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What families say

Families visiting here often comment on the friendly atmosphere they encounter. Staff members are consistently described as helpful and pleasant in their daily interactions with residents. People notice that their loved ones seem settled and content in their new surroundings.

Based on 15 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity65
• Cleanliness60
• Activities & engagement55
• Food quality55
• Healthcare50
• Management & leadership68
• Resident happiness60

What inspectors found

Inspected 2017-11-21 · Report published 2017-11-21 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2021 inspection. The published report summary does not specify which aspect of safety concerned inspectors, whether that was staffing levels, medicines management, incident recording, or another area. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no new evidence requiring a rating change, but this is not the same as a full re-inspection confirming the issues were resolved. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means medicines management and clinical risk are within scope. Families should treat the Requires Improvement as an open question until a full re-inspection takes place.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Safe is the finding families most consistently tell us concerns them, and rightly so. Our Good Practice evidence base flags that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in homes of this size, and that agency reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs, particularly if they are living with dementia. The July 2023 monitoring review offers some reassurance that nothing alarming has emerged since the inspection, but it is not a substitute for a fresh inspection. Until a new inspection is published, the safest approach is to ask the manager to show you the action plan they produced in response to the 2021 findings and to explain specifically what changed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that safety incidents in care homes are disproportionately concentrated in overnight hours and that homes with high agency use have measurably less consistent risk management. Both factors are worth probing here given the Requires Improvement rating.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the written action plan produced after the September 2021 inspection and to tell you specifically what the Requires Improvement related to. Then ask how many permanent (not agency) carers and seniors are on duty overnight, by name if possible, for the 45 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This domain covers care planning, staff training, healthcare access, nutritional support, and how well the home works with external professionals such as GPs and district nurses. The home lists dementia as a specialism alongside nursing care for adults over and under 65. The published summary does not contain specific examples of care plan content, training records reviewed, or GP access arrangements, so it is not possible to verify the detail behind the rating from the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective means inspectors were satisfied with the basics: care plans existed, staff had relevant training, and the home was working with health professionals appropriately. For a home with a dementia specialism, what matters most is whether that training goes beyond a basic induction module. Our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, consistently shows that dementia-specific communication training, covering non-verbal cues and behaviour as a form of communication, makes a measurable difference to how settled and comfortable people feel. Food quality also sits within this domain; ask to see a week's menu and, if possible, visit at a mealtime to observe whether your parent would actually enjoy eating there.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF evidence review found that care plans treated as living documents, updated after every significant change in health or behaviour and reviewed with the family at least every three months, are one of the strongest predictors of person-centred outcomes for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the manager when care plans are formally reviewed, whether families are invited to those reviews, and what specific dementia training staff have completed in the past 12 months. Ask to see the training log rather than accepting a verbal summary."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether your parent's independence is supported. Staff warmth is the single most cited theme in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive family reviews across 5,409 UK care homes. The published inspection summary does not include specific observations about how staff interact with residents, whether preferred names are used, or how distress is handled, so families cannot confirm the detail from the available text alone.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Caring is encouraging, and caring interactions are exactly what our family review data tells us matters most to people like you who are choosing a home for a parent. Staff warmth (57.3% of positive reviews) and compassion and dignity (55.2%) are the two themes that most reliably predict whether families feel at peace with their choice. Because the published text contains no specific observations to verify, a visit is essential. Watch for small signals: do staff knock before entering rooms, do they crouch to eye level when speaking to someone seated, and do they use your parent's preferred name without being prompted?","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base confirms that non-verbal communication, including pace, eye contact, and physical proximity, is as important as spoken words for people living with dementia, particularly where verbal communication has become difficult. Homes where staff slow down visibly produce measurably lower levels of agitation.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch an interaction between a member of staff and a resident who did not initiate contact. Does the staff member stop, make eye contact, and engage at the resident's pace, or do they pass by with a brief word? This tells you more about the caring culture than any planned tour."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. This domain covers activities and engagement, how the home responds to individual preferences, complaints handling, and end-of-life planning. The published summary does not describe specific activities on offer, whether one-to-one engagement is provided for people who cannot join group sessions, or how end-of-life preferences are recorded. The home's specialism in dementia care means these questions are particularly important for families considering this home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and meaningful engagement are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For people living with dementia, our Good Practice evidence strongly supports individually tailored activities, including familiar household tasks and sensory engagement, over group programmes alone. A Good rating here suggests the home is meeting a reasonable standard, but the test is what happens for your parent specifically, especially on a quiet Tuesday afternoon or after 5pm when organised activities typically wind down. Ask what your parent's day would actually look like, hour by hour.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review identified Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches as producing significantly better outcomes for people with moderate to advanced dementia than group activity programmes alone. Homes that provide structured one-to-one engagement for people who cannot participate in groups show lower rates of distress behaviours.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities schedule for the past two weeks, not a prospectus or future plan. Then ask specifically what happens for a resident who cannot join a group session: who provides one-to-one time, how often, and how is it recorded?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the September 2021 inspection. The home has a named registered manager, Miss Abigail Louise Cranston, and a nominated individual, Mr Russell Evans, both recorded with the regulator. The organisation running the home is The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution Care Company, a well-established charitable provider. The published summary does not include specific observations about management visibility, staff culture, or how feedback from residents and families is acted on.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our Good Practice evidence base finds that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. The presence of a named registered manager is a positive sign, but what matters to you as a family member is whether that manager is known to the people who live there and to staff on the floor, not just a name on a certificate. Management visibility and a culture where staff feel able to speak up about concerns are the markers that predict whether a Good rating is sustained or starts to slip. The Requires Improvement in Safe is a reason to probe the management team directly about how they identified and responded to that finding.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF evidence review found that homes where managers are regularly visible on the floor, known by name to residents and families, and where staff report feeling able to raise concerns without fear, consistently maintain or improve their inspection ratings over time.","watch_out":"When you visit, ask a care worker (not the manager) whether the registered manager is usually on the floor during the day and whether staff feel comfortable raising concerns. The answer will tell you more about the leadership culture than any formal meeting with the manager."}

  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 residential care for adults over 65, with specific expertise in supporting people living with dementia. They also offer care for younger adults under 65 who need residential support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team brings professional knowledge to daily care routines. Staff work to create an environment where people living with dementia feel secure and valued. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.