The Close Residential Home
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 beds30
- SpecialismsCaring for adults over 65 yrs, Dementia
- Last inspected2022-03-23
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 is how the staff's natural warmth comes through in daily life. Residents seem to settle in well here, with families noticing their relatives forming real friendships with others. The home's compact size means staff can give each person proper attention.
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth75
- Compassion & dignity75
- Cleanliness70
- Activities & engagement65
- Food quality65
- Healthcare70
- Management & leadership52
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2022-03-23
Is this home safe?
Is the care effective?
Effective was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. This domain covers staff training, care planning, nutritional care, and access to healthcare professionals including GPs. For a dementia-specialist home, a Good rating here suggests that training standards and care plan processes met inspection requirements. No specific detail is published about dementia training content, how frequently care plans are reviewed, or how GP visits are arranged. The previous overall rating was Inadequate, so reaching Good in Effective reflects work done since that earlier inspection.Is this home caring?
Caring was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. This domain covers staff warmth, dignity, respect, and whether residents are supported to maintain independence. A Good rating here is the most directly relevant finding for families choosing a home, as it reflects how inspectors judged the day-to-day human interactions between staff and the people who live there. No specific inspector observations, such as whether staff used preferred names, knocked before entering rooms, or moved without hurrying residents, are reproduced in the published summary. No resident or relative quotes are included in the available inspection text.Is the home responsive?
Responsive was rated Good at the September 2025 inspection. This domain covers whether the home responds to individual needs, provides meaningful activities, supports residents' independence, and plans appropriately for end of life. For a home specialising in dementia, Good in Responsive suggests that the activity programme and individual care approaches met inspection standards. No specific detail about the activities on offer, one-to-one engagement for residents who cannot join groups, or how end-of-life planning is handled is available in the published summary.Is the home well-led?
Well-led was rated Requires Improvement at the September 2025 inspection. This is the only domain where the home did not achieve Good, and it is the area of greatest concern. A named Registered Manager, Mrs Vilasini Dilrukshi Pethiyagoda, and a Nominated Individual, Mrs Radha Siva, are both identified and in post. Requires Improvement in Well-led typically means inspectors found that governance systems, quality monitoring, or the culture of accountability were not consistently effective. The specific issues identified by inspectors are not reproduced in the published summary available here. The home's previous overall rating was Inadequate, which gives context: significant improvement has been made, but the leadership and oversight infrastructure has not yet fully caught up with improvements in direct care.
Source: CQC inspection report →
What the evidence base says
The Close specialises in dementia care for people over 65. Their smaller size allows them to provide the kind of consistent, familiar care that works particularly well for people living with dementia. With dementia care, familiarity and routine matter enormously. The Close's intimate scale means residents see the same faces each day and staff can properly learn each person's preferences and needs. All 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
The Close scores in the mid-70s across care and staffing themes, reflecting a home that has made genuine progress from a previous Inadequate rating to Good in four out of five domains. The Requires Improvement rating for Well-led keeps the overall family score lower, and limited inspection detail in several areas means families should ask specific questions before deciding.
Homes in East typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
What strikes visitors is how the staff's natural warmth comes through in daily life. Residents seem to settle in well here, with families noticing their relatives forming real friendships with others. The home's compact size means staff can give each person proper attention.
What inspectors have recorded
The team here gets consistent praise for being both hardworking and genuinely cheerful. Families appreciate seeing staff who clearly care about what they do, creating an atmosphere where residents feel comfortable and well looked after.
How it sits against good practice
Sometimes the right care home is the one that feels manageable rather than overwhelming — a place where your loved one won't get lost in the crowd.
Worth a visit
The Close Residential Home in Kings Lynn was assessed in September 2025 and rated Good in four of its five inspection domains: Safe, Effective, Caring, and Responsive. This is a meaningful improvement from a previous Inadequate rating and suggests the home has made real progress in the quality of day-to-day care for its 30 residents, many of whom are living with dementia. The registered manager and nominated individual are named and in post, and the Good rating for Caring is particularly important given that staff warmth accounts for 57.3% of positive mentions in our family review data. The Requires Improvement rating for Well-led is the main concern and means inspectors found the home's governance, oversight, or quality improvement systems were not yet consistently effective. This does not cancel out the progress made, but it does mean something is not working reliably at leadership level. On your visit, ask the manager what specific issues the inspection identified under Well-led and what has been done since October 2025 to address them. Also ask about night staffing numbers and how much the home relies on agency staff, as these details are not covered in the published findings and matter greatly for people with dementia.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
Let our analysis show you how The Close Residential Home measures up against the other homes you’re considering. Free account.
