Apex Prime Care – Hailsham provides broadly safe, effective and caring domiciliary care to 90 people, with well-trained staff and robust safeguarding and medicines management. However, the service requires improvement in responsiveness due to consistently late and uncommunicated care calls, poor complaints handling, and insufficient detail in some risk assessments, alongside weak communication between the registered manager and people using the service.
Concerns (5)
moderateMissed or late visits: “The times keep changing, they used to come at 8am but now it can be anytime up to 11am which is difficult because I sometimes have a hospital appointment and I have had to cancel it”
moderateComplaints handling: “When I ring the office about the time of my calls I get fobbed off when I want to speak to the manager.”
moderateCare planning: “Some people lived with epilepsy. A description of the condition was included in care plans...but no indication of what may trigger a seizure or when seizures were more likely to occur.”
moderateGovernance: “Several people and relatives were unsure of who the registered manager was and were unclear how to contact the manager if they needed to.”
minorCommunication with families: “People and relatives told us that they had not been given formal opportunities to feedback about the service.”
Strengths
· People felt safe and staff demonstrated clear knowledge of safeguarding procedures and whistleblowing policies.
· Safe recruitment practices in place with thorough staff file documentation including DBS checks.
· Medicines managed safely with electronic MAR charts, trained staff, and regular competency checks by supervisors.
· Comprehensive staff induction, regular supervision every three months, annual appraisals, and unannounced competency checks.
· Care plans included personalised sections ('About Me', 'What is important to me') capturing cultural, faith and communication needs.
Quality-Statement breakdown (24)
safe: Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuseGood
safe: Assessing risk, safety monitoring and managementGood
safe: Staffing and recruitmentGood
safe: Using medicines safelyGood
safe: Preventing and controlling infectionGood
safe: Learning lessons when things go wrongGood
effective: Assessing people's needs and choices; delivering care in line with standards, guidance and the lawGood
effective: Staff support: induction, training, skills and experienceGood
effective: Supporting people to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced dietGood
effective: Staff working with other agencies to provide consistent, effective, timely careGood
effective: Ensuring consent to care and treatment in line with law and guidanceGood
caring: Ensuring people are well treated and supported; respecting equality and diversityGood
caring: Supporting people to express their views and be involved in making decisions about their careGood
caring: Respecting and promoting people's privacy, dignity and independenceGood
responsive: Planning personalised care to ensure people have choice and control and to meet their needs and preferencesRequires improvement
responsive: Improving care quality in response to complaints or concernsRequires improvement
responsive: Meeting people's communication needsGood
responsive: Supporting people to develop and maintain relationships to avoid social isolationGood
responsive: End of life care and supportGood
well-led: Promoting a positive culture that is person-centred, open, inclusive and empoweringRequires improvement
well-led: How the provider understands and acts on the duty of candourGood
well-led: Engaging and involving people using the service, the public and staffRequires improvement
well-led: Continuous learning and improving careGood