Apex Prime Care - Newhaven

Updated 2 December 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 and staff.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

Inspection activity started on 1 November 2022 and ended on 11 November 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as phone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation. We spoke with eight people and 11 people’s relatives. We received feedback from seven health and social care professionals that regularly worked with the service. We spoke to seven members of staff including the registered manager and care staff. We reviewed information about people’s care and support needs and the management of the service.

Updated 2 December 2022

About the service

Apex Prime Care - Newhaven is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides support to older people, people with mental health conditions, people living with dementia and physical disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 77 people using the service.

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

People, staff and relatives were positive about the management of the service and felt involved and listened to by the registered manager. Some quality assurance processes were effective in identifying areas for improvement and showed actions taken as a result of issues identified. However other aspects of quality assurance such as risk assessments and documents relating to medicines required improvement.

People received safe care and support from staff that knew them well. People and relatives we spoke to told us there were enough staff to support people. Staff understood how to keep people safe and how to raise concerns about people's safety. Risks to people were safely managed but some people's care plans needed more detailed guidance around risks.

People were supported to receive their medicines by staff that had been trained to administer them. However, further consideration was needed to how people received their medicines that were taken on an as and when needed (PRN) basis.

Staff wore appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when supporting people and followed infection prevention and control procedures.

The culture of the service was person-centred, and people told us that staff supported them to increase their independence. Health professionals that regularly worked with the service were positive about staff's involvement and support of people. 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.

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 30 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. We carried out a focused inspection of the key questions safe and well led to check the rating of the service remained accurate. For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Apex Prime Care - Newhaven 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.