Enter and View Report: Oak Springs Care Home

In October 2025, we visited Oak Springs, a care home owned by Sandstone Care group. The home used to be a nursing home but now provides residential and EMI care. We were told that the reason for this change was that the home had struggled to find enough nurses. 

The home has 74 ensuite bedrooms over 3 floors. The Walnut suite on the ground floor has 22 beds and provides general residential care for residents who are relatively independent and may not require intensive care. The Maple Suite on the middle floor has 29 beds and provides EMI residential care for residents with more advanced dementia. The Willow Suite on the top floor has 23 beds and is primarily for residents with early onset dementia. 

The home charges top up fees of £110. 

Summary

During our visit the home appeared clean and well-maintained with no strong or unpleasant smells. There were several themed areas on different floors, e.g. a small library, a sweet shop, a bus stop, and an indoor garden area. All these appeared to be well-thought out in terms of dementia-friendly design and provided quieter areas for residents.  We also saw an exit door which had been decorated to resemble a bookcase; we have seen this in other care homes and think it to be another example of dementia-friendly design.

The residents we saw appeared to be well cared for, and managers gave us several examples of imaginative and personalised care. These examples have not necessarily been reflected in this report as we want to make sure that residents’ anonymity is maintained. 

Positives and good practice

We found during our visit to Oak Springs care home examples of positives and good practice which included but were not limited to: 

• The experience with the ‘dementia tank’ seems to have increased staff understanding and empathy for residents living with dementia.
• The connection with a local nursery and their visits, and the regular themed sessions with children from local schools.
• The dementia-friendly design touches such as the themed areas and bookcase wallpaper on some exits seemed like good dementia friendly design choices to help minimise distress to residents and create a community feel.
• We liked the fishtanks on each floor, but as some relatives pointed out, the fishtanks on the 2 upper floors needed to be cleaned.

Recommendations 

We make the following recommendations:

• That where the handrails have been painted in the same colour as the walls these are redecorated in a contrasting colour to help them visually stand out.
• The pictures of the food on the menu boards make the menus more accessible, but the size of the letters/ writing was relatively small. We were told that staff will check with residents which food option they prefer, however, to help promote independence we would recommend that any text added to the menus is in a large size font.