Temple Ewell Nursing Home

What families say

Families describe walking into a place where staff are genuinely happy to be there — you can see it in how they interact with residents. The team makes sure families feel part of the care journey from day one, keeping everyone involved without being overwhelming.

Based on 6 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
• Healthcare70
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-12-08 · Report published 2018-12-08 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The inspection rated this domain Good, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement finding. The published report does not include specific observations about staffing ratios, night cover, medicines management, or falls recording. No concerns were identified during the inspection or in the subsequent July 2023 data review. The home is registered to care for people with dementia and mental health conditions, which means safety systems for these groups should be a priority to explore.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"An improvement from Requires Improvement to Good in the Safe domain is genuinely significant. It tells you the home identified problems and fixed them, rather than allowing concerns to persist. However, our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in nursing homes, and the inspection text gives no detail on how many staff are on duty after 8pm. Families in our review data consistently mention staff attentiveness as a key safety signal. Because the report lacks specific observations here, this is an area to probe directly when you visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that agency staff reliance and thin night staffing are the two most consistent predictors of safety incidents in care homes. Understanding permanent versus agency staffing, especially on nights, is one of the most important questions a family can ask.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota from the past two weeks, not a template. Specifically ask how many permanent staff, not agency cover, are on the dementia unit after 8pm on a typical weeknight."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good. The published inspection text does not include specific detail about care plan quality, GP access frequency, dementia training programmes, or nutritional assessment processes. The home cares for people with dementia and mental health conditions alongside older adults, which requires a trained and differentiated approach. No concerns were flagged in either the 2018 inspection or the 2023 data review.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Effective tells you that inspectors were satisfied that the home's training, care planning, and healthcare arrangements met the required standard. What it does not tell you is whether your mum or dad's care plan would reflect their specific history, preferences, and communication needs, or how often it would be reviewed. Good Practice research is clear that care plans need to function as living documents, updated as the person's condition changes, and that dementia-specific training should go beyond basic awareness to cover non-verbal communication and behaviour as communication. Food quality is rated by 20.9% of families as a direct measure of genuine care, and the inspection gives no detail on this either.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that care plans updated regularly with family input, rather than completed at admission and left unchanged, were strongly associated with better outcomes for people with dementia. Ask how often plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan structure (with personal details removed) and ask specifically: when was the last review, who attended it, and how do staff capture changes in your parent's preferences or health over time?"}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good. This is the domain families in our review data weight most heavily, with staff warmth cited in 57.3% of positive reviews and compassion in 55.2%. The published inspection text does not include direct observations of staff interactions, descriptions of how staff addressed residents, or testimony from residents or relatives about the quality of kindness and respect they experienced. No concerns were raised.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single most powerful driver of family confidence in our review data, and a Good rating in Caring is encouraging. However, because the published findings contain no specific observations, such as whether staff knocked before entering rooms, used preferred names, or moved at an unhurried pace, you cannot rely on the rating alone to tell you what daily life feels like here. Good Practice research shows that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal for people with dementia, and that person-centred care requires staff to know the individual, not just their diagnosis. A visit at a quiet time of day, mid-morning or after lunch, will tell you more than the inspection text can.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that staff who knew residents as individuals, including their life history, preferred name, and what comforted them when distressed, produced measurably better outcomes for people with dementia than settings where care was competent but impersonal.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff greet your parent's potential neighbours in corridors or communal areas. Do they use names, make eye contact, and slow down? Or do they move through without acknowledgement? This is the most reliable signal of daily warmth that no report can replicate."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good. The published inspection text contains no detail about the activities programme, whether one-to-one engagement is offered for people who cannot join groups, how the home supports individual preferences, or what end-of-life planning looks like. The home is registered to support people with dementia and mental health conditions, where responsive and tailored activity is particularly important for quality of life.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for Responsive is the baseline you would expect, but activities and individual engagement matter enormously for people living with dementia. Our review data shows resident happiness is referenced in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities are cited in 21.4%. Good Practice evidence is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient: people with advanced dementia often need one-to-one engagement, everyday household tasks, or sensory activities tailored to their history. The inspection gives no evidence that this level of individualisation is happening here, so it is worth asking directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches, including familiar household tasks and sensory engagement, significantly reduced distress and improved wellbeing for people with dementia compared to group-only or passive activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for someone with moderate dementia who finds group settings overwhelming. If the answer is a generic timetable rather than a description of individual engagement, ask how one-to-one time is planned and recorded."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good, and the home moved from Requires Improvement to Good overall, which suggests that leadership drove meaningful improvements between inspections. The registered manager is named in the provider information as Mr Matthew Gareth Fletcher. The published inspection text does not include detail about how long the manager has been in post, whether staff feel able to raise concerns, or how the home handles complaints and learns from incidents. No concerns were identified in the 2023 data review.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes, according to Good Practice research. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good suggests someone was in charge and making decisions that worked. However, the 2018 inspection is now over six years old, and a July 2023 data review, rather than a full re-inspection, is a limited form of assurance. Management and communication with families are cited in 23.4% and 11.5% of positive reviews respectively in our data. It is worth checking whether the same manager is still in post and how families are kept informed about changes in their parent's condition.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that manager tenure and visibility were consistently associated with staff morale, low agency use, and quality trajectory. Homes where the manager was well known to residents and staff by name showed better outcomes across all care domains.","watch_out":"Ask directly: is the registered manager who led the improvement in 2018 still in post? If there has been a change in manager since then, ask how long the current manager has been in the role and what their background in dementia care is."}

  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 nursing care for adults under and over 65, with particular expertise in dementia and mental health conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on Their dementia care focuses on helping residents feel secure and content in their surroundings. The staff understand how to support someone through the different stages of dementia while maintaining their sense of self. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.