Archived: Apex Prime Care - Blandford

Updated 22 February 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection was announced and took place on 17 January 2017. Further phone calls were completed on 24 January 2017. The provider was given 24 hours’ notice because the location provides a domiciliary care service to people in their own homes and we needed to be sure that someone would be at the office and able to assist us to arrange home visits.

We did not request a Provider Information Return (PIR). A PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We gathered this information during our inspection. We considered information we held about the service which included notifications regarding safeguarding, accidents and changes in the service.

We spoke with eight people and two people’s relatives by telephone to obtain their views about the service. We spoke with eight staff which included the registered manager, deputy manager, administrator and five care workers. We looked at four care plans and three staff files. We also spoke with two healthcare professionals and contacted a representative from the local authority’s quality improvement team. We saw four weeks of the staffing rota, the staff training records and other information about the management of the service.

Updated 22 February 2017

This announced inspection took place on 17 January 2017.

Apex Blandford is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing support to 34 people.

There was a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and staff told us the service was well run and they felt supported by the registered manager and office staff. Staff told us they had enough travelling time scheduled between visits which meant that people generally received their care on time. If staff were delayed people were contacted and advised of the delay. People told us they did not feel rushed.

People were supported by staff who were recruited safely and were familiar to them. People and relatives felt that staff had the sufficient skills and knowledge to support them. .New staff received a comprehensive induction and completed the Care Certificate to ensure they were competent to carry out care work. All staff received supervision and an annual appraisal and were encouraged to complete further training.

There was an open culture and staff felt confident they were able to make suggestions. One member of staff gave us an example of when they had influenced changes to a person’s care plan

People were consistently positive about staff and described them as caring. Staff spoke warmly about people and told us they loved their work.

People had a pre- assessment and their care plans were developed in collaboration with them. This meant people’s care plans were personalised and reflected their preferred routines and included details which were important for them. .

Staff were aware of their responsibilities in protecting people from harm and knew how to report any concerns about people's safety or wellbeing. People had individual risk assessments and staff understood the risks people faced and their role in managing these.

Staff understood what support people needed to manage their medicines safely and there were checks in place to ensure these were given as prescribed.

Staff understood how to support people to make choices about the care they received, and encouraged people to make decisions about their care.

There were quality assurance systems in place which meant that areas for improvement were identified and actions were followed through to ensure improvements were made.

Staff told us communication was excellent and they felt listened to and kept informed of changes. This included changes to people’s care and support needs.