits on a scheduled basis, rather than only responding to crises, show better health outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are routinely invited to take part. Then ask which GP practice covers the home and how quickly a resident can be seen when something changes but it is not an emergency."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good. This covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how well staff know the individuals they support. A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied that people were being treated with kindness and respect during their visit. The published summary does not include any direct quotes from residents or relatives, nor specific observations such as staff using preferred names, knocking before entering rooms, or responding to distress. The evidence base for this rating is not visible in what has been published.","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 compassionate treatment accounts for a further 55.2%. A Good Caring rating is encouraging, but without specific observations in the published findings you cannot rely on the rating alone. The Good Practice evidence shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia, and that staff who know a person's history, their preferred name, their routines, their triggers, provide meaningfully better care than staff who are simply following a task list. Watch for these things yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that person-led care, where staff know an individual's life history and preferences and use that knowledge in every interaction, is associated with reduced distress and better wellbeing for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"During your visit, notice how staff address the people living there. Do they use preferred names? Do they crouch down to speak to someone seated rather than standing over them? Do they move without obvious hurry? These behaviours are more reliable signals of genuine caring culture than anything you will read in a brochure."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good. This domain covers activities, individual engagement, and how well the home responds to each person's preferences and changing needs. The home supports people with dementia and physical disabilities, where tailored activity and meaningful occupation are particularly important. The published summary does not include specific examples of activity programmes, individual plans, or how the home supports people who cannot participate in group activities. What the Good rating tells us is that inspectors were satisfied with the broad approach, but the detail is not available in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that resident happiness and activities are among the themes families care most about, with activities mentioned in 21.4% of positive reviews and resident contentment in 27.1%. The Good Practice evidence is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people living with advanced dementia; one-to-one engagement and meaningful occupation rooted in a person's individual history, whether that is folding laundry, gardening, or listening to familiar music, are what make the difference between a person who is settled and one who is distressed. Because the published report does not describe the activity offer here, this is a gap you need to investigate yourself.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that Montessori-based and life-history-informed activity approaches, including everyday household tasks and familiar routines, reduce agitation and improve wellbeing in people with dementia more effectively than structured group activities alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity programme for last week, not a planned schedule but what actually happened. Then ask specifically what the home does to engage your parent if they are unable or unwilling to join a group session. The answer to that second question will tell you more than the rota."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good. The home is operated by Paddock Lodge Care Home Limited, with Ms Mandy Dhaliwal named as the Nominated Individual. A Good Well-led rating means inspectors found evidence of adequate governance, staff support, and management oversight. Achieving this rating alongside the overall improvement from Requires Improvement to Good suggests that leadership has been active in driving change. As with the other domains, the published summary does not include specific observations about management visibility, staff culture, or how the home handles complaints and learning from incidents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our review data shows that confidence in management is cited in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and the Good Practice research is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality over time. The improvement from a previous Requires Improvement overall rating is a genuinely positive sign and suggests the person in charge has been making real changes. What you want to understand on a visit is whether that progress feels embedded in the staff team or whether it depends on one person. A home where any member of staff can tell you the values and priorities of the home is more resilient than one where only the manager can.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that care home quality is strongly associated with leadership culture, specifically whether staff feel empowered to raise concerns and make decisions without waiting for a manager to be present. Homes where staff speak up are safer and more responsive.","watch_out":"Ask a care worker, not the manager, what they would do if they noticed something about a resident that concerned them. The confidence and specificity of their answer will tell you more about the culture of this home than anything the manager says during a formal meeting."}

  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 welcomes adults under and over 65 with physical disabilities, alongside those living with dementia. They also provide short-term respite care, including post-operative recovery support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the staff's patient, caring approach helps create stability in daily routines. The friendly atmosphere and attention to familiar comforts can make a real difference in maintaining wellbeing. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.