Devonshire House and Devonshire Lodge Care Home

Thanks to you all.

The unit my mother lives in is formerly run by Tor 1 unit manager. The unit manager (in my family's opinion) cannot be "praised" highly enough. Not only is she very efficient, she connects wonderfully with all residents. She is a credit to this residential home. It is with her kindness that my mother has settled into her new environment with relative ease. Most of the other staff are wonderful too. The ladies in Ro3 have lovely personalities and great abilities in communicating with dementia sufferers - which is very important. Great staff maketh a great business. Please value them.

Still awaiting assessment.

Being moved from a spacious room with en-suite wet room to a room a third of the size with toilet and hand basin that dad is unable to use due to mobility. When our concerns were made to the manager, her response was "speak to the owners" who have no idea of my dads needs!

I think the carers on my husband's unit do an amazing job but they are so often understaffed, which can cause problems. The food very often was bad but I can see an improvement. Laundry is horrendous - lost clothes, even when they are clearly marked and when put away the wardrobe is often full of empty hangers. Women's clothes and other people's clothes often in the wrong rooms. I feel the carers do not always get the praise they deserve, they do a very hard job for very little reward. I also feel it is important to have consistency on this unit with staff.

Since new owners, lots of different staff, regularity is important when the patient has dementia most of the staff are very caring. My husband has been here for full nursing care for 8 months. We are still waiting for a suitable chair otherwise he is bed ridden. The only time he can be out of bed is when he has a weekly bath. Please please can he have a special chair. He came from somewhere else with one he had it only for 8 weeks?

My cousin is getting very good care. Staff all most kind.

4. Not always encouraged to drink.

Staff friendly and caring. Room bright and cheerful with a nice view.

Bickleigh is generally a very good home. The management and care staff are friendly, kind and always approachable. Like all business these days funds are tight, therefore it seems as if some corners may have been cut. A permanent experienced chef for instance, weekend staff rarely enough, there are many different areas in this home some better run than others. At the moment my mother has been assessed as residential, but as time has gone on her ability has diminished and she could do with more help than is sometimes available. We have requested a review which we assured will take place soon. For all this compared to many others Bickleigh still comes out on top.

The carers are very helpful if you ask them to do something for mum its no problem, names of carers should be recognised, nurses too, supervisor is lazy. My mum has improved lovely.

Bickleigh Down is a very well run nursing home and caters for all my required needs. The staff are very professional, polite and caring. Visitors are welcome at most times of the day and if they have any questions the staff and management are only to willing to help.

I find the staff very helpful, especially the one to one care that is provided. The general care of my wife is more than adequate. There are one or two issues I would like to point out. Firstly, there seems to be a lack of wheelchairs and secondly, I think it would be nice if my wife could be taken out of the building from time to time.

A fantastic care home, my granny is well looked after. Staff are excellent and the manager and deputy are lovely. Food is lovely as well. Staff always polite and accommodating. Phone answering takes a while as bad set up but no other complaints.

A very, pleasant care home, specialising in dementia. Clearly named and parking bays on site. Welcome signs at entrance appreciated. Staff warm and friendly and helpful. Accessible sign in book and pen. Building light and attractive and smells clean. Staff recognisable with uniform, busy, but not too busy to enquire if everything is ok and offer a hot drink. Room fresh and pleasantly decorated with attractive pictures on walls. Plentiful wardrobe, cupboard and drawer space. En-suite. Window looks out onto grounds and smart curtains. My friend is comfortable and feels safe and cared for here. He is a lifelong bachelor and extremely private person, but appreciates this helping hand and the ability to retain is dignity. Thank you

I visit my mother regularly and find the staff extremely helpful and friendly. She is very happy here and I would say that the cleanliness and hygiene has improved over the past 6 months. This may be because the number of staff seems to have increased. I would like to know more about what my mother does during the week i.e. activities she joins in with as obviously I can't hear from her.

The staff at the care home have a lovely manner with the patients. In over a year visiting twice weekly I have never found anyone being negative towards patients, they are a wonderful team. My mother has been well fed and hydrated. There have been activities arranged even though the patients are difficult to engage in these. There has only been 1 incident in the whole time, missing glasses when she went to the hairdresser that were not found. My mother died this evening, the staff were exemplary in the way they handled this.

She spent time in hospital in May 2015 and was sent back to the home for end of life care. I cannot praise the staff enough for their care of mum and me too during the last five weeks of her life. My one observation would be that the staff deserve a much higher pay rate.

I have recommended BD to many others, and would be happy passing some of my last days there too.

Our father recently passed peacefully away after 18 months of palliative care at Bickleigh Down Care Home. My family can only praise the staff who cared for him, they looked after him like one of their own family. They showed him respect and treated him with dignity, always caring but very professional. My two brothers visited him daily at varying times and were always welcomed by the friendly staff who kept them informed of our dad's condition. I live 240 miles away yet, whenever I rang the staff because I was concerned after talking to him on the telephone, they would check on him and telephone me back, no matter what time it was. It gave us peace of mind to see that he had the right support and he felt happy, safe and secure . The staff encouraged him when he needed encouragement but were understanding and showed great kindness when he became increasingly frail. There were times when we felt the staff were particularly kind and supportive to him, beyond their duty. Some of the staff were able to attend our dad's funeral and their grief at his passing was clear to see. A thank you to the staff at Bickleigh Down Care Home for caring with such gentleness and kindness.