Signature House Nursing Home

What families say

Based on 5 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 2023-06-24 · Report published 2023-06-24 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the June 2023 inspection. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and incidents. The home had previously been rated Requires Improvement, so this Good rating indicates that earlier safety concerns were identified and addressed. The published summary does not provide specific detail on staffing numbers, night cover, or falls management for this 48-bed nursing home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a nursing home supporting people with dementia, physical disabilities, and mental health conditions, safety is the foundation everything else rests on. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is where safety most often slips in homes of this size, and that agency staff reliance can undermine the consistency your parent needs. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is reassuring, but the published text does not tell you what the previous concerns were or how they were fixed. Ask the manager directly: what safety concerns did the previous inspection identify, and what changed?","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that learning from incidents, rather than simply recording them, is one of the clearest markers of a genuinely safe care environment. A home that has improved its rating is more likely to have that culture than one that has never been tested.","watch_out":"Ask to see the staffing rota for the past two weeks, including nights and weekends. Count the permanent staff names versus agency names, and ask specifically how many nurses and carers are on duty overnight for the 48 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good, covering training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a specialism alongside mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means the home should be able to demonstrate specific competence in these areas. The published summary does not describe the content of dementia training, the frequency of care plan reviews, or how GP and specialist healthcare access is managed. No detail on food quality, dietary adaptations, or mealtime support is included.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you the inspection found no significant problems with how the home plans and delivers care, but it does not tell you how good the detail is. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed regularly with families, not filed away after admission. For someone with dementia, the plan needs to reflect not just medical needs but personal history, communication preferences, and what makes your parent feel settled. Food quality is also a telling indicator: in our review data, 20.9% of positive family reviews specifically mention mealtimes, and poor food is one of the first things families notice when care standards are slipping.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that dementia-specific training quality varies significantly between homes, even where it is formally in place. Training that covers non-verbal communication, behavioural understanding, and life history approaches produces better outcomes than compliance-only programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to describe the dementia training that staff complete, specifically what it covers beyond basic awareness, and ask when your parent's care plan would next be reviewed and whether you would be invited to that review."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good, covering staff warmth, dignity, respect, and independence. This is the domain that matters most to families: 57.3% of positive reviews in our data mention staff warmth by name, and 55.2% mention compassion and dignity. The Good rating indicates inspectors found no concerns in these areas. The published summary does not include direct observations of staff interactions, resident quotes, or descriptions of how the home protects privacy and encourages independence.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, and a Good Caring rating suggests the inspectors were broadly satisfied with what they observed. However, the absence of specific examples or resident quotes in the published text means you cannot tell from this report alone whether staff are genuinely warm or simply not causing concern. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal for people with advanced dementia; a member of staff who uses your mum's preferred name, makes eye contact, and moves without hurry is delivering something that medication and care plans cannot replicate. Observe this yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care requires genuine knowledge of the individual, including preferred names, life history, and communication style. Homes where staff demonstrate this knowledge in ordinary moments (not just in formal assessments) show better wellbeing outcomes for people with dementia.","watch_out":"On your visit, note whether staff address your parent by their preferred name unprompted, and watch how a member of staff responds when a resident appears confused or distressed. These unscripted moments tell you more than any formal presentation."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good, covering activities, engagement, individuality, and end-of-life care. The home supports a wide range of needs including dementia, mental health conditions, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which means the activities and engagement offer needs to be genuinely varied and adaptable. The published summary includes no description of the activities programme, no information about one-to-one engagement for people who cannot join group activities, and no mention of end-of-life care planning.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness is the third-highest driver of positive family reviews in our data, cited in 27.1% of responses. For families choosing a home for a parent with dementia, the question is not just whether activities happen but whether they are meaningful for someone at your parent's stage of the condition. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that tailored individual activities, including household tasks, music, and sensory engagement, produce better outcomes than group programmes that not everyone can access. A Good Responsive rating is encouraging, but ask to see the actual activities log from the past month, not the planned schedule.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identified Montessori-based and occupation-focused approaches (including everyday household tasks and familiar routines) as particularly effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia, producing measurable reductions in agitation and improvements in engagement.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activities log from the past four weeks, and ask specifically what activities are offered to residents who cannot participate in group sessions. A home that can answer this with examples rather than generalities is one that thinks individually about the people who live there."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, and the home has a named registered manager (Mrs Amanda Jayne Bugler) and a nominated individual (Mrs Keren Michelle Wilkinson) recorded with the regulator. The improvement from Requires Improvement to a fully Good rating across all five domains indicates that leadership has been effective in identifying and addressing previous shortfalls. The published summary does not describe manager visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home involves families in its quality assurance.","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 has moved from Requires Improvement to Good has demonstrated that its management team can identify problems and act on them, which is a more meaningful signal than a home that has always been rated Good without being tested. Our review data shows that 23.4% of positive family reviews specifically mention management, and the theme that comes through is visibility: families want to know the manager by name and feel they can approach them. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and what the previous inspection identified as areas for improvement.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that leadership stability and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns are the two variables most strongly associated with sustained quality in care homes. Homes that improve their rating under a consistent manager tend to maintain that improvement; homes that improve under a new manager show more variable trajectories.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what did the previous Requires Improvement inspection identify as the main concerns, and what specific changes were made? A confident, transparent answer is a good sign. Vagueness about the previous rating 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 residents with sensory impairments, physical disabilities, and mental health conditions. They support both adults under and over 65, offering specialist dementia care alongside their other services.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team brings experience in supporting those who may also have other conditions. They work with families to understand each person's specific needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.