Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh

    5201 Clarks Frks Dr, Raleigh, NC, 27616
    2.3 · 79 reviews
    • Assisted living
    • Memory care
    • Skilled nursing
    AnonymousLoved one of resident
    1.0

    Beautiful building, neglectful unsafe care

    I placed my loved one here because the building is beautiful and the rehab/therapy team was excellent and caring. Unfortunately, the positive staff were outweighed by serious problems: theft of personal items, meds given late or wrong, missed care (skipped showers, delayed diaper changes, bedsores), unclean rooms, long unanswered call bells, understaffing and rude, distracted employees. Leadership was weak and dismissive, communication was poor, and I witnessed unsafe practices (empty oxygen, staff vaping/under-the-influence reports). Despite a few kind caregivers, I felt the facility was neglectful and would not recommend it.

    Pricing

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    Amenities

    Healthcare services

    • Activities of daily living assistance
    • Assistance with bathing
    • Assistance with dressing
    • Assistance with transfers
    • Medication management
    • Mental wellness program

    Healthcare staffing

    • 12-16 hour nursing
    • 24-hour call system
    • 24-hour supervision

    Meals and dining

    • Diabetes diet
    • Meal preparation and service
    • Restaurant-style dining
    • Special dietary restrictions

    Room

    • Air-conditioning
    • Cable
    • Fully furnished
    • Housekeeping and linen services
    • Kitchenettes
    • Private bathrooms
    • Telephone
    • Wifi

    Transportation

    • Community operated transportation
    • Transportation arrangement
    • Transportation arrangement (non-medical)

    Common areas

    • Beauty salon
    • Computer center
    • Dining room
    • Fitness room
    • Gaming room
    • Garden
    • Outdoor space
    • Small library
    • Wellness center

    Community services

    • Concierge services
    • Fitness programs
    • Move-in coordination

    Activities

    • Community-sponsored activities
    • Planned day trips
    • Resident-run activities
    • Scheduled daily activities

    2.33 · 79 reviews

    Overall rating

    1. 5
    2. 4
    3. 3
    4. 2
    5. 1
    • Care

      2.0
    • Staff

      2.2
    • Meals

      1.9
    • Amenities

      3.7
    • Value

      1.0

    Pros

    • Compassionate and caring individual staff members
    • Dedicated and upbeat occupational therapy team
    • Strong physical therapy and speech therapy programs
    • Some professional and helpful nurses on select units (e.g., 500 Hall)
    • Friendly or helpful front desk/reception staff
    • Clean, attractive, peaceful, and homey building reported by some
    • Prompt incident response in isolated cases
    • Supportive kitchen/dining staff cited by some families
    • Good rehab outcomes for some residents
    • Occasional quick attention to needs and encouraging staff

    Cons

    • Frequent and long call-bell response delays (minutes to hours)
    • Staff rudeness, unprofessionalism, and abrasive attitudes
    • Allegations of neglect, rough handling, and abuse
    • Theft and loss of residents' personal belongings
    • High staff turnover and reliance on agency staff
    • Understaffing and very high patient-to-aide ratios
    • Staff sleeping on duty or in cars and empty rooms
    • Employees vaping, allegedly using alcohol or drugs while on site
    • Management defensiveness, threats, and retaliation toward complainants
    • Poor communication, disorganization, and admissions problems
    • Inadequate medical follow-up and medication errors
    • Inconsistent or low-quality nursing care across shifts
    • State investigations, regulatory complaints, and reports of being called to shut down
    • Faulty or silent call buttons and unstaffed nurse stations/halls
    • Unpleasant odors, dirty rooms, infrequent cleaning, and poor hygiene
    • Late or inadequate meals and limited food choices; some call food atrocious
    • Bedsores, dehydration, starvation, and residents left in bad condition
    • Safety failures including fatal falls and empty oxygen tanks
    • Unclear or unethical billing practices and paperwork pressure
    • Retaliation against staff who report issues and firing after video evidence
    • Inconsistent enforcement of policies and lack of leadership
    • Inadequate infection control and COVID-related visitation issues
    • Disregard for residents' dignity (left naked, soiled diapers, shut doors)
    • Reported diversion of care to focus on census and revenue over quality
    • Frequent fire alarms and chaotic environment reported by some
    • Threats to reporters' licenses and hostile management responses
    • Missing medical instructions at discharge and insufficient medication coverage
    • Allegations of falsified paperwork and manipulation of records
    • Very mixed reviews with many calls to
    • Legal action and shameful incidents reported by families

    Summary review

    Overall sentiment across the reviews is highly polarized but leans strongly negative. A substantial portion of reviewers report serious, repeated problems with basic caregiving, safety, staffing, management, and property security. However, there are consistent isolated positives — notably strong rehabilitation services (physical, occupational, and speech therapy), some individual staff members and units that families praised, and an attractive facility environment cited by several people. The dominant themes, though, are operational failures and potentially dangerous lapses in resident care that have led families to file complaints, pursue legal action, and call for regulatory intervention.

    Care quality and resident safety are the most frequently cited concerns. Numerous reviewers describe long or unacceptably delayed responses to call bells (reports range from 20 minutes to multiple hours), residents left unattended in hallways, in soiled diapers, or without necessary feeding assistance. There are multiple allegations of neglect that include bedsores, dehydration, starvation, missed medications or wrong medications, inadequate insulin guidance, empty oxygen tanks, and at least one reported fatal fall. Several reviewers describe very serious outcomes including hospitalization and death that families attribute to neglect. These reports indicate systemic problems with timely nursing attention, medication management, and basic hygiene and safety protocols.