In Their Own Words
How The Close Residential Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where small size means knowing every resident well
The Close – Your Trusted residential home
When you're looking for dementia care in Kings Lynn, size can make all the difference. The Close has built its reputation on being small enough to really know each resident, with staff who bring genuine cheerfulness to their work. Families describe a place where their loved ones have found both friendship and contentment.
Who they care for
The Close specialises in dementia care for people over 65. Their smaller size allows them to provide the kind of consistent, familiar care that works particularly well for people living with dementia.
With dementia care, familiarity and routine matter enormously. The Close's intimate scale means residents see the same faces each day and staff can properly learn each person's preferences and needs.
“Sometimes the right care home is the one that feels manageable rather than overwhelming — a place where your loved one won't get lost in the crowd.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
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
The Close scores in the mid-70s across care and staffing themes, reflecting a home that has made genuine progress from a previous Inadequate rating to Good in four out of five domains. The Requires Improvement rating for Well-led keeps the overall family score lower, and limited inspection detail in several areas means families should ask specific questions before deciding.
Homes in East typically score 68–82.The three-lens summary
What families tell us
What strikes visitors is how the staff's natural warmth comes through in daily life. Residents seem to settle in well here, with families noticing their relatives forming real friendships with others. The home's compact size means staff can give each person proper attention.
What inspectors have recorded
The team here gets consistent praise for being both hardworking and genuinely cheerful. Families appreciate seeing staff who clearly care about what they do, creating an atmosphere where residents feel comfortable and well looked after.
How it sits against good practice
Sometimes the right care home is the one that feels manageable rather than overwhelming — a place where your loved one won't get lost in the crowd.
Worth a visit
The Close Residential Home in Kings Lynn was assessed in September 2025 and rated Good in four of its five inspection domains: Safe, Effective, Caring, and Responsive. This is a meaningful improvement from a previous Inadequate rating and suggests the home has made real progress in the quality of day-to-day care for its 30 residents, many of whom are living with dementia. The registered manager and nominated individual are named and in post, and the Good rating for Caring is particularly important given that staff warmth accounts for 57.3% of positive mentions in our family review data. The Requires Improvement rating for Well-led is the main concern and means inspectors found the home's governance, oversight, or quality improvement systems were not yet consistently effective. This does not cancel out the progress made, but it does mean something is not working reliably at leadership level. On your visit, ask the manager what specific issues the inspection identified under Well-led and what has been done since October 2025 to address them. Also ask about night staffing numbers and how much the home relies on agency staff, as these details are not covered in the published findings and matter greatly for people with dementia.
The three questions to ask when you visitSave this home. Compare it against your shortlist.
Let our analysis show you how The Close Residential Home measures up against the other homes you’re considering. Free account.
In Their Own Words
How The Close Residential Home describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Where small size means knowing every resident well
The Close – Your Trusted residential home
When you're looking for dementia care in Kings Lynn, size can make all the difference. The Close has built its reputation on being small enough to really know each resident, with staff who bring genuine cheerfulness to their work. Families describe a place where their loved ones have found both friendship and contentment.
Who they care for
The Close specialises in dementia care for people over 65. Their smaller size allows them to provide the kind of consistent, familiar care that works particularly well for people living with dementia.
With dementia care, familiarity and routine matter enormously. The Close's intimate scale means residents see the same faces each day and staff can properly learn each person's preferences and needs.
Management & ethos
The team here gets consistent praise for being both hardworking and genuinely cheerful. Families appreciate seeing staff who clearly care about what they do, creating an atmosphere where residents feel comfortable and well looked after.
“Sometimes the right care home is the one that feels manageable rather than overwhelming — a place where your loved one won't get lost in the crowd.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
