Westdale Care Home and Westdale Quaker Housing Association Ltd
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Residential homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds19
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Caring for adults under 65 yrs, Dementia
- Last inspected2018-11-03
- Activities programmeThe home serves proper home-cooked meals that residents actually look forward to — fresh, varied, and prepared with individual tastes in mind. Rooms stay consistently clean and comfortable, while the gardens provide a peaceful spot that many residents use regularly. It's the kind of environment where small touches add up to genuine comfort.
- 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
What strikes visitors first is how content residents appear — chatting in the communal areas, enjoying the gardens, looking genuinely at ease. Families describe staff who take time to understand each person's preferences and routines, creating care that feels natural rather than institutional. That patient, encouraging approach seems to help even anxious new residents settle quickly.
Based on 8 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 quality60
- Healthcare65
- Management & leadership74
- Resident happiness68
What inspectors found
Inspected 2018-11-03 · Report published 2018-11-03 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the October 2024 inspection. This covers staffing levels, medicines management, infection control, and how the home responds to risk. No specific observations, incidents, or details about staffing ratios are included in the published summary. The home is registered for 19 beds, which is a small size that can support closer staff-to-resident ratios, though the actual numbers are not confirmed in the report.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"For a small home with a dementia specialism, safety often comes down to whether there are enough consistent, familiar staff, particularly at night. Good Practice research highlights that night staffing is where safety most commonly slips in care homes, and that reliance on agency staff undermines the consistency people with dementia need. A Good rating for Safe is reassuring, but the published findings do not confirm specific staffing numbers. Fourteen percent of positive family reviews in our data specifically mention staff attentiveness as a safety signal. On a visit, focus on whether staff seem calm and unhurried, or stretched and reactive.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that night-time staffing ratios are among the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care. Homes with fewer than two waking staff overnight for 20 or fewer residents showed higher rates of undetected falls.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how many staff are on duty overnight, whether they are waking or sleeping, and what percentage of shifts in the last month were covered by agency staff rather than permanent employees."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good at the October 2024 inspection. This covers staff training, care planning, healthcare access including GP involvement, and food quality. Westdale lists dementia as a specialism, which means inspectors would have expected to see evidence of relevant training and care planning. No specific examples of training content, care plan detail, or healthcare arrangements are described in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in dementia care is largely invisible until something goes wrong. Our Good Practice evidence base identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated when your parent's needs change, not just reviewed annually. Food quality is also a meaningful signal: 20.9% of positive family reviews mention meals by name, often as a proxy for whether the home genuinely pays attention to individual preferences. A Good rating here is a starting point, but ask to see a sample care plan and find out how the home manages appointments with GPs or specialists.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that dementia-specific training significantly improves staff confidence in managing distressed behaviour without resorting to physical intervention or sedation. Homes where training is updated annually and linked to observed practice show better outcomes than those where completion rates alone are tracked.","watch_out":"Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Then ask to see the format used. A plan that lists preferences, routines, and communication approaches in specific detail is a stronger sign than one that records medical history alone."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the October 2024 inspection. This is the domain most directly connected to how staff treat your parent day to day, covering warmth, dignity, privacy, and whether people are treated as individuals. No specific inspector observations, resident quotes, or family comments are included in the published summary. The Good rating indicates inspectors were satisfied, but the basis for that judgment is not described.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews. Compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract values; they show up in specific behaviours: knocking before entering a room, using your parent's preferred name, sitting at eye level during a conversation, and not hurrying someone through a task they are managing slowly. The inspection rated Caring as Good, which is meaningful. However, without specific observations recorded in the published text, the most reliable way to assess this is to visit and watch staff interactions directly, not during a formal tour.","evidence_base":"Good Practice research identifies non-verbal communication as equally important as verbal communication in dementia care. Staff who crouch to eye level, maintain calm body language, and allow extra processing time produce measurably lower rates of agitation in residents with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch how a staff member approaches your parent's potential future neighbours. Do they make eye contact and use a name, or do they speak past the person? This tells you more than any policy document."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Good at the October 2024 inspection. Responsiveness covers whether the home tailors care to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, supports independence, and plans for end-of-life care. No specific activities, engagement examples, or evidence of individual tailoring are described in the published summary. For a home with a dementia specialism and 19 residents, individual engagement is particularly important.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of positive family reviews in our data, and resident happiness, which is closely linked to engagement, accounts for 27.1%. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are insufficient for people living with dementia: one-to-one engagement, including familiar everyday tasks like folding, sorting, or simple cooking, can provide more meaningful stimulation than a scheduled group session. The Good rating is positive, but ask what happens for your parent on a day when they cannot or do not want to join a group.