Southbourne Beach Care Home – Avery Collection

What families say

People describe a real sense of warmth that starts from the moment you walk through the door. The activities programme keeps residents busy and engaged throughout the week, with plenty of variety to suit different interests and abilities. There's a genuine friendliness here that visitors and families notice straight away.

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
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement62
• Food quality62
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness65

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-02-24 · Report published 2023-02-24 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and incidents. No concerns were recorded in the published findings. Specific staffing ratios, night cover arrangements, and details of how incidents are reviewed and learned from are not described in the available text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but for a 104-bed home caring for people with dementia it is worth digging into the detail yourself. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety tends to slip most during night shifts, and that homes relying heavily on agency staff struggle to maintain consistent, attentive care. The published report does not record night staffing numbers or agency usage, so these are the two most important questions to put directly to the manager. Ask also how many falls occurred in the last three months and what changes were made as a result, because learning from incidents is one of the clearest markers of a genuinely safe home.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios are one of the strongest predictors of safety outcomes in care homes, and that agency staff unfamiliarity with individual residents increases risk of harm, particularly for people with dementia who cannot easily communicate distress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not a template, and count the number of permanent staff versus agency staff on the night shifts. For 104 beds, you are looking for at least two carers and one senior on at night, and you want to see mostly familiar faces."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, access to healthcare professionals, and nutrition. Dementia is listed as a specialism, indicating the home holds itself out as equipped to meet the needs of people living with dementia. No specific detail about dementia training content, care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or food provision is described in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Food quality is mentioned by families in 20.9% of positive reviews in our dataset, and it is one of the most reliable signals of how well a home understands and responds to individual needs. A Good Effective rating suggests inspectors were satisfied, but without specific observations you cannot know whether your mum or dad would actually enjoy the food or whether their dietary preferences would be recorded and followed. The same applies to dementia training: a specialism registration and a Good rating tell you inspectors found training in place, but it is worth asking what the training covers and whether staff can describe how they would support a resident who becomes distressed or refuses care.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans function as living documents only when they are reviewed regularly with family input and updated to reflect changes in a person's condition, preferences, and communication. Homes where care plans are reviewed less than quarterly tend to drift from person-centred practice.","watch_out":"Ask to see a brief example of how a care plan is structured, with personal details anonymised, and ask when it was last reviewed and whether a family member was involved in that review. If the answer is that reviews happen annually or only when something goes wrong, probe further."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers how staff treat the people who live at the home, including warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. No direct inspector observations, resident quotes, or family testimony are reproduced in the published report. The Good rating indicates inspectors found no concerns in this area.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not things you can verify from a published rating alone: you need to observe them on a visit. Watch how staff talk to residents when they are not being watched or prompted. Do they use your parent's preferred name? Do they crouch down to make eye contact with someone in a chair? Do they knock before entering a room? These small behaviours are the most reliable signal of a genuinely caring culture.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal for people with advanced dementia. Staff who make eye contact, use a calm tone, and touch gently and appropriately can reduce distress and maintain a sense of safety even when verbal communication has become difficult.","watch_out":"Arrive a few minutes early for your visit and sit quietly in a communal area before your formal tour begins. Watch whether staff initiate conversation with residents who are sitting alone, and notice whether interactions feel unhurried or transactional."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the April 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individual needs and preferences, including activities, engagement, and end-of-life care. The home is registered as a specialism provider for dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment, which suggests it is expected to offer tailored rather than generic provision. No specific activity examples, engagement observations, or end-of-life planning detail are described in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement are cited in 21.4% of positive family reviews in our dataset, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For people with dementia in particular, meaningful occupation across the day is directly linked to reduced anxiety, better sleep, and lower rates of distressed behaviour. A Good Responsive rating is a positive baseline, but the critical question is what the home offers for residents who cannot participate in group activities. Our Good Practice evidence base consistently finds that one-to-one engagement, including everyday tasks like folding, sorting, or tending plants, is more beneficial for people with advanced dementia than group sessions alone.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found strong evidence that Montessori-based and task-based individual activities, including meaningful domestic tasks familiar from a person's earlier life, reduce agitation and improve wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia, particularly when group participation is no longer possible.","watch_out":"Ask the activity coordinator what happens on a day when the main group session is not suitable for your parent. Request to see the activity planner for the past two weeks and look for evidence of individual or one-to-one sessions, not just group entries."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the April 2025 inspection. A registered manager, Mr Morgyn James Ross, and a nominated individual, Mrs Natasha Southall, are both named and in post. The home is operated by Willowbrook Healthcare Limited. No information about management tenure, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home handles complaints is described in the published findings. This is the first inspection on record, so there is no trend data to compare against.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. Our Good Practice evidence base found that homes with consistent, long-serving managers tend to have more settled staff teams, lower agency reliance, and stronger cultures of accountability. With only one inspection on record, there is no trajectory to assess here. The Good rating gives a positive starting point, but you cannot yet tell whether quality is improving, holding steady, or at risk of drift. It is worth asking how long the registered manager has been in post and whether the staff team has been stable over the past year.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University evidence review found that management stability is a leading indicator of care quality, with frequent manager turnover associated with inconsistent care, poorer staff morale, and reduced family confidence in the home.","watch_out":"Ask the registered manager directly how long they have been in post at this home, and ask how many care staff have left in the past 12 months. A turnover rate above 30% in a year is a signal worth probing further, particularly in a home of this size."}

  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 specialist care for people with dementia, sensory impairments and physical disabilities. They welcome both younger adults under 65 and older residents, adapting their approach to suit different ages and needs.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the team brings professional training to their person-centred approach. Staff are observed responding thoughtfully to individual needs, maintaining dignity while keeping residents engaged in daily life. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.