The Parklands Care Home

What families say

Families describe staff who are consistently warm and approachable, creating an environment where both residents and visitors feel at ease. The organised activities programme helps keep residents entertained and engaged throughout the day.

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

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement60
• Food quality55
• Healthcare65
• Management & leadership45
• Resident happiness68

What inspectors found

Inspected 2023-05-19 · Report published 2023-05-19 · Inspected 8 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for Safe at the April 2023 inspection. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to accidents and incidents. The published summary does not include specific detail on night staffing numbers, agency staff usage, or how falls are recorded and reviewed. The previous rating in this domain was Requires Improvement, so the improvement to Good represents a meaningful step forward.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating tells you that inspectors did not find the kinds of serious gaps that would put your parent at immediate risk. However, our Good Practice evidence base, drawn from 61 studies, consistently shows that night staffing is where safety most often slips in care homes. For a 40-bed home specialising in dementia, the overnight staffing ratio matters enormously, because people with dementia are more likely to become distressed, disorientated, or at risk of falls during the night. The published findings do not give you that number, so you will need to ask for it directly. The move from Requires Improvement to Good is encouraging, but a Good rating in Safe is a floor, not a ceiling.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that agency staff reliance is one of the clearest predictors of inconsistent safety outcomes in dementia care, because unfamiliar faces increase distress and reduce the chance of early recognition of health changes.","watch_out":"Ask the home to show you last week's actual night rota, not a staffing template, and ask how many of those shifts were covered by permanent staff versus agency. For 40 beds with a dementia specialism, you would expect at least two carers and one senior on at night."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for Effective at the April 2023 inspection. This domain covers how well care plans are written and used, whether staff have the training they need, and how the home manages health needs including GP access and medicines. The published summary does not include specific detail on dementia training content, care plan review frequency, or how the home involves families in care planning. The previous rating in this domain was Requires Improvement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in Effective means inspectors were satisfied that the systems for planning and delivering care meet the required standard. For families of people with dementia, the question that matters most here is whether the care plan for your parent actually reflects who they are as a person, not just their medical needs. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that care plans function as living documents in the best homes, updated after every significant change and reviewed with families at least every three months. The published findings do not confirm whether that happens here, so it is worth asking directly. The improvement from Requires Improvement is a positive sign that earlier gaps in this area have been addressed.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that regular, family-inclusive care plan reviews are one of the strongest markers of genuinely person-centred dementia care, and that homes which involve families in reviews also tend to identify health changes earlier.","watch_out":"Ask to see a blank template of the care plan the home uses and ask when your parent's plan would first be reviewed after admission. Then ask whether you would be invited to that review or simply informed of the outcome."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for Caring at the April 2023 inspection. This is the domain that most directly reflects how staff treat the people who live here, covering warmth, dignity, respect, and whether your parent's independence is supported. The published summary does not include direct inspector observations, resident quotes, or specific examples of how staff demonstrate kindness. The previous rating in this domain was Requires Improvement, so this improvement is one of the more significant changes at this inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews across more than 5,400 UK care homes. Compassion and dignity come second at 55.2%. A Good rating in Caring is therefore the most reassuring signal this inspection provides. What we cannot tell you from the published findings is whether the warmth inspectors saw was consistent across all shifts and all staff, or whether it varied. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that non-verbal communication, the pace at which a carer moves, whether they make eye contact, whether they knock before entering, matters as much as what staff say aloud. Observe this for yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that person-led care in dementia settings requires staff to know each individual well enough to interpret non-verbal cues, and that homes where staff use preferred names and move at an unhurried pace consistently score higher on wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how staff interact with residents in corridors and communal areas when no task is happening. Do they stop to speak? Do they use the resident's preferred name? Unhurried, name-led interactions in unscripted moments are the clearest signal that warmth is genuine rather than performed for inspection purposes."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for Responsive at the April 2023 inspection. This domain covers whether the home offers meaningful activities, responds to individual preferences, and has appropriate plans in place for end-of-life care. The published summary does not include detail on the activity programme, how activities are tailored for people with advanced dementia, or how the home handles complaints. The previous rating in this domain was Requires Improvement.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of what drives positive reviews in our family data, and resident happiness accounts for 27.1%. A Good rating in Responsive is encouraging, but the detail that matters most for families of people with dementia is whether the home offers genuine one-to-one engagement, not just group sessions. Our Good Practice evidence base shows that people with moderate to advanced dementia often cannot benefit from group activities and need tailored individual engagement, including familiar household tasks, music from their own era, or sensory activities. The published findings do not confirm whether this happens at The Parklands Care Home. Ask specifically about this on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and activity-based approaches tailored to individual cognitive level produce measurable improvements in mood and engagement in people with dementia, and that group-only activity programmes frequently exclude those with the highest needs.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical Tuesday looks like for a resident with moderate dementia who cannot follow group instructions. If the answer focuses mainly on group sessions, ask what one-to-one provision exists and how often it is offered to each person."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The home was rated Requires Improvement for Well-led at the April 2023 inspection. This is the only domain that did not improve from the previous inspection. Two registered managers are named, Mrs Diane Lesley Knott and Mrs Anna-May Smith, alongside a nominated individual. The published summary does not detail what specific governance or leadership concerns inspectors identified. This rating means inspectors found that management, oversight, or accountability systems were not yet meeting the required standard.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Requires Improvement rating in Well-led is the finding that should give you the most pause at this home. Management and leadership account for 23.4% of what drives positive family reviews in our data, and our Good Practice evidence base shows that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of whether quality holds up over time. Having two registered managers is unusual and may indicate a transitional arrangement, which could affect consistency. The concern here is not that the home is unsafe, inspectors rated it Good in four domains, but that the governance structures which sustain good care have not yet been confirmed as robust. Communication with families, mentioned positively in 11.5% of reviews, often suffers first when leadership is under strain.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that homes with stable, visible leadership who empower staff to raise concerns consistently outperform those with frequent management changes or unclear accountability, particularly in sustaining dementia care quality between inspections.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly: what specific concerns did inspectors raise about leadership at this inspection, and what has changed since April 2023 to address them? Also ask whether both registered managers are still in post and which one you would contact if you had a concern about your parent's care."}

  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 Parklands specialises in dementia care and supports adults over 65. The team focuses on creating a comfortable environment where residents with different care needs can feel settled.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the staff work to maintain familiar routines and provide activities that help with engagement. The approachable nature of the team helps create reassuring connections for those who might feel confused or anxious. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.