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and task-oriented individual engagement approaches reduce passive time and agitation in people with moderate dementia more effectively than group activity programmes alone. Homes that track individual engagement, not just attendance at group sessions, show better wellbeing outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager what a typical Tuesday afternoon looks like for a resident who does not want to join the group activity. Who checks on them, what is offered, and how is that recorded?"}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the October 2024 inspection. The registered manager, Ms Doris Bridget Irene Straun, holds both the registered manager and nominated individual roles, meaning she is personally accountable to the regulator for the home's performance. This structure can support direct, consistent leadership in a small home. No specific details about governance processes, staff culture, or family involvement in feedback are described in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained quality in care homes. Our Good Practice evidence base found that homes with consistent, visible leadership show better outcomes on every family-facing measure, from staff warmth to activities. The fact that one person holds both accountability roles in a 19-bed home can be a strength: she is likely to know your parent's name and situation personally. However, it also means quality depends significantly on one individual. Ask how long she has been in post and what happens when she is away.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett evidence review found that manager tenure of two or more years is consistently associated with lower staff turnover, fewer safeguarding incidents, and higher family satisfaction scores. Leadership instability is one of the earliest indicators of a home entering decline.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long she has been in post, who covers when she is absent, and how staff are encouraged to raise concerns. A manager who can answer the last question with a specific example, not a general policy reference, is a positive sign."}
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 Westdale provides residential care for adults over 65, with specialist support for those living with dementia. The home also welcomes younger adults who need residential support.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents with dementia, the team brings particular patience and understanding to daily care. Staff work to maintain familiar routines where possible, helping residents feel secure while gently encouraging engagement with activities and social life. — 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
Westdale Residential Care Home received a Good rating across all five inspection domains in October 2024, which is a positive foundation. However, the published report text contains very limited specific detail, so scores reflect the Good rating with appropriate caution rather than strong direct evidence.
Homes in East Midlands typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
What strikes visitors first is how content residents appear — chatting in the communal areas, enjoying the gardens, looking genuinely at ease. Families describe staff who take time to understand each person's preferences and routines, creating care that feels natural rather than institutional. That patient, encouraging approach seems to help even anxious new residents settle quickly.
What inspectors have recorded
Staff here seem to share a consistent approach — responsive when families raise concerns, attentive to changing needs, and skilled at reading the subtle signs of what residents require. Communication flows easily between the team and families, creating a sense of partnership rather than just service delivery.
How it sits against good practice
Sometimes the best measure of a care home is seeing someone arrive uncertain and leave with renewed confidence — something that seems to happen here with reassuring regularity.
Worth a visit
Westdale Residential Care Home, at 129 Melton Road, Nottingham, was assessed in October 2024 and rated Good across all five inspection domains: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led. It is a small home with 19 beds, registered to care for people over and under 65, including those living with dementia. The registered manager, Ms Doris Bridget Irene Straun, also holds the role of nominated individual, indicating direct and personal accountability for how the home is run. The main limitation of this report is that the published inspection text provides very little specific detail. A Good rating is genuinely positive, but it tells you the inspectors were satisfied, not what they actually saw or heard. Before making a decision, visit in person and ask the manager to walk you through the dementia unit, explain night staffing numbers, and show you an example of how a care plan is reviewed with families. Arriving unannounced at a quieter time, such as a weekday afternoon, will give you a more honest picture than a scheduled tour.
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In Their Own Words
How Westdale Care Home and Westdale Quaker Housing Association Ltd describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where personalised care helps residents truly flourish
Westdale Residential Care Home – Expert Care in Nottingham
Families searching for care in Nottingham often discover something special at Westdale Residential Care Home. Here, the focus on individual needs creates an environment where residents don't just cope — they genuinely thrive. The difference shows in relaxed smiles, renewed confidence, and families who feel their loved ones are truly understood.
Who they care for
Westdale provides residential care for adults over 65, with specialist support for those living with dementia. The home also welcomes younger adults who need residential support.
For residents with dementia, the team brings particular patience and understanding to daily care. Staff work to maintain familiar routines where possible, helping residents feel secure while gently encouraging engagement with activities and social life.
Management & ethos
Staff here seem to share a consistent approach — responsive when families raise concerns, attentive to changing needs, and skilled at reading the subtle signs of what residents require. Communication flows easily between the team and families, creating a sense of partnership rather than just service delivery.
The home & environment
The home serves proper home-cooked meals that residents actually look forward to — fresh, varied, and prepared with individual tastes in mind. Rooms stay consistently clean and comfortable, while the gardens provide a peaceful spot that many residents use regularly. It's the kind of environment where small touches add up to genuine comfort.
“Sometimes the best measure of a care home is seeing someone arrive uncertain and leave with renewed confidence — something that seems to happen here with reassuring regularity.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
