St Teresa's Care Home

What families say

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-02-07 · Report published 2020-02-07 · Inspected 5 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Safe as Good at the assessment on 1 May 2025. This covers medicines management, staffing levels, infection control, and safeguarding arrangements. The published summary does not include specific observations, testimony, or data to illustrate how safety is maintained in practice. The home previously held a Requires Improvement rating, and the improvement to Good suggests earlier safety concerns were addressed. No specific detail about what those concerns were or how they were resolved is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Safe tells you that inspectors were satisfied with the arrangements they examined, but it does not tell you what night staffing looks like, how often agency staff cover shifts, or how falls are recorded and acted upon. Good Practice research from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review (61 studies, March 2026) consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most commonly slips in smaller homes like this one. With 26 residents and a dementia specialism, you need specific answers about how many staff are on duty overnight. The previous Requires Improvement rating also means it is worth asking the manager directly which areas were rated as needing improvement and what evidence they have that those improvements are now embedded.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies agency staff reliance as one of the clearest predictors of safety incidents in dementia care. Permanent staff who know your parent's routines and behaviours respond more quickly and accurately to changes. Ask specifically about agency usage before deciding.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for last week, not the template. Count how many permanent staff names appear on night shifts versus agency names, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for 26 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Effective as Good at the assessment on 1 May 2025. This domain covers training, care plan quality, healthcare access, and nutrition. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a requirement for appropriate staff training and environmental adaptation. No specific findings, observations, or records are described in the available published text. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they examined but the detail behind that judgement is not available here.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home with a dementia specialism, the Effective domain is particularly important because it covers whether staff actually know how to support your parent as dementia progresses. Our family review data identifies dementia-specific care as a theme in 12.7% of positive reviews, meaning families notice and value it when it is present. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents reviewed with family input, not static files. The inspection does not tell us how often plans are reviewed here or whether families are included. Food quality, which features in 20.9% of positive reviews in our data, is also not described in the published findings. These are gaps you will need to fill through direct questions.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that regular, structured GP access and clear escalation protocols for health changes were among the most important markers of effective care for people with dementia. Ask how the home contacts healthcare professionals and how quickly concerns are acted on.","watch_out":"Ask the manager when your parent's care plan would first be written, who contributes to it, and how often it is reviewed. Then ask to see an example of how the home has changed a care plan in response to a resident's changing needs."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Caring as Good at the assessment on 1 May 2025. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and how well staff know the individuals they support. No direct observations, quotes from residents or relatives, or specific examples appear in the available published text. A Good rating here indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they saw and heard during the inspection. The home's ethos, run by a religious order with a healthcare mission, may contribute to the culture, but this cannot be confirmed from the inspection text alone.","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 compassionate treatment appears in 55.2%. These are the things families notice most and remember longest. The inspection confirms a Good standard was found, but the published text does not give you the specific detail you need to picture what care looks like day to day. On a visit, watch whether staff use your parent's preferred name, whether they make eye contact and speak directly to residents rather than around them, and whether interactions feel unhurried. These are the observable signals that match what families describe in positive reviews.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base emphasises that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal communication for people with dementia. Staff who crouch to eye level, use calm touch, and respond to emotional cues rather than just words are demonstrating a higher standard of person-centred care than staff who tick tasks off a list.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff passes a resident in a corridor or communal area. Do they stop, make eye contact, and say something personal? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? That small moment tells you a great deal about the everyday culture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Responsive as Good at the assessment on 1 May 2025. This domain covers activities, how well the home responds to individual preferences, complaints handling, and end-of-life care. The home has a dementia specialism and a relatively small size of 26 beds, which can support more individualised responses. No specific activity programmes, examples of individual engagement, or complaints outcomes are described in the available published text. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with responsiveness at the time of the assessment.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement feature in 21.4% of positive reviews in our data, and resident happiness appears in 27.1%. Small homes can be excellent at individual responsiveness because staff have fewer people to know, but this only works if the home actively invests in meaningful activities rather than relying on group sessions alone. Good Practice research is clear that for people with advanced dementia, one-to-one engagement and familiar household tasks often matter more than organised group activities. The inspection does not tell us what the activity programme looks like here or whether people who cannot join groups receive individual attention. This is an important gap to close before you decide.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that Montessori-based approaches and everyday household task involvement, such as folding, gardening, and simple cooking, produced measurable improvements in wellbeing for people with dementia, even in later stages. Ask whether the home uses any of these approaches.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator, or the manager if there is no dedicated coordinator, what happened last Tuesday afternoon for a resident who cannot join group activities. A specific answer about a specific person tells you more than a general description of the programme."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Not yet rated

  {"found":"The inspection rated Well-led as Good at the assessment on 1 May 2025. Sister Maria Lourdes Sanz is named as registered manager, and the nominated individual is also identified. The home is run by Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus CIO, a registered charity with a longstanding healthcare mission. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains suggests that leadership has driven meaningful change. No specific detail about governance arrangements, staff culture, or management visibility is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management leadership accounts for 23.4% of the weighting in our family review data, and communication with families appears in 11.5% of positive reviews. A named, present manager is one of the clearest predictors of quality trajectory according to the Good Practice evidence base. The improvement from Requires Improvement makes it especially important to understand what changed and whether those changes are embedded in day-to-day practice rather than in place only for the inspection. Ask about manager tenure, how long the current team has been stable, and what the home does when a member of staff raises a concern.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. A manager who has been in post long enough to know every resident by name, and who is visible on the floor rather than office-bound, creates the conditions where good care becomes consistent rather than occasional.","watch_out":"Ask Sister Maria Lourdes Sanz directly: how long have you been registered manager here, what were the main concerns at the previous inspection, and what specific changes did you make? Then ask a care worker the same question in different words. If the answers align, that is a good sign that the improvement is genuinely understood across the team."}

  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 support for people living with dementia, sensory impairments, and substance misuse problems. This range of expertise means they're equipped to handle complex care needs with understanding and professionalism.. Gaps or open questions remain on Families describe finding exactly what matters in dementia care here — safety, stability, and contentment for their loved ones. Staff understand that good dementia care goes beyond the basics, creating an environment where residents feel secure and valued despite the challenges they face. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.