Queen Charlotte Nursing Home

What families say

Visitors often mention how quickly they feel comfortable here. The staff have a natural warmth that helps new residents settle in, and there's a friendly atmosphere throughout the home that families notice straight away.

Based on 6 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity58
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare58
• Management & leadership35
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-01-22 · Report published 2020-01-22 · Inspected 4 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This indicates that inspectors were broadly satisfied with how the home managed risks, medicines, and staffing at that time. The published summary does not include specific detail on staffing numbers, night cover, falls management, or infection control practices. The home has 51 beds and cares for people with dementia, mental health conditions, and nursing needs, which means safe staffing ratios matter considerably.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but it is now more than four years old and the published text gives you very little to go on. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, particularly in homes with dementia and nursing needs. With 51 beds across mixed needs, the question of how many permanent staff are on duty after 10pm is one of the most important questions you can ask. Agency staff reliance is another known risk factor: staff who do not know your parent's routines or triggers are less able to respond quickly when something goes wrong.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios and agency staff reliance are two of the strongest predictors of safety outcomes in care homes. Homes with high agency use show measurably higher rates of avoidable incidents.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent staff names appear on night shifts versus agency names, and ask what the minimum staffing level is overnight for 51 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This domain covers how well the home uses assessments, care plans, healthcare access, staff training, and nutrition to meet people's needs. No specific findings are recorded in the published summary: no detail on how care plans are written or reviewed, no information on GP access, and no mention of dementia-specific training content. The home's specialism includes dementia and mental health conditions, which places significant demands on staff knowledge and care planning quality.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating in this domain means inspectors were satisfied with the basics at the time of the visit. However, our Good Practice evidence highlights that care plans only drive good outcomes when they are treated as living documents, reviewed regularly, updated after every significant change, and shaped by input from families. The inspection gives no information about how frequently plans are reviewed here or whether families are meaningfully involved. Food quality is also part of this domain and is the eighth most mentioned theme in positive family reviews (20.9% of positive reviews reference it). There is nothing in the published findings to reassure you about meal quality or dietary support for people with swallowing difficulties.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training, including communication techniques and understanding behaviours that challenge, significantly improves the quality of daily care interactions. Homes where staff complete accredited dementia training show better outcomes on dignity and wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what dementia training all care staff have completed in the past 12 months, whether it is accredited, and whether care plans are reviewed at least monthly or after any significant change to your parent's health."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This is the domain most directly linked to how staff treat the people who live here day to day, covering warmth, dignity, respect, and support for independence. The published summary contains no specific inspector observations, no resident or relative quotes, and no examples of how staff demonstrated kindness or responded to distress. A Good rating in this domain is the most meaningful single indicator for most families, but without supporting detail it is difficult to assess how consistent or genuine the care culture is.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single largest driver of family satisfaction in our review data: 57.3% of positive reviews across 5,409 UK care homes mention it by name. Compassion and dignity together account for 55.2% of positive mentions. A Good Caring rating is a positive signal, but the absence of any specific detail in the published findings means you cannot rely on the inspection text alone to judge the warmth of this home. What inspectors described as Good in 2019 may have changed, and the culture of a care home is something you need to feel for yourself on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that non-verbal communication matters as much as verbal interaction for people with dementia. Homes where staff make eye contact, move at the person's pace, and use touch appropriately score significantly higher on wellbeing measures, regardless of the physical environment.","watch_out":"During your visit, walk a corridor and watch how staff greet people they pass. Notice whether they make eye contact, use the person's preferred name, and stop rather than hurrying by. This is a reliable indicator of care culture that no inspection report can fully capture."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the November 2019 inspection. This domain looks at whether the home responds to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, supports people's independence, and plans appropriately for end of life. No specific activities are mentioned in the published summary, no individual examples are given, and there is no detail on how the home supports people who can no longer participate in group activities. The home cares for people with dementia across a range of needs, which makes individual responsiveness particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews, and resident happiness for 27.1%. These are not small concerns. The Good Practice evidence is clear that group activities alone are not enough for people with more advanced dementia: one-to-one engagement, often drawing on familiar household tasks or personal history, is what maintains wellbeing at that stage. The inspection gives no information about whether this home provides that kind of individual support. It is worth asking specifically, because the difference between a home that runs a group exercise class and one that sits with your mum to look through her photographs is significant.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and life-history approaches to individual engagement, including familiar domestic activities, significantly reduce distress and improve observed wellbeing for people with moderate to advanced dementia, compared to group-only activity programmes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the activity records for two people with more advanced dementia over the past month. Look for evidence of one-to-one engagement on days when no group activity ran, and ask who specifically is responsible for individual activity for people who cannot join group sessions."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the November 2019 inspection. This is the only domain that did not reach Good, and it is the most significant concern about this home. The registered manager is named in the published record, and the home is operated by Althea Healthcare Properties Limited. The published summary does not explain what specific governance or leadership failures inspectors identified. A review conducted in July 2023 found no evidence requiring a reassessment of the rating, but the home has not been re-inspected since 2019. The overall rating of Good was awarded despite the Requires Improvement in this domain, which means the other four domains were strong enough to outweigh it.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management and leadership quality accounts for 23.4% of the themes that drive positive family reviews. Our Good Practice evidence base is direct on this point: leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of a home's quality trajectory. A Requires Improvement in Well-led in 2019 could mean many things, from incomplete paperwork to more serious concerns about culture or oversight. The fact that it has not been re-inspected in over four years means you cannot know whether the issue was resolved. Manager tenure is also worth asking about: if the manager who oversaw the improvement from Requires Improvement overall has since left, the leadership picture may look different today.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett review found that homes with stable, visible management and staff who feel able to raise concerns without fear show consistently better care outcomes. Leadership instability, particularly at registered manager level, is one of the clearest early warning signs of quality decline.","watch_out":"Ask the current registered manager how long they have been in post, what the Well-led concerns identified in 2019 were, and what specific changes were made to address them. Ask whether the home has an up-to-date quality improvement plan and whether families are involved in reviewing it."}

  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 of all ages, including those living with dementia and mental health conditions.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team's naturally caring approach helps create a reassuring environment where people feel understood and supported. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.