What families say

Visitors have found the home clean and well-maintained during their visits. The signing-in procedures are straightforward, and staff are generally available when families arrive.

The eight family priority themes

• Staff warmth55
• Compassion & dignity58
• Cleanliness60
• Activities & engagement50
• Food quality50
• Healthcare58
• Management & leadership42
• Resident happiness55

What inspectors found

Inspected 2020-01-08

• Is this home safe?

  Good
  The Safe domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection, representing an improvement from the previous Requires Improvement rating. This indicates that risks to the people living here were being identified and managed to an adequate standard. No specific inspector observations about medicines management, falls, or infection control are recorded in the available published text. The published summary does not include staffing numbers or rota detail, so it is not possible to confirm what cover looked like on night shifts. The improvement from the previous rating is encouraging, but the absence of specific evidence makes it difficult to assess the depth of that improvement.
  Verified by inspector

• Is the care effective?

  Good
  The Effective domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This covers care planning, staff training, access to healthcare professionals, and nutrition. The improvement from Requires Improvement to Good suggests the home addressed earlier concerns in at least some of these areas. No specific detail is available in the published text about GP visit frequency, how care plans are written, or what dementia training staff have received. The home holds a dementia specialism, which means inspectors will have considered whether training and care approaches were appropriate for that group.
  Verified by inspector

• Is this home caring?

  Good
  The Caring domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This domain covers whether staff treat people with dignity, respect their privacy, support their independence, and respond to them as individuals. Moving from Requires Improvement to Good in this domain is significant, as it suggests inspectors observed meaningful improvement in how staff interacted with the people living here. No direct quotes from residents or relatives are available in the published inspection text, and no specific inspector observations about named interactions are recorded.
  Verified by inspectorResident testimony recorded

• Is the home responsive?

  Good
  The Responsive domain was rated Good at the December 2019 inspection. This covers whether the home provides activities and engagement, responds to individual preferences, supports independence, and has adequate processes for end-of-life care. No specific examples of activity programmes, one-to-one engagement, or individual preference tracking are recorded in the published text. The home specialises in dementia care, which means responsiveness to changing communication and behaviour is particularly important. No complaints data or family feedback is referenced in the available summary.
  Verified by inspector

• Is the home well-led?

  Requires improvement
  The Well-led domain was rated Requires Improvement at the December 2019 inspection, the only domain that did not improve from the previous inspection. This is the domain that covers management visibility, governance, staff culture, learning from incidents, and quality assurance. The registered manager at the time of inspection was Mr Tinu Rajan, with Dr Piarey Lal Kaul as the nominated individual. The published text does not describe what specific failings were identified in Well-led, nor what the home was required to do to address them. A review in July 2023 found no evidence requiring reassessment of the overall Good rating, but the individual domain ratings were not re-examined at that point.
  Verified by inspector

Source: CQC inspection report →

Section 03

What the evidence base says

The home cares for adults over 65, including those living with dementia. They've supported some residents for several years of continuous care. The Cottage provides specialist dementia care as part of their services. Their team has experience supporting residents with varying stages of dementia through long-term placements. All areas worth probing directly during a visit.