The Grange
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds63
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia, Physical disabilities
- Last inspected2018-10-23
- Activities programmeThe home maintains spotless standards throughout, from individual rooms to communal areas, creating a pleasant, non-institutional environment. The activity programme brings genuine anticipation — boat trips, afternoon teas out, visiting entertainers, and theatrical productions that residents talk about for days afterwards. Even the laundry service gets specific praise from families who notice the care taken with personal belongings.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Families consistently describe how their loved ones have flourished here, with staff taking time to learn personal histories and interests. The atmosphere feels secure and respectful, with residents showing renewed confidence and happiness that families hadn't seen in years. There's a real sense that people are valued as individuals, not just care recipients.
Based on 7 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 2018-10-23 · Report published 2018-10-23 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2020 inspection. This rating indicates that inspectors were satisfied with arrangements for keeping residents safe, including medicines management, staffing levels, and risk processes. However, the published report does not include specific observations, staffing numbers, or detail about how incidents are recorded and learned from. The July 2023 monitoring review found no information suggesting the Safe rating should change. No specific concerns were raised.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Safe rating is reassuring, but it is worth knowing what inspectors could not check from a desk review in 2023. The original inspection is now over four years old, and staffing arrangements can change significantly in that time. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety is most at risk in care homes, yet no night-staffing numbers are recorded in the published findings for this home. Our family review data shows that families rate safe environments (11.8% of positive reviews) and staff attentiveness (14%) highly, and the best way to assess both is to ask directly about who is on duty overnight and how many are covering which unit. If the home has 63 beds across a nursing and dementia setting, the overnight ratio matters enormously for your parent's safety and comfort.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research from the IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance undermines the consistency of care that people with dementia rely on, and that learning from incidents is one of the strongest markers of a genuinely safe home. Neither is described in the published findings here, so both are worth raising directly.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency workers, particularly on nights, and ask what the minimum overnight staffing number is for the dementia unit specifically."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2020 inspection. This covers training, care planning, healthcare access, and nutritional management. Dementia is listed as a named specialism, which means inspectors expected and assessed dementia-specific competencies. The published report does not describe the content of dementia training, care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or observations about meals. No concerns are recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good Effective rating tells you the inspectors were satisfied with how the home translates knowledge into care for your parent. Food quality is one of our most telling indicators in family review data, featuring in 20.9% of weighted family satisfaction scores, because meals are the most visible daily marker of whether staff understand your parent as an individual rather than as a task. Dementia-specific training matters too: the Good Practice evidence base shows that carers who understand how dementia affects communication and behaviour are significantly more likely to respond to distress calmly and appropriately. Because the published report gives no detail on either, these are the two areas to probe most carefully before you decide.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans function best as living documents, updated regularly with family input, rather than as administrative records completed at admission and rarely revisited. How often this home reviews care plans with families is not recorded in the published findings.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are formally reviewed, who attends those reviews, and whether families are invited. Then ask specifically what dementia training carers receive and when it was last updated, because generic manual-handling training is not the same as training in non-verbal communication and behaviour that communicates need."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2020 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, compassion, dignity, respect for privacy, and support for independence. A Good rating here indicates inspectors were satisfied with what they observed. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative testimonies are recorded in the published report text available for this home. No concerns are noted.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews by name. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. What families describe most often in positive reviews is not grand gestures but small, consistent behaviours: a carer who uses your mum's preferred name, who sits at eye level rather than standing over her, who moves without rushing. A Good Caring rating suggests inspectors saw enough of this to be satisfied, but without recorded observations or quotes from this particular inspection, you cannot know how it looks day to day in this home. The most reliable way to assess it is to visit without announcing a specific arrival time within the window they offer you, and watch the corridor interactions between staff and the people who live there.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base identifies non-verbal communication as equally important to verbal communication for people living with advanced dementia. Carers who maintain eye contact, use gentle touch, and speak at a calm pace produce measurably lower levels of agitation in residents, regardless of whether verbal comprehension is intact.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch what happens when a member of staff passes a resident in the corridor or common room. Do they stop, make eye contact, and use the person's name? Or do they walk past without acknowledgement? This takes two minutes to observe and tells you more than any brochure."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2020 inspection. This domain covers whether care is tailored to the individual, including activities, engagement, and end-of-life planning. Dementia is listed as a specialism, which raises the expectation that the home offers more than a standard group activity programme. The published report does not describe specific activities, individual engagement approaches, or end-of-life care arrangements. No concerns are recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of the weighted family satisfaction score in our review data, and resident happiness (27.1%) is closely tied to whether your parent has something meaningful to do each day. For someone living with dementia, this matters more than it might seem: Good Practice research shows that familiar, everyday activities such as folding laundry, watering plants, or handling objects from their past provide continuity and reduce agitation far more effectively than organised group entertainment. The published report gives no detail on what the activity programme at this home actually looks like, or whether staff offer one-to-one engagement for residents who cannot join groups. This is one of the most important things to ask about directly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence base found that Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches to activity, rather than scheduled group entertainment, produce the strongest outcomes for people with moderate to advanced dementia. Homes that train staff to embed meaningful moments into routine care, rather than relying solely on a designated activities coordinator, show better resident wellbeing across all dementia stages.