The Riverside Care Complex

What families say

Some families have found individual care workers who show genuine warmth and patience with residents. During difficult times, particularly at end of life, certain staff members have provided compassionate presence and practical support that families deeply appreciated.

Based on 7 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement68
• Food quality68
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-02-08 · Report published 2020-02-08 · Inspected 6 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in Safe at its October 2024 inspection. This follows a period when the home was rated Inadequate overall, so the improvement in this domain is significant. The published report text does not include specific details about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices. A named registered manager is in post, which is a basic marker of stable leadership in the safety domain. No specific concerns were raised in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Safety is the foundation of everything, and the move from Inadequate to Good in this domain will matter to you. However, the inspection text available to us contains no specific observations about night staffing, how incidents are logged, or how medicines are managed. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes, particularly in dementia care. With 65 residents on site, ask directly about the staffing numbers after 8pm and who is in charge on nights. Agency reliance is also worth probing: homes that rely heavily on agency staff struggle to provide the consistency your parent needs.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (2026) found that night staffing levels and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety lapses in older adult care settings. A Good rating does not by itself confirm either is adequate.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from last week, not a template. Count how many permanent staff were on duty overnight compared with agency staff, and confirm how many carers were present per resident after 10pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in Effective at its October 2024 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and food. The home specialises in dementia care, which means staff training in dementia-specific approaches should be a core part of what Effective covers here. The published report text does not include specific information about dementia training content, GP access arrangements, care plan review processes, or food quality. The Good rating implies these areas were found to be satisfactory, but the detail has not been published in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows that healthcare access (20.2% weighting in positive reviews) and food quality (20.9% weighting) are two of the eight themes families consistently mention when they are happy with a home. A Good rating in Effective is reassuring, but without specific evidence you cannot know whether your parent's care plan would genuinely reflect who they are, their food preferences, their routines, or their health history. Good Practice evidence shows that care plans work best when families are involved in writing and reviewing them. Ask whether you would be invited to your parent's care plan review and how often those reviews happen.","evidence_base":"The 2026 rapid evidence review found that care plans function as living documents in high-quality homes, updated after health changes, falls, or family feedback, rather than being completed on admission and left unchanged.","watch_out":"Ask to see a blank care plan template and ask how the home would capture your parent's preferred name, daily routines, food dislikes, and what comforts them when they are distressed. Then ask when the last review of a resident's care plan took place."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in Caring at its October 2024 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how staff support independence. For a home specialising in dementia care, this domain is particularly important because how staff communicate with and respond to your parent will shape their daily experience far more than any written policy. The published report text does not include specific observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or examples of staff behaviour in this domain. The Good rating indicates inspectors found the standard of care satisfactory.","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 account for a further 55.2%. These are not abstract values: they show up in observable, everyday moments. Does a carer crouch down to speak to a resident at eye level? Do they use your mum's preferred name without being prompted? Do they pause when a resident is upset rather than moving on to the next task? The inspection did not record specific examples here, so you will need to observe this yourself. Good Practice evidence confirms that non-verbal communication matters as much as what is said, particularly for people living with dementia who may have lost the ability to express distress in words.","evidence_base":"The 2026 rapid evidence review found that person-led caring requires staff to know the individual, not just the care plan. Homes where staff know residents' histories, preferences, and communication styles consistently show better outcomes for people living with dementia.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch an unscripted corridor interaction between a staff member and a resident. Does the staff member stop, make eye contact, and use the resident's name? Or do they pass by without acknowledgement? This tells you more than any rating."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in Responsive at its October 2024 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its care and activities to individual needs, including for people living with advanced dementia who may not be able to join group activities. The home has 65 beds and specialises in dementia care, making individualised engagement particularly important. The published report text does not include specific information about the activity programme, one-to-one provision, or how end-of-life care preferences are recorded and honoured.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and meaningful engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. For people living with dementia, the research evidence is clear: group activities alone are not sufficient. Your parent needs one-to-one time, especially as dementia progresses and group settings become harder to navigate. Approaches such as Montessori-based activities, everyday household tasks, and sensory engagement have strong evidence behind them. The inspection did not record what the activity programme here actually looks like, so this is a gap you need to fill yourself by visiting and asking specific questions.","evidence_base":"The 2026 rapid evidence review found that tailored individual activities, including household tasks and sensory engagement, produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes for people living with dementia than group-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator to show you the record of one-to-one activity sessions from last week, not the planned schedule but the actual record of what happened. Ask how they would engage your parent on a day when they did not want to leave their room."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating in Well-led at its October 2024 inspection, following a previous Inadequate rating overall. A named registered manager, Mrs Jacqueline Marie Leckenby, is recorded as in post, and a nominated individual, Gemma Ixer, is also identified. The home is run by Sure Healthcare Limited. The published report text does not include specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home responded to the concerns that led to its earlier Inadequate rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"The move from Inadequate to Good in Well-led is the most important signal in this report. Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes: when a good manager is in place and staff feel supported to raise concerns, quality tends to improve and stay improved. Our review data shows that management and communication with families accounts for 23.4% and 11.5% of positive reviews respectively. What you cannot yet see is whether the improvements since the Inadequate rating are embedded or fragile. Ask the manager directly what changed, how long they have been in post, and what they would do if a family raised a concern about their parent's care.","evidence_base":"The 2026 rapid evidence review found that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Homes where managers are known by name to residents and staff, and where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, consistently outperform those where leadership is distant or frequently changing.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager how long they have been in this role and what specific changes they made after the previous Inadequate rating. A confident, specific answer with examples is a good sign. A vague or defensive one is worth noting."}

  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 care for adults over 65, with specific support for residents living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home accepts residents with dementia, families have raised questions about whether staff have enough specialist training to manage wandering behaviours and repetitive speech patterns. Some relatives have expressed concerns about activity levels and engagement opportunities for residents with cognitive decline. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.