Woking Homes

What families say

Visitors to the home describe staff who take time to be considerate in their interactions. There's a sense of professionalism mixed with genuine caring that comes through in how the team presents themselves.

Based on 14 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 2019-02-28 · Report published 2019-02-28 · Inspected 2 times in the last three years

• Is this home safe?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at its March 2021 inspection. The published report does not include specific detail about staffing levels, falls management, medicines handling, infection control practices, or agency staff usage. A monitoring review in July 2023 found no new concerns. The home is registered for 51 beds across a residential and dementia service.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring as a starting point, but our family review data shows that night-time staffing and agency staff reliance are two of the areas families worry about most once their parent has moved in. The Good Practice evidence base (61 studies, March 2026) confirms that safety incidents, particularly falls, are most likely to occur at night when staffing ratios are at their lowest. Because the inspection text gives no specific figures, you cannot assess this from the published findings alone. Visit in the evening if you can, and ask directly about overnight cover.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that night staffing ratios are the single most consistent predictor of preventable safety incidents in residential dementia care. Homes that cannot state their permanent-to-agency ratio with confidence warrant closer scrutiny.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you the actual staffing rota for the past two weeks, not a template. Count how many permanent carers appear on night shifts across the 51-bed home, and ask what the minimum safe staffing level is when someone calls in sick."}

  Verified by inspectorMentioned, not assessed

• Is the care effective?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the March 2021 inspection. The published text does not describe care plan quality, GP access arrangements, dementia training content, food quality, or how health monitoring is carried out. The rating has not been formally reassessed since that inspection.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a dementia care home means your parent's care plan reflects who they actually are, not just their diagnosis and medication list. Our family review data shows that food quality (cited in 20.9% of positive reviews) and healthcare access (20.2%) are two of the clearest signals families use to judge whether a home truly understands their parent. The inspection gives no evidence on either. When you visit, ask to see a sample care plan structure and pay attention to whether it captures personal history, preferences, and daily routines, or whether it reads like a clinical checklist.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice evidence review found that care plans function as living documents only when they are co-produced with the person and their family and reviewed at least monthly. Plans that are completed at admission and rarely updated are associated with poorer individualised care outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how often care plans are reviewed and whether families are invited to contribute. Request a blank template to see whether it includes sections for life history, preferred name, food preferences, and daily routines alongside medical information."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good

  {"found":"The home received a Good rating for caring at the March 2021 inspection. The published text includes no direct observations of staff interactions, no resident or family quotes, and no specific examples of dignity or respect in practice. The rating was not changed following the July 2023 monitoring review.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction in our review data, cited in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity appear in 55.2%. These are not things you can assess from a rating alone. The Good Practice evidence base highlights that for people living with dementia, non-verbal communication, tone of voice, pace of movement, and physical gentleness matter as much as what staff say out loud. None of this is visible in the published findings. You will need to observe it yourself on a visit, paying particular attention to how staff interact with residents who cannot communicate clearly.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice review found that person-led care requires staff to know the individual, not just the care plan. Homes where staff know each resident's preferred name, life story, and daily preferences consistently score higher on dignity measures than those relying on documentation alone.","watch_out":"Arrive a few minutes early for your appointment and sit in a communal area before meeting the manager. Watch whether staff make eye contact with residents, use names, and move without rushing. If you see a resident who appears distressed, observe how staff respond."}

  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at the March 2021 inspection. The published report provides no specific detail about the activities programme, individual engagement for people with advanced dementia, end-of-life planning, or how the home responds to complaints and feedback. The monitoring review in July 2023 did not change this rating.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Resident happiness appears in 27.1% of positive family reviews, and activities engagement in 21.4%. For a home specialising in dementia, the question is not just whether there is an activity programme, but whether it reaches your parent if they can no longer join a group session. The Good Practice evidence base found that tailored one-to-one activities, including everyday household tasks, are among the most effective ways to maintain wellbeing and a sense of purpose for people in later stages of dementia. The published inspection gives no evidence on this. It is one of the most important questions to ask on your visit.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice rapid evidence review found that Montessori-based and individual task-focused activities, such as folding, sorting, and familiar domestic routines, consistently outperform group entertainment activities in sustaining engagement for people with moderate to advanced dementia.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator, not the manager, to describe what happens on a typical Tuesday afternoon for a resident who cannot join a group session. If the answer is vague or defaults to television, press further: ask how many one-to-one activity sessions each resident received in the past week."}

  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Good

  {"found":"The home was rated Good for well-led at the March 2021 inspection. A registered manager, Paula Jane Hook, and a nominated individual, Mrs Sarah Anne Kemp, are both named in the registration record. The published inspection text does not describe leadership culture, staff empowerment, governance processes, or how the home responds to concerns and incidents. The July 2023 monitoring review found no evidence requiring reassessment.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Our family review data shows that visible, communicative management appears in 23.4% of positive reviews, and communication with families in 11.5%. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that leadership stability predicts the quality trajectory of a care home over time. Named leadership in post is a positive sign, but the inspection gives no detail about manager tenure, staff turnover, or the culture on the ground. Ask how long the current manager has been in post and whether the same staff were there a year ago. High turnover is often the first signal that something is under strain.","evidence_base":"The Good Practice review found that homes where staff feel able to raise concerns without fear consistently achieve better outcomes for residents. Bottom-up empowerment, where frontline carers are listened to by management, is a stronger predictor of quality than top-down governance systems alone.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in post and what the staff turnover rate was in the past 12 months. Also ask how families are contacted if there is a change in their parent's condition or a significant incident, and how quickly they can expect a response."}

  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 over 65, with particular experience in supporting those living with dementia.. Gaps or open questions remain on While the home welcomes residents with dementia, the peaceful grounds and calm environment may offer particular benefits for those who find comfort in quieter surroundings. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.