    Staff behavior and staffing levels are another major pattern. Many families report understaffing, high patient-to-aide ratios (one review cited 17 patients to one aide), frequent staff turnover, and reliance on agency personnel. This staffing pressure is associated with allegations of negligent behavior: aides sleeping on-site in cars or empty rooms, staff vaping at nursing stations, staff allegedly on alcohol or drugs, rough handling of residents, and in several accounts, outright abuse or cruelty. Theft and loss of personal items (hearing aids, clothing, phone chargers, pictures, blankets) are repeatedly mentioned. Conversely, multiple reviews single out particular staff members, therapy teams, or whole units (e.g., a named hall) as compassionate and effective, which underscores the inconsistency of care across shifts and teams.

    Management, administration, and regulatory compliance emerge as another area of serious concern. Reporters allege poor leadership, an administration more focused on census and revenue than care quality, threats toward those who file complaints, and retaliation when staff or family members raise issues. There are accounts of state investigations and regulatory complaints with little apparent remediation reported by families. Some reviewers say the director of nursing or administrators defended inappropriate staff behavior. Additional serious allegations include unethical billing practices, pressure to sign paperwork, manipulation of records, and threats to professional licenses. These patterns, if accurate, suggest systemic governance and oversight problems rather than isolated staff failures.

    Facility, dining, and housekeeping feedback is mixed but skewed negative in quality and consistency. Several reviews praise the building itself — calling it peaceful, clean, attractive, and homey. At the same time many others report dirty rooms, unpleasant odors, infrequent cleaning, late meals, and poor food quality. Meal visibility and limited choices are cited; some families find kitchen staff cooperative while others describe meals as atrocious or late. Infection control and COVID policies were criticized both for restricting family access and for insufficient protective care in some instances that preceded resident decline.

    Rehabilitation and certain frontline employees consistently receive the most positive feedback. Physical, occupational, and speech therapists are repeatedly described as excellent, knowledgeable, encouraging, and a reason families had positive rehab outcomes. Some nurses and reception/front-desk personnel also receive praise for helpfulness and compassion. These positives support the recurring observation that care quality at this facility is highly uneven: certain teams and shifts deliver good care while others fail to meet basic standards.

    A recurring pattern in the reviews is inconsistency: very positive experiences (successful rehab, attentive staff, clean rooms) coexist with very negative ones (neglect, abuse allegations, loss of belongings, and regulatory concerns). Many reviewers explicitly warn others to avoid the facility and call for its closure, while others expressly recommend it. That divergence suggests variability by unit, shift, or time period and highlights the importance of recent, specific, and verifiable information for prospective residents and families.

    In summary, the dominant and most actionable concerns from these reviews are: systemic staffing shortages and turnover, serious lapses in timely caregiver response and basic resident care, allegations of abuse and substance use on duty, theft and loss of personal items, medication and medical follow-up errors, and managerial failures including poor communication, retaliation, and potential ethical/billing violations. Offsetting strengths include a well-regarded rehab program, some compassionate and professional staff members or units, and an otherwise attractive facility environment noted by several families. Prospective residents and families should take a cautious approach: verify current staffing levels and turnover, inspect recent state inspection reports and complaints, ask for unit-specific references, confirm policies for call-bell response, medication management, security for personal items, and billing transparency, and, if possible, observe multiple shifts to assess consistency of care.

    Location

    Map showing location of Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh

    About Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh

    Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh sits near Route 1 and I-540 in North Raleigh, run since 2004 by Choice Health Management Services, and has a mix of care levels for people aged 55 and up, offering skilled nursing, assisted living, independent living, memory care, and long-term care. This place has 132 certified beds with about 98 residents on average and rooms in studio or one-bedroom layouts, both semi-private and private, along with a community fee, respite fee, buy-in fee, and different charges based on care needs, which can range from light help to heavier support, with staff offering standby help for those who are non-ambulatory and help for transfers from beds to wheelchairs. Staff stay on site all hours to respond in emergencies, watch blood sugar for diabetes, and give extra care for incontinence, though residents must manage their own supplies. The facility offers meals every day, so residents never worry about cooking, and has gym areas where therapists do both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, with up to 2-3 hour therapy sessions seven days a week, all inside a gym with advanced therapy tools. Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh also features the LifeWorks Rehab Recovery Program, which gives people unique tools like the Recovery Map and a Personal Report Card to track how much therapy helps them get moving after surgery, illness, or injury. The team can help with pain management and stress in their Center for Stress and Pain Management, and you'll find indoor common areas for activities and space to move around, encouraging folks to socialize. There are devotional services but these happen offsite. Pharmacy services and medical supplies are available, and therapy staff, physicians, and nurses are all regular team members, not outside contractors. Universal Healthcare/North Raleigh has faced problems, which is important to know-it's been a Special Focus Facility because of ongoing quality concerns, they have twenty-four-hour staff but also higher nurse turnover than average at 63.5%, and state inspectors have found 109 deficiencies over time, including a major one for failing to manage infection control, plus other issues around nurse skills and competencies, so it's something to think about. The facility gets about 3.5 nurse hours per resident each day, a little under the state average, and has hospice services if needed along with respite and recovery care for surgeries and illnesses.

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