Wild Acres

What families say

Visitors describe seeing residents looking content and engaged throughout the day. The staff's friendly manner seems to create a relaxed environment where people feel comfortable.

Based on 5 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth72
• Compassion & dignity72
• Cleanliness68
• Activities & engagement85
• Food quality60
• Healthcare68
• Management & leadership70
• Resident happiness70

What inspectors found

Inspected 2019-10-22 · Report published 2019-10-22 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The Safe domain was rated Good at the October 2019 inspection. This indicates that inspectors were satisfied with medicines management, staffing levels, and risk management at the time of the visit. The home caters for people with dementia, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, all of which require robust safety systems. The published summary does not include specific detail on night staffing ratios, falls management, or agency staff usage. A Good rating in Safe means minimum standards were met, but does not confirm that staffing was generous.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good rating for safety is reassuring, but it tells you the home met the required threshold rather than exceeding it. Our Good Practice evidence base highlights that safety most commonly slips on night shifts, where staffing is thinner and oversight is reduced. For a 26-bed home with a dementia specialism, the question of how many permanent carers are on duty overnight is particularly important. The published findings do not give you that number, so you will need to ask. If the home uses agency staff regularly at night, ask how agency workers are inducted before working with your parent.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night-time staffing ratios are one of the strongest predictors of safety incidents in residential dementia care, and that consistent permanent staffing reduces falls and undetected health deterioration.","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 number of staff on duty overnight is for the current number of residents."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The Effective domain was rated Good, indicating that training, care planning, and healthcare coordination met inspection standards. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies staff are expected to have relevant training beyond basic care. The published summary does not describe specific training content, GP access arrangements, or how care plans are written and reviewed. A Good rating here means inspectors were satisfied that care was being delivered competently, but the level of detail available is limited.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be updated whenever your parent's condition or preferences change, not just at a fixed annual review. The Effective rating confirms a baseline was met, but it does not tell you how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed in practice, or whether you would be invited to contribute. For someone living with dementia, where needs can shift quickly, the frequency and quality of care plan reviews matters significantly. Ask directly how the home handles a change in condition and who makes the call to involve a GP.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research evidence review found that homes where families are actively included in care plan reviews report higher satisfaction scores and better-detected changes in health status, particularly in people with dementia who cannot always communicate their own needs.","watch_out":"Ask to see the structure of a care plan (with personal details removed) and ask how often it is reviewed. Then ask when a family member would be contacted if their parent's condition changed, and who makes that decision."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The Caring domain was rated Good at the October 2019 inspection. This indicates that inspectors observed, or received testimony confirming, that staff treated the people who live here with respect, dignity, and warmth. The home's specialism in dementia and sensory impairment means staff need to be skilled in non-verbal communication and in reading signs of discomfort or distress. The published summary does not include specific observations of staff interactions, preferred name use, or descriptions of how staff respond to distress. The Good rating is positive but provides limited specific detail.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, appearing in 57.3% of positive reviews. The observable signals families look for on a visit include staff using preferred names, moving without hurry, making eye contact at the person's level, and responding calmly when someone is unsettled. These things cannot be confirmed from a domain rating alone. Our Good Practice evidence base also highlights that non-verbal communication is as important as spoken language for people with advanced dementia, so staff skill in reading body language matters as much as what they say. Plan a visit at a time that is not a formal tour and observe how staff interact in corridors and at mealtimes.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research rapid evidence review found that person-led care requires staff to know each individual well enough to recognise subtle changes in mood and behaviour, and that this knowledge comes from consistent, low-turnover staffing rather than training alone.","watch_out":"During your visit, watch whether staff address your parent by their preferred name without being prompted, whether they crouch or sit to make eye contact, and whether the pace of interactions feels unhurried. If you observe a moment of distress or confusion, watch how a staff member responds."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Outstanding

  {"found":"The Responsive domain was rated Outstanding, the highest possible rating, at the October 2019 inspection. This is the strongest finding in the report and indicates that inspectors found specific, compelling evidence that the home tailors activities and engagement to individual needs rather than offering only group programmes. For a 26-bed home with a dementia specialism, an Outstanding Responsive rating suggests the home goes beyond standard activity rotas. The published summary does not describe the specific activities or approaches observed, but the rating itself is substantive evidence of good practice at the time of inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of the positive signals in our family review data, and resident happiness for a further 27.1%. An Outstanding Responsive rating is genuinely rare and suggests the home was doing something distinctly better than most at the time of inspection. Good Practice research supports the use of Montessori-based approaches and everyday household tasks as meaningful engagement for people with dementia, not just structured group sessions. What we cannot confirm from the published text is whether the Outstanding rating was driven by group activities, individual engagement, or both. For a parent who would be unable to join group activities, it is worth asking specifically what one-to-one engagement looks like.","evidence_base":"The Leeds Beckett and IFF Research evidence review found that tailored individual activities, including familiar household tasks and sensory engagement, reduce agitation and improve quality of life for people with dementia more effectively than group activity programmes alone.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what a typical day looks like for someone who cannot join group sessions. Ask whether there is a dedicated activities budget and whether the programme has changed since the last inspection in 2019."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The Well-led domain was rated Good at the October 2019 inspection. The registered manager is named in the public record, and the nominated individual is separately identified, which indicates a clear governance structure. A Good rating in Well-led means inspectors were satisfied that leadership was visible, staff were supported, and systems for monitoring quality were in place. The published summary does not describe the manager's tenure, staff turnover, or specific examples of the home learning from incidents. The July 2023 review found no evidence requiring a ratings change, suggesting no significant concerns had emerged in the intervening period.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Management quality accounts for 23.4% of the positive themes in our family review data, and 11.5% of families specifically mention communication from the home as a key satisfaction factor. Good Practice research identifies leadership stability as one of the strongest predictors of quality trajectory: homes where the registered manager has been in post for several years tend to maintain or improve their ratings over time. The inspection is now several years old, so it is worth asking directly how long the current manager has been in post and whether there have been significant staffing changes recently. A manager who knows your parent by name and can speak without notes about their preferences is a strong positive signal.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research evidence review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear of consequence consistently outperform those where a top-down culture prevails, and that this bottom-up empowerment is most reliably created by a stable, visible registered manager.","watch_out":"Ask the manager directly how long they have been in post at Wild Acres, whether the staffing team is largely the same as it was two to three years ago, and what the home has changed or improved most recently as a result of a complaint or incident."}

  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 Wild Acres provides care for people over 65, including those living with dementia, sensory impairments, and physical disabilities.. Gaps or open questions remain on The home welcomes residents living with dementia as part of their wider care provision. If you'd like to know more about their specific approach to memory care, it's worth asking when you visit. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.