The Knoll

What families say

Families have noticed how staff maintain their friendly approach throughout the day, staying patient even when residents need extra support. The general feeling is one of steady, reliable care.

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
• Cleanliness70
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality60
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership74
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-01-10 · Report published 2020-01-10 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Knoll was rated Good in Safe at the December 2020 inspection, having previously been rated Requires Improvement in this domain. This improvement suggests that concerns identified in the earlier inspection were resolved to the inspectors' satisfaction. The home specialises in dementia care, which makes safety particularly important, especially at night. No specific detail about what changed, what staffing levels are, or how incidents and falls are managed is available in the published inspection text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A previous Requires Improvement rating in Safe is the single most important piece of context here. The fact that the home moved to Good is positive, but you deserve to know exactly what was wrong and what was fixed. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes, and agency reliance as a key risk to continuity of care. Neither of these is covered in the published findings for The Knoll. Ask specifically about night ratios and whether the team on nights is predominantly permanent staff.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that safety incidents in care homes cluster around night shifts and periods of high agency staff use, when permanent staff who know individual residents are absent.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the staffing rota for the past two weeks, including nights and weekends. Count how many names are permanent staff versus agency, and ask what the minimum number of staff on duty overnight is for 34 residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Knoll was rated Good in Effective at the December 2020 inspection. This domain covers whether staff have the right training, whether care plans reflect what each person needs, whether healthcare professionals such as GPs are involved appropriately, and whether food meets residents' needs. No specific examples, observations, or descriptions are available in the published inspection text to show how these standards were met in practice.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a home specialising in dementia care, what sits behind the Effective rating really matters. Good Practice research shows that dementia-specific training, particularly around non-verbal communication and understanding behaviour as communication, makes a significant difference to daily wellbeing. Care plans should be reviewed regularly and families should be part of that process. Food quality appears in 20.9% of the positive reviews in our family data, often linked to whether staff understand individual preferences and dietary needs. None of this detail is visible in the published findings, so you will need to ask about it directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that care plans which are treated as living documents, reviewed with family input and updated as needs change, are a reliable marker of genuinely person-led care in dementia settings.","watch_out":"Ask to see a sample care plan (anonymised if necessary) and ask how often plans are reviewed. Then ask whether families are invited to review meetings or receive written updates when plans change."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Knoll was rated Good in Caring at the December 2020 inspection. This domain covers how staff interact with residents, whether people are treated with dignity and respect, and whether independence is supported rather than replaced. No inspector observations, resident quotes, or relative feedback are included in the published text to illustrate how these standards were demonstrated in practice.","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 compassion and dignity appear in 55.2%. These are not abstract values: they show up in observable moments such as whether a carer knocks before entering a room, uses your parent's preferred name, or sits down to talk rather than talking while moving. A Good rating in Caring means inspectors were satisfied, but without specific observations in the published text you cannot know what they saw. This is something you can observe yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review (2026) found that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with advanced dementia, and that staff who know individual histories (preferred names, life stories, daily routines) produce measurably better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Arrive a few minutes before a scheduled mealtime and watch how staff help residents to the dining room. Notice whether staff walk ahead or alongside, whether they use names, and whether anyone appears to be hurried or left waiting without acknowledgement."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Knoll was rated Good in Responsive at the December 2020 inspection. This domain covers whether activities are meaningful and tailored to individuals, whether the home responds to complaints and feedback, and whether end-of-life care is planned and personalised. The home specialises in dementia care, making individual engagement particularly important for people who may not be able to seek out activities themselves. No specific activities, examples of tailored engagement, or complaint-handling processes are described in the published inspection text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities appear in 21.4% of our positive family reviews, and resident happiness in 27.1%. For people with dementia, group activities are not always accessible or meaningful, particularly as the condition progresses. Good Practice research highlights individual, one-to-one engagement as the gold standard, including everyday tasks such as folding, gardening, or reminiscence conversations. A Good rating in Responsive is encouraging, but without detail in the published text you cannot know whether activities are genuinely tailored or predominantly group-based. This is worth asking about and observing directly.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review (2026) found that Montessori-based and everyday-task approaches to activity, where residents do purposeful things rather than watch or observe, produced significantly higher engagement scores for people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what happened yesterday for a resident who tends to stay in their room. If the answer focuses only on group sessions, ask how staff engage that person one-to-one and how often."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Knoll was rated Good in Well-led at the December 2020 inspection. The home is operated by Alder Meadow Limited and has a named registered manager (Mr Reece Welsted) and a named nominated individual (Mr Huw James). The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good across all domains indicates that leadership responded effectively to previous concerns. No further detail about management culture, staff empowerment, governance processes, or how the home handles feedback is available in the published text.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time. Good Practice research shows that homes where the registered manager has been in post for more than two years and is known to both staff and residents by name tend to maintain their ratings and improve further. The presence of both a registered manager and a nominated individual is a positive structural sign. What you cannot know from the published findings is how long Mr Welsted has been in post, how visible he is day-to-day, or how staff feel about raising concerns. Communication with families appears in 11.5% of our positive reviews, and this is worth exploring directly.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review (2026) found that leadership stability, specifically manager tenure of two or more years, was one of the most reliable predictors of sustained care quality improvement in residential dementia settings.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post at The Knoll, what the main concern was at the previous inspection, and what specifically changed. A manager who can answer this clearly and without hesitation is a good sign."}

  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 Knoll provides residential care for adults over 65, with particular experience in dementia care. They also support younger adults who need residential care.. Gaps or open questions remain on Staff at The Knoll have experience supporting residents with dementia, maintaining their patient, friendly approach even during more challenging moments of care. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.