The Care Quality Commission
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APT Care Central Bedfordshire & Bedford

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

79 Edward Street, Dunstable, LU6 1HE (01234) 938420

Provided and run by:
APT Care Limited

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Date of assessment: 20 May to 17 June 2026

APT Care Central Bedfordshire & Bedford is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living in their own homes, to support them to live as independently as possible. CQC only inspects services where people receive the regulated activity of personal care. At the time of this assessment, 195 people were receiving support with personal care. The service supports adults with a wide range of needs, including people living with dementia, physical disabilities, mental health needs and sensory impairments.

We assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed autistic people and people with a learning disability respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. At the time of this assessment, the service was not supporting any autistic people or people with a learning disability, but the provider had regard to ‘Right support, right care, right culture’.

We carried out this assessment to check whether improvements had been made following our previous assessment. The last assessment was carried out in June 2023, when the service was rated Requires Improvement overall and was in breach of regulations relating to risk management, medicines management, safeguarding, staffing and governance.

Improvements were found at this assessment, and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. People, staff and professionals were generally positive about the quality of care provided. Staff worked with families and partner organisations to support people's health, well-being and independence, including supporting people to return home safely following periods of hospital care.

Governance and oversight arrangements had strengthened. Audits, quality assurance processes and digital care records were used to monitor quality and support improvement. Leaders promoted an open culture and demonstrated a commitment to learning, improvement and partnership working. The provider had recently strengthened leadership arrangements through the appointment of an experienced registered manager, and staff and professionals were positive about the support provided by leaders.

9 June 2023

During a routine inspection

About the service

APT Care Central Bedfordshire and Bedford is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service provides support to people living with dementia, mental health, physical disabilities, sensory impairment, older people, younger adults and learning disability and autistic spectrum disorder. The service also provides an interim ‘home recovery’ service supporting some people who have just returned home from hospital.

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. At the time of our inspection 110 people using the service received the regulated activity.

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

People were at risk of poor care and support because the governance systems were not effective and needed strengthening and embedding into practice. Although audits were taking place they had failed to identify and address the issues we found during our inspection of the service.

Systems and processes to safeguard people from the risk of abuse were not robust. We found incidents that met the threshold for a safeguarding concern were not always shared with the local authority and CQC.

We found no evidence people had been harmed. However, risk management of people’s care required improvement. Not all risks were assessed.

People’s medicines were not always managed safely. We identified issues with medicine records.

Staff had not received training to meet people’s specialist care needs.

There were enough staff to meet people’s care and support needs. Staffing levels were increased if people required additional care.

People were protected from the risks of infection. People told us staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the risk of spreading infections.

People’s needs had been assessed before they started using the service; and people told us they were involved in making decisions about their care. People and their relatives told us staff were kind, caring and respected their privacy and dignity.

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. Mental capacity assessments had been completed by staff with family members.

The service worked with a wide range of key organisations who were also involved in people’s care.

At the time of the inspection, the location did not provide care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

Right Support: Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control and independence be independent and they had control over their own lives.

Right Care: Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. They understood people’s cultural needs and provided culturally appropriate care.

Right Culture: Staff evaluated the quality of support provided to people, involving the person, their families and other professionals as appropriate.

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

Rating

This service was registered with us on 11 June 2021, and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Enforcement

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, staffing and good governance at this inspection. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

Full information about CQC’s regulatory response to the more serious concerns found during inspections is added to reports after any representations and appeals have been concluded.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.