Southbourne Beach Care Home – Avery Collection

What families say

Visitors often mention how staff greet them with genuine friendliness right from the front door. Residents appear relaxed and valued, joining in with the rhythm of daily life at their own pace. There's a sense that everyone belongs here, with staff taking time to really know each person.

Based on 53 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
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-02-15 · Report published 2023-02-15 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good at the April 2025 assessment. This is a notable change from the previous inspection cycle, when the home held a Requires Improvement rating. The published report text does not include specific detail about what inspectors observed regarding staffing levels, medicines management, falls logging, or infection control. A Good rating in Safe means inspectors were satisfied that the risks they assessed were being managed adequately at the time of the visit.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your mum or dad, a Good safety rating following a previous Requires Improvement is a positive sign that problems were taken seriously and corrected. However, Good does not mean perfect, and the published findings give no detail about night staffing numbers, agency cover, or how the home logs and learns from falls. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes, and 104 beds is a large home. You need to ask specifically how many permanent carers are on the dementia unit after 8pm, because that single question tells you more than the rating alone.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University review identifies agency staff reliance as one of the clearest predictors of inconsistent safety, because agency workers do not know residents' routines, triggers, or individual risk profiles. Ask how often agency staff cover the dementia unit.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts on the dementia unit were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and note how many carers were on after 8pm."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Effective as Good. The home lists dementia as a specialism and provides personal care and accommodation for adults over 65. The published report does not detail what inspectors found about care plan quality, dementia training content, GP access arrangements, or food provision. A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied with the overall effectiveness of care at the time of assessment.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For your parent with dementia, effectiveness means staff actually knowing them as a person, not just knowing their diagnosis. The family review data shows that dementia-specific care features in 12.7% of the most meaningful positive reviews, with families highlighting when staff understand how dementia changes behaviour and communicate accordingly. The inspection gives us the rating but not the detail. Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if needed) to judge whether it reads like a person or like a form.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated after any significant change in a resident's condition, and families who are included in care planning report significantly higher satisfaction. Ask how often your parent's plan would be formally reviewed and whether you would be invited.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how dementia training is delivered to staff, how often it is refreshed, and whether any staff on the dementia unit hold a formal dementia care qualification such as a Dementia Care Mapping certification or a City and Guilds dementia award."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Caring as Good. No specific inspector observations about staff interactions, use of preferred names, response to distress, or the pace of care are included in the published report text. A Good Caring rating means that inspectors, at the time of their visit, were satisfied that residents were treated with kindness and respect.","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 feature in 55.2%. These are not abstract values: they show up in observable moments such as whether a carer knocks before entering a room, uses your mum's preferred name, or sits with her when she is upset rather than moving on to the next task. The inspection confirms the rating but gives no specific examples. The only way to assess this reliably is to visit and watch, ideally more than once and at different times of day.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that for people living with advanced dementia, non-verbal communication, including tone of voice, eye contact, and unhurried physical presence, matters as much as spoken language. Observe whether staff make eye contact and slow down when speaking to residents.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens in a corridor interaction between a carer and a resident who is not actively asking for help. Does the carer stop, make eye contact, and use the resident's name? Or do they walk past? That moment tells you more than any brochure."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Responsive as Good. This domain covers whether the home tailors care to individuals, provides meaningful activities, supports independence, and plans for end of life. The published report text does not include specific detail about the activity programme, individual engagement for people with advanced dementia, or how the home responds to changing needs. A Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied overall.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement feature in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For a parent with dementia, this matters most in the detail: not whether there is a group singalong on Tuesday, but whether someone sits with your dad for ten minutes and does something he has always found meaningful, even if he can no longer join the group. The inspection gives us a Good rating but no insight into what the activities team actually does, especially for residents with higher support needs. This is one of the most important things to investigate directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review identifies Montessori-based and household-task approaches, such as folding laundry or watering plants, as effective for people with moderate to advanced dementia who cannot participate in structured group activities. These approaches preserve a sense of purpose and reduce distress.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator what they did last week with a resident who has advanced dementia and rarely leaves their room. If the answer is vague or defaults to group sessions only, that is a gap worth pressing on."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Well-led as Good. A registered manager, Mr Morgyn James Ross, is named in the report, with Mrs Natasha Southall as nominated individual. The home has moved from Requires Improvement to Good, which requires sustained leadership effort. The published report does not detail how visible the manager is, how staff feel about speaking up, or how governance is structured across a 104-bed home.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership feature in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and communication with families in 11.5%. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is the clearest signal of leadership quality available here: someone identified what was wrong, made a plan, and saw it through. Communication with families is a specific area where Good Practice evidence shows leadership sets the tone. Ask how the manager communicates with families when something changes with your parent, not just at formal reviews.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review finds that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory in care homes. Homes with a consistent registered manager over two or more years show better outcomes than those with frequent changes. Ask how long the current manager has been in post.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly: how long have you been in post here, what was the main thing that needed to change after the previous inspection, and how do you know the change has stuck? The quality of that answer tells you a great deal."}

  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 specialises in dementia care and supports adults over 65. Their location near Southbourne beach adds therapeutic value, with easy walks to the seafront.. Gaps or open questions remain on The team's dementia training shows in how they adapt to each resident's changing needs throughout the day. Staff understand the importance of meaningful activities for cognitive stimulation, weaving engagement naturally into daily routines. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.