Enter and View Report: Ranelagh House

In July 2025, we visited Ranelagh House, a residential care home. Several residents also live with dementia. The building was not purpose-built as a care home; there are 24 bedrooms over 2 floors in a series of connected, centuries-old houses. 19 bedrooms come with ensuite toilets. 

At the time of our visit, there were 22 residents living at Ranelagh House, with another resident due to move in the following week. 

Summary

Overall, we observed Overall we found Ranelagh care home to be care home that was clean without unpleasant smells. We liked the work that had gone into personalising residents’ bedrooms; they were all clearly individually tailored towards the person living there. Staff had clearly put effort into the areas they could personally make the most difference too.

Ranelagh house is located in a series of interconnected buildings presenting challenges such as narrow corridors that cannot be helped. We noticed that many of the communal areas were in need of redecorating. The dining room looked good aside from the flooring recently been redecorated. We hope that other communal areas of the home will be redecorated to the same standard. Having pictures and photos back up in the corridors as planned by the manager will add to the homely feel. 

Residents we spoke to mostly told us positive things about living at Ranelagh House. There were a few things mentioned by residents that should be easy to remedy such as more access to food menus. 

Feedback from Manager on takeover: 

We contacted Sheila Cousins the manager for more information, and she advised us that the takeover of Ranelagh House had been completed, and the home had been sold to Partnership Caring. 

Sheila advised that the takeover had been ‘a really positive outcome for everyone with minimal disruption’. She advised that refurbishment had already begun on areas of the home, including the lounge and outside areas.

Recommendations 

We make the following recommendations for Ranelagh House

• That menus with large size font text and photos are displayed in the dining area so that residents can easily see what the options are and feel empowered to make choices
• That the planned redecorating of communal areas is carried out as soon as possible (This seems under way already according to feedback from management).

Positives and good practice

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

• We felt that the joint decision-making process when accepting new residents is a great idea and shows that management values their staff’s expertise, experience and opinions.
• We were impressed by the efforts that the activities coordinator has taken to provide and fund activities for residents. Their efforts were praised by both management and residents, and we hope the new owners support them accordingly.