Willow Rose Nursing Home

What families say

Families describe finding their loved ones looking happy and well cared for during visits. The warmth extends from reception through to the care teams, with staff taking time to really know each resident. There's a sense that people here are valued as individuals, with genuine interactions that go beyond basic care tasks.

Based on 28 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity55
• Cleanliness55
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare55
• Management & leadership60
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2021-11-17 · Report published 2021-11-17 · Inspected 1 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The safe domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. The published summary does not include specific observations about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls recording, or infection control practices. A July 2023 monitoring review did not identify concerns sufficient to trigger reassessment. The home is registered to provide nursing care, which means qualified nursing staff should be available around the clock. No detail about agency staff use or night staffing numbers is available in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the absence of specific detail means you cannot yet assess what safety looks like day to day for your parent. Good Practice research consistently identifies night staffing as the point where safety most often slips in care homes, and agency reliance can undermine the consistency that people living with dementia particularly depend on. The home's nursing registration means a qualified nurse should be on site at all times, which is a meaningful practical safeguard for someone with complex health needs. Our review data flags staff attentiveness as a key concern for 14% of families, so observing how staff respond when a resident needs help is one of the most important things to check on your visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that safety incidents, particularly falls and medication errors, are most likely to occur during periods of low staffing or high agency use. Homes with stable, permanent staff teams consistently show better safety outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the last two weeks, not a template. Count how many shifts on the dementia or nursing unit were covered by permanent staff versus agency staff, and ask specifically how many staff are on duty overnight for the full 73 beds."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The effective domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. The published text does not include detail about training content, care plan quality, GP access arrangements, or how the home supports people living with dementia specifically. The home lists dementia as a specialism, which implies a level of specific provision, but no evidence about what that means in practice is available in the summary. Food quality and dietary support are not addressed in the published findings.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness covers the things that matter most for your parent's day-to-day health and wellbeing: whether staff know how to support someone living with dementia, whether care plans are kept up to date, and whether your parent gets timely access to a GP or specialist when needed. Good Practice research identifies care plans as living documents that should be reviewed regularly with family input, not filed and forgotten. Food quality is cited in 20.9% of our weighted family themes, and mealtimes are often the clearest visible signal of how well a home actually knows each person. The evidence here is general rather than specific, so visit at a mealtime and ask to see an example care plan structure.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that dementia-specific training significantly improves the quality of care interactions, but training quality varies widely. Homes where staff receive regular, practical dementia training show measurably better outcomes in terms of resident wellbeing and reduced use of antipsychotic medication.","watch_out":"Ask what dementia training every member of staff, including domestic and kitchen staff, receives, and when it was last completed. Then ask to see a care plan for a current resident (anonymised if needed) to check whether it includes personal history, daily routines, and communication preferences, or whether it reads like a medical form."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The caring domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. No direct inspector observations about staff interactions, use of preferred names, response to distress, or the pace of care are included in the published summary. No resident or relative quotes are available in the published text. The rating indicates inspectors were satisfied with the standard of warmth and dignity observed, but the specific evidence behind that judgement is not publicly available.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews by name, and compassion and dignity account for a further 55.2%. A Good rating for caring is genuinely positive, but without specific observations to draw on, you need to generate your own evidence on a visit. Watch for whether staff greet your parent by their preferred name, whether they crouch to eye level when speaking to someone seated, and whether interactions feel unhurried. Non-verbal communication matters as much as words for people living with dementia, and Good Practice research confirms that the quality of these micro-interactions is one of the strongest predictors of resident wellbeing.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that person-led care requires genuine knowledge of the individual, not just a completed care plan. Homes where staff could describe residents' life histories, preferences, and communication styles in their own words consistently scored higher on resident wellbeing measures.","watch_out":"During your visit, stand quietly in a communal area for ten minutes and watch what happens when a resident appears unsettled or tries to attract a staff member's attention. Note how quickly staff respond, whether they stop what they are doing, and whether the interaction feels calm and personal or rushed and task-focused."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The responsive domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. No detail about the activity programme, individual engagement, end-of-life care planning, or how the home tailors support to individual preferences is available in the published summary. The home's specialism list includes dementia, which suggests some tailored provision, but what that looks like in practice is not described. One-to-one engagement for people unable to join group activities is not mentioned.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness is about whether your parent will have a real life here, not just be kept safe. Activities and engagement account for 21.4% of our family review weighting, and resident happiness accounts for a further 27.1%. Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient, particularly for people living with more advanced dementia, and that individual, meaningful engagement including familiar household tasks or sensory activities makes a measurable difference to wellbeing. Because the inspection provides no specific detail here, this is one of the areas you most need to investigate yourself. Ask to see last week's actual activity records, not the planned schedule, and pay attention to what people are doing in communal areas when you arrive.","evidence_base":"The rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individually tailored activity approaches significantly outperform generic group programmes for people living with dementia. Everyday tasks such as folding, sorting, and simple cooking activities provide continuity with earlier life and support a sense of purpose and identity.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to describe what they would do to engage your parent on a day when they did not want to leave their room or join a group. If the answer is simply that staff would check on them later, that is worth probing further. A good answer will describe specific one-to-one approaches based on your parent's individual history and interests."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The well-led domain was rated Good at the January 2022 inspection. A named registered manager, Mrs Cristina Daniela Buie, and a nominated individual, Mrs Linda Colleen Simpson, are both recorded as being in post. A July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence of concerns sufficient to trigger a reassessment. No detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance systems, or how the home responds to feedback is available in the published summary.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of care quality over time, according to Good Practice research. A named, consistent registered manager in post is a positive sign. Communication with families accounts for 11.5% of our family review weighting, and families consistently tell us that knowing who to speak to and feeling heard matters as much as the formal care itself. The July 2023 monitoring review provides some reassurance that no significant concerns have emerged since the 2022 inspection, but the gap between that inspection and today means it is worth asking directly about what has changed. Management teams that welcome scrutiny and can give specific answers are generally more trustworthy than those who respond only in general terms.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research review found that homes with stable, visible leadership and a culture where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear consistently outperform those where management is distant or frequently changing. Bottom-up empowerment, where frontline carers feel ownership of quality, is a stronger predictor of good outcomes than top-down audit processes.","watch_out":"Ask how long the current registered manager has been in post and whether there have been any significant changes to the senior management or nursing team in the past 12 months. Then ask what the home changed as a result of the last inspection. A specific, confident answer is a good sign; a vague one is worth noting."}

  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 Willow Rose provides residential care for adults both under and over 65, including those with physical disabilities. The home lists dementia care among its specialisms.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home offers dementia care, it's worth discussing specific needs during your visit. Some families have found the general care excellent, while at least one felt their relative with dementia needed more specialist support elsewhere. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.