St Catherine Care Home

What families say

Families describe a place where their loved ones seem genuinely content and engaged. Staff take time to chat with visiting relatives, keeping them updated on how things are going and making sure everyone feels part of the care journey.

Based on 5 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-05-05 · Report published 2018-05-05 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. No specific detail is available in the published summary about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls prevention, or infection control practices. The previous Requires Improvement rating may have included safety concerns, but the published findings do not specify what those were or how they were resolved. The home is registered for 19 beds, which is a small home; staffing levels at smaller homes can be adequate or stretched depending on the dependency level of residents.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring as a baseline, but it is the least informative piece of evidence available here because there is no supporting detail. Good Practice research consistently shows that safety problems in care homes are most likely to surface on night shifts and when agency staff are covering unfamiliar residents. With 19 beds and a dementia specialism, night-time staffing ratios matter enormously. The inspection findings do not tell you what those ratios are, so you need to ask directly. Our review data also shows that families who later raise concerns about safety often say in hindsight that they did not ask about agency use or night staffing during their initial visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that agency staff reliance is one of the most consistent predictors of care quality problems in dementia settings, because continuity of relationship is itself a safety mechanism for people who cannot reliably communicate distress.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not a template. Count the permanent staff names against agency names, and ask specifically how many staff are on duty overnight for the 19 residents currently in the home."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. No specific findings are published about care plan quality, GP access, dementia training, or food. The home is registered to provide personal care rather than nursing care, which means a GP or community nurse would be called for clinical needs rather than an on-site nurse being available. This is normal for a residential home but worth understanding before your parent moves in.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care home comes down to a few practical things: do staff know your parent as an individual, can they spot a change in health quickly, and is food something your parent actually enjoys rather than just tolerates. None of these are assessable from the published findings here. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents reviewed with families at least every three months, not paperwork completed at admission and filed away. Food quality appears in 20.9% of positive family reviews and is often a proxy for how well the home pays attention to individual preferences generally. Ask to have lunch there.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that effective dementia care requires regular structured review of care plans with family involvement, and that homes which treat care plans as administrative documents rather than dynamic tools tend to score lower on all wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the structure of a care plan and ask when it was last reviewed and whether the family of that resident was part of the review. If the manager cannot answer confidently or has to check, that tells you something important."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. No direct observations of staff interactions, no quotes from residents or relatives, and no specific examples of dignity or compassion in practice are included in the published summary. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but without detail it is not possible to assess what they observed.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract values; they show up in specific, observable moments: whether a staff member crouches to speak at eye level with your parent, whether they use the name your parent prefers, and whether they seem unhurried. None of that is visible in this inspection summary. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as verbal communication for people with advanced dementia, and that staff who know a person's history can interpret expressions and movements that would be missed by someone who does not know them. Ask the home how they learn about a new resident before and during the first two weeks.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that person-led caring, where staff know a resident's life history, preferences, and communication style, produces measurably better emotional wellbeing outcomes than care that is clinically competent but impersonal.","watch_out":"When you visit, spend time in a communal area and watch how staff move through the room. Do they make eye contact with residents, stop to sit with someone, or use a person's name unprompted? This is more informative than any answer to a direct question about care quality."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. No detail is available about the activities programme, individual engagement, end-of-life care planning, or how the home responds to changing needs. For a 19-bed home specialising in dementia, meaningful individual activity and stimulation is one of the most important quality indicators, but it is not addressed in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness more broadly in 27.1%. For people with dementia, group activities like singalongs or craft sessions are only part of the picture. The Good Practice evidence base is consistent that residents who cannot participate in group activities, because of mobility, anxiety, or advanced dementia, need planned one-to-one engagement to avoid prolonged periods of isolation. A 19-bed home may not have a dedicated activities coordinator; ask whether that role exists and how many hours per week it covers. Also ask how the home records whether a resident actually took part in activities or declined, because that data tells you whether engagement is planned or incidental.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett review found strong evidence that Montessori-based and household-task approaches, folding laundry, watering plants, simple cooking tasks, produce lower levels of agitation and higher levels of positive affect in people with dementia than structured group entertainment activities alone.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity log for the last two weeks, not the planned schedule but the record of what actually happened and who took part. Ask specifically what happened for residents who did not join group sessions on those days."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the January 2021 inspection. Two registered managers are named: Mrs Roo Afzahbi Auckburally and Mr Twariq Ahmad Auckburally. One of them, Mrs Auckburally, is also the nominated individual, meaning she carries legal responsibility for the registered provider. Having dual registered managers at a 19-bed home is worth asking about: understanding which manager is present on which days and who is responsible for day-to-day decisions will help you know who to contact if concerns arise.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality appears in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and Good Practice research consistently shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good is a positive signal about leadership, but it is now over three years since the full inspection. A lot can change in a small home in three years: staff turnover, occupancy levels, and manager availability all affect the day-to-day experience. Communication with families appears in 11.5% of positive reviews and is often where problems first surface. Ask how the managers communicate with families routinely, not just when something goes wrong.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that homes with stable, visible management where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear tend to maintain quality between inspections, while homes where leadership is distant or frequently changing are more likely to show deterioration that is not captured in published ratings.","watch_out":"Ask each manager directly how long they have been in post and what the biggest change they have made in the last 12 months has been. The answer will tell you whether leadership is active and reflective or whether the Good rating has been treated as a destination rather than a starting point."}

  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 St Catherine specialises in dementia care and supports adults over 65. The team has experience with various forms of dementia, including complex conditions, and understands how to adapt care as needs evolve.. Gaps or open questions remain on The staff here show real understanding of dementia's different stages and challenges. Families have found them particularly skilled at managing progressive neurological conditions, staying attentive and responsive even as care needs become more complex. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.