Appletrees Care Home

Ratings

• Overall

  Requires improvement

• Safe

  Requires improvement

• Effective

  Requires improvement

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Requires improvement

Our view of the service

Date of assessment: 23, 24 