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity programme for the past two weeks, not the planned schedule. Then ask what happens for a resident who cannot leave their room or who becomes distressed in group settings: is there a specific plan for one-to-one engagement, and who carries it out on a Sunday afternoon when activities staff may not be working?"}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the November 2020 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Carolyn Ryves, and a named nominated individual, Mrs Angela Northover, are recorded on the inspection register, indicating clear accountability at the top of the home. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to reassess the rating. The published report does not describe the management culture, staff feedback mechanisms, or how the home handles complaints and compliments. No concerns are recorded.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to the Good Practice evidence base. A home where the registered manager has been in post for several years, is known by name to staff and residents, and is visible on the floor rather than office-bound tends to perform consistently better than one that has seen frequent leadership changes. The fact that this home has named, registered leadership is a positive indicator, but the inspection report gives no detail about how long Mrs Ryves has been in post, what the staff culture is like, or how the home responds when families raise concerns. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of family satisfaction scores in our review data, and no detail about this is recorded. Management quality is worth probing carefully given how little the published report reveals.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability and a culture in which staff feel safe to raise concerns without fear of reprisal are the two strongest organisational predictors of sustained care quality. Homes where frontline staff can speak up tend to catch problems earlier and learn from them more consistently.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long she has been in post at this home specifically, and ask whether the same deputy or senior carers have been in place for at least a year. Then ask how families can raise a concern, and what happened the last time a family complaint was received: a confident and specific answer suggests a culture that takes accountability seriously."}
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 dementia care alongside support for physical disabilities and general nursing for over-65s. Their approach balances clinical expertise with maintaining dignity and independence where possible.. Gaps or open questions remain on The team's understanding of dementia shows in how they connect with residents through their personal histories and interests. Families report seeing their loved ones engage meaningfully in activities and social life, maintaining their sense of self despite cognitive challenges. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
The Grange Nursing Home holds a Good rating across all five domains, but the published inspection report contains very limited specific detail, so the family score reflects the rating itself rather than rich observed evidence. Families should treat this score as a starting point and seek more information directly from the home.
Homes in South East typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
Families consistently describe how their loved ones have flourished here, with staff taking time to learn personal histories and interests. The atmosphere feels secure and respectful, with residents showing renewed confidence and happiness that families hadn't seen in years. There's a real sense that people are valued as individuals, not just care recipients.
What inspectors have recorded
Staff across every department — nursing, care, housekeeping, catering — demonstrate the same professional warmth that defines the home's culture. Communication with families flows naturally, with regular updates and clear explanations when care needs change. The clinical team combines medical competence with unhurried attention, giving families confidence that nothing gets overlooked.
How it sits against good practice
What stands out at The Grange is how medical excellence and human connection work together — creating a place where health improves and spirits lift.
Worth a visit
The Grange Nursing Home on Upper Northam Road in Southampton was rated Good across all five inspection domains at its last full inspection in November 2020. The home specialises in nursing care for older adults, including people living with dementia and those with physical disabilities, across 63 beds. A Good rating in every domain is a positive indicator, and a July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence to change that rating. A named registered manager and nominated individual are on record, suggesting stable leadership. The main uncertainty here is that the published inspection report contains very little specific detail about what inspectors actually observed inside the home. There are no recorded quotes from your parent's potential neighbours, no descriptions of staff interactions, and no observations about meals, activities, or the environment. This means the Good rating tells you the inspectors were satisfied, but it does not tell you what daily life feels like. Before visiting, call the home and ask to speak with the registered manager, Mrs Carolyn Ryves, about night staffing ratios, how often care plans are reviewed with families, and what activities are available for someone who cannot join group sessions. Then, on your visit, watch how staff move and speak with the people who live there; an unhurried tone and the use of your parent's preferred name are the clearest signs of genuine person-centred care.
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In Their Own Words
How The Grange describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where clinical excellence meets genuine warmth and respect
The Grange Nursing Home – Your Trusted nursing home
When families describe The Grange Nursing Home in Southampton, they talk about transformation — residents who arrive withdrawn becoming confident participants in daily life, health conditions stabilising beyond medical expectations. This isn't just skilled nursing care; it's an approach that sees each resident as a complete person with a history worth knowing and a future worth building.
Who they care for
The home provides specialist dementia care alongside support for physical disabilities and general nursing for over-65s. Their approach balances clinical expertise with maintaining dignity and independence where possible.
The team's understanding of dementia shows in how they connect with residents through their personal histories and interests. Families report seeing their loved ones engage meaningfully in activities and social life, maintaining their sense of self despite cognitive challenges.
Management & ethos
Staff across every department — nursing, care, housekeeping, catering — demonstrate the same professional warmth that defines the home's culture. Communication with families flows naturally, with regular updates and clear explanations when care needs change. The clinical team combines medical competence with unhurried attention, giving families confidence that nothing gets overlooked.
The home & environment
The home maintains spotless standards throughout, from individual rooms to communal areas, creating a pleasant, non-institutional environment. The activity programme brings genuine anticipation — boat trips, afternoon teas out, visiting entertainers, and theatrical productions that residents talk about for days afterwards. Even the laundry service gets specific praise from families who notice the care taken with personal belongings.
“What stands out at The Grange is how medical excellence and human connection work together — creating a place where health improves and spirits lift.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
