Enter and View Report: Larkhill Hall

In May 2025 we visited Larkhill Hall, a general residential and dementia residential care home, purpose-built in 2014. The current owners are HC-One, who took over from the previous owners in 2024. 

During our visit we were told that the middle floor was closed due to a voluntary embargo on admissions, but that the aim was to re-open the middle floor to admissions from June 2025 onwards. Until then the home could have a maximum of 41 residents. At the time of our visit there were 37 residents, some of whom we were told were able to maintain a routine for themselves. The home also provides respite care, and we were told that some people will come in initially for respite care but want to come back and sometimes for longer stays. The care home wants to provide something akin to “a hotel experience”. 

Summary

We observed that Larkhill Hall is a well-designed care home that felt like it was designed and decorated with residents in mind. Every area we saw was clean with no strong odours and looked well-maintained. We were pleased to hear about some of the plans for the home such as the dementia friendly café and greengrocers.

Residents had mostly positive things to say about the home although two of the residents we spoke to felt that there wasn’t always enough staff present. There was also differing opinions from some staff about the levels of staffing that will be required when the middle floor reopens. During our visit staff were visible, but our visits only give us a two-hour snapshot of a care home.

At the time of our visit the middle floor was still closed due to a self-imposed embargo on admissions. However new admissions were due to start in June, and we hope that staffing levels will be maintained and increased where necessary to provide enough flexibility and attention for residents once the middle floor is open and the number of residents increases.

Recommendations 

We make the following recommendations for Larkhill Hall. 

• Monitor staffing levels carefully during the increase of residents and reopening of the middle floor. We would advise not relying solely on dependency tools but also on resident, family and staff feedback.

Positives and good practice

We found during our visit to Larkhill Hall examples of positives and good practice which included but were not limited to: 

• The plans in place for a dementia friendly café and greengrocers are some of the most ambitious we have come across at Healthwatch Liverpool. We feel that if implemented as described they could be of great benefit not only to residents and family but the community around the care home. It feels like a real dementia friendly idea.
• The care home environment was fantastic in all the areas that we saw during our visits. The care home was decorated and maintained to high standards and the buildings and hallways were wide and spacious with lots of natural light. There were many areas for residents to either socialise or to find a quiet corner for some alone time.