Archived: Apex Prime Care - Ashtead

Updated 11 November 2022

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service, their relatives and staff.

Inspection team

One inspector carried out the inspection.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short notice period of the inspection because we needed to ask the registered manager to send us information and to obtain people’s consent to receive a telephone call from us.

Inspection activity started on 13 October 2022 and ended on 23 October 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection, including notifications of significant events. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager via Microsoft Teams about how the service was run. We reviewed feedback forms which had been submitted by four relatives and two people who used the service. We spoke with two people who used the service and two relatives to hear their views about the care the agency provided. We received feedback from two professionals who had worked with the agency and from nine staff about the training, support and information they received.

We reviewed care plans and risk assessments for three people, medicines records for two people, recruitment records for three staff, training records, policies, accident and incident records, quality audits, meeting minutes, satisfaction surveys, and the agency’s business continuity plan.

Updated 11 November 2022

About the service

Apex Prime Care – Ashtead provides personal care and support to people living in their own homes. All the people using the service at the time of our inspection were older people, some of whom had needs in relation to health, mobility, and sensory Impairment.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service was supporting 34 people at the time of our inspection, 25 of whom received personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People felt safe when staff provided their care. Relatives were confident their family members received a reliable service from staff who knew how to provide care in a safe way. Staff understood their responsibilities in protecting people from abuse and knew how to report any concerns they had. The provider’s recruitment procedures helped ensure only suitable staff were employed.

Risk assessments were used effectively to identify and manage any risks involved in people’s care. People’s medicines were managed safely. Staff protected people from the risk of infection by wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) when they carried out their visits.

People received their care from kind and caring staff with whom they had established positive relationships. Staff knew and respected people’s preferences about their care. Staff encouraged and supported people to be independent wherever possible.

Staff had an induction when they joined the agency and had access to the training they needed to carry out their roles. Staff had opportunities to discuss their performance and training needs with their line managers.

People’s needs were assessed before they began to use the service and kept under review. Staff were observant of any changes in people’s health and wellbeing and highlighted any concerns they had promptly. Professionals said staff followed any guidance they put in place to ensure people received the care they needed.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The management team encouraged people who used the service, relatives and staff to contribute their views and acted on their feedback. Staff were supported well by their managers and had access to advice and guidance when they needed it. There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. Managers and staff worked effectively with other professionals to ensure people received the care they needed.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The registered provider of this service has changed since the last inspection. The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 14 June 2019. The service was registered under the current provider on 4 August 2021.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.