Apex Prime Care - Christchurch

Apex Prime Care - Christchurch is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. These are predominantly older people. At the time of inspection, the service was providing personal care to 63 people.

Not everyone who uses the service receives 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.

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

People and their relatives said they or their loved one felt safe and comfortable with the staff who visited them, and that care was not rushed. Staff understood their role and responsibility for safeguarding people from abuse. There were recruitment checks to help ensure new staff had the necessary skills and character to provide people’s care.

There were enough staff to provide people’s care and the service had missed no care visits. Everyone we spoke with said they or their loved one had regular care staff. However, there had been a recent turnover of staff in the part of the service covering Bournemouth, meaning people had to get used to new staff.

Medicines were managed safely. People received their medicines in the right dose at the right time. The provider’s medication policy did not address covert medication, which is the concealment of medicines in a person’s food or drink where this is in their best interests. We have made a recommendation regarding the provider updating their medicines policy to address covert medication.

People, relatives and staff voiced confidence in the way the service was run. They felt the management team were approachable and would act on concerns raised.

The registered manager, office team and care staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Staff supervision and observed practice had fallen behind due to the pressures of the pandemic but had recently resumed.

Quality assurance measures were in operation. These included the provider issuing a questionnaire to obtain feedback, and feedback from people and staff in more informal ways. There were also audits of various aspects of the service. Any shortfalls found were addressed.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

Based on our review of safe and well-led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

¿ Right support: Care was planned and delivered in a way that maximised people’s choice, control and independence. The service reported back to commissioners of care where care packages seemed overly intense, which risked robbing people of their independence.

¿ Right care: Care was delivered according to each person’s individual needs and preferences. Although there had been changes in staff in some parts of Bournemouth, staff got to know and understand people. Staff also described how they had regular people to visit. Staff and managers promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights.

¿ Right culture: The ethos of the service and the values, attitudes and behaviours of managers and care staff ensured people were supported as far as possible, within the limits of their care package, to lead confident, included and empowered lives.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 6 February 2020).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to how the service safeguarded people from abuse. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Apex Prime Care - Christchurch on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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

Apex Prime Care Christchurch is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. It provides a service to older people. At the time of inspection, the service was providing personal care to 105 people.

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.

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

There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. Risks were assessed, and measures put in place to mitigate them. Staff were recruited safely. People felt safe and happy with their care. Staff training, and policies ensured people were safe. Staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and who to report concerns to.

Medicines were managed safely, and lessons were learnt when things went wrong. Staff were supported and worked in a safe way. Staff feedback and records confirmed this. The service provided face to face in-house training which staff were complimentary about. People were protected from avoidable infection as staff understood and practiced good infection control.

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. Staff understood how to treat people with dignity and respect and people’s experience confirmed this.

People received access to healthcare professionals when needed. The service raised concerns when required. People told us staff were kind and caring and treated them with respect. They had good relationships and staff encouraged people to be independent. People and their relatives were involved in their care.

Care plans were personalised and met people’s needs in a variety of ways both practically and emotionally. The service used an electronic system which was continually monitored to ensure all aspects of care were completed. People knew how to make a complaint and the service’s policy supported that. Concerns had been dealt with through the process and to people’s satisfaction.

People thought the service was well led and governance systems were robust. We received compliments about the support and leadership of the service. The registered manager told us the staff team were brilliant and they worked together well.

The service worked well with other agencies and professionals. Feedback was positive and the service felt supported by external professionals.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 20 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for this service was good (published 7 November 2018). Since this rating was awarded the registered provider of the service has changed. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.