The Croft Care Home

What families say

Visitors often comment on how clean and bright the home feels when they walk through the door. The atmosphere strikes that balance between professional care and genuine warmth, with staff who seem to understand that small kindnesses matter as much as clinical expertise.

Based on 7 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth70
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness65
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality55
• Healthcare60
• Management & leadership72
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2018-06-26 · Report published 2018-06-26 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"Safety was the only domain rated Requires Improvement at the April 2018 inspection. The overall rating improved from Requires Improvement to Good, but the safe domain did not reach that threshold. The published inspection text does not specify which safety concerns were identified, whether they related to staffing levels, medicines management, falls, or another area. No specific inspector observations or quotes are available for this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement in Safety is the finding families most need to investigate further. Our family review data shows that staff attentiveness (mentioned in around 14% of positive reviews) is closely linked to how safe people feel their parent is day to day. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety risks often concentrate at night, when staffing is thinner and oversight less visible. Because the full detail of the safety concerns is not in the published summary, you cannot know from this report alone whether the issues affected night shifts, medicines, falls prevention, or something else. This means the most important thing you can do before choosing this home is to ask the manager to walk you through exactly what was found and what changed.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing levels are consistently where safety risks in care homes emerge, and that learning from incidents through structured review is one of the clearest markers separating improving homes from those that stay static.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the last three months of incident and accident logs, including falls and near-misses. Then ask what changed in the home after the 2018 safety rating and whether night staffing levels have been formally reviewed since."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the April 2018 inspection. This domain covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutritional care. Dementia is listed as a specialism, meaning inspectors would have looked for dementia-specific knowledge and practice. The published summary does not include specific examples of care plan content, training records reviewed, or observations of mealtimes and nutrition.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effectiveness tells you inspectors were broadly satisfied that staff know what they are doing and that care plans are in place, but it does not tell you how detailed or personalised those plans are. Our family review data shows that food quality is mentioned in around 20.9% of positive reviews, making it one of the clearer everyday signals of how well a home understands each person. For a parent with dementia, what matters is whether staff know their history, their preferences, and how their needs change over time, not just whether a plan exists on paper. Ask to see a sample care plan and ask how often it is updated.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans function best as living documents updated after every meaningful change in a person's health or behaviour, and that homes where staff can describe a resident's personal history without checking a file tend to show stronger person-centred outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how recently care plans were last reviewed for current residents, and whether family members are invited to contribute to reviews. Then ask what dementia training staff have completed in the past 12 months and whether it covered communication with people who have limited verbal ability."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the April 2018 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied with the quality of interactions they observed between staff and the people living at the home. The published text does not include specific observations of staff interactions, quotes from residents, or examples of how dignity was maintained in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned by name in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. A Good rating in Caring is encouraging, but the absence of specific detail in the published summary means you cannot yet picture what a typical morning looks like for your parent. The Good Practice research is clear that for people with dementia, non-verbal communication, such as tone of voice, pace, and touch, matters as much as words. What you need to observe on a visit is whether staff are unhurried, whether they use your parent's preferred name, and whether they make eye contact and speak directly to the person rather than about them.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that person-led care in dementia settings depends on staff knowing each individual's history, preferences, and communication style, and that homes where this knowledge is embedded in daily practice rather than only in written records produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"On your visit, watch a staff member approach a resident who has not initiated contact. Do they crouch to eye level, use the person's preferred name, and wait for a response before moving on? This single interaction tells you more about the culture of care than any policy document."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the April 2018 inspection. This domain covers how well the home tailors its care and activities to each individual, including people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairment. The home's range of specialisms suggests inspectors looked at whether care was adjusted for different needs. The published text does not describe specific activities, engagement programmes, or examples of individual care being adapted.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement appear in 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness, which includes feeling settled and having purpose in the day, appears in 27.1%. For a parent with dementia, group activities are often not enough on their own, particularly as dementia progresses and group settings become harder to navigate. The Good Practice evidence base supports Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks as meaningful engagement for people at all stages of dementia. A Good rating here is positive, but without seeing the actual activity schedule or hearing from current residents, it is worth asking specifically about one-to-one time.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that tailored one-to-one activities, rather than group-only programmes, are consistently associated with reduced distress and better quality of life in people with moderate to advanced dementia, and that homes relying solely on group sessions often leave the most vulnerable residents without meaningful engagement for large parts of the day.","watch_out":"Ask to see last week's actual activity schedule, not a template. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot take part in group activities, and how much dedicated one-to-one time each person receives in a typical week."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the April 2018 inspection. Kathryn Anne Hudson is listed as both registered manager and nominated individual, which means she carries direct legal responsibility for the home's performance. This leadership continuity is a positive signal. The published summary does not include specific examples of how the manager is visible to staff and residents, how the home handles complaints, or how it involves families in shaping its culture.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality appears in 23.4% of positive family reviews, and what families most often describe is a manager who knows residents by name, responds quickly to concerns, and makes staff feel supported enough to speak up. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality trajectory over time. Having the same registered manager also means there is one clear person to contact if something concerns you. A Good rating here is encouraging, particularly given the improvement from the previous overall rating, but the inspection is now several years old and it is worth confirming that the same manager is still in post.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett evidence review found that leadership stability, specifically the tenure of the registered manager, is one of the most reliable predictors of sustained quality improvement in care homes, and that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear consistently outperform those where a top-down culture discourages feedback.","watch_out":"Confirm that Kathryn Anne Hudson is still the registered manager and ask how long she has been in post. Then ask one or two care staff, separately from any manager-led tour, whether they feel able to raise a concern about a resident's care without it affecting their position."}

  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 care for adults both under and over 65, including those with physical disabilities and sensory impairments.. Gaps or open questions remain on While dementia care is offered here, specific approaches and activities for residents with dementia would be best discussed during a visit to understand how they'd support your loved one's individual needs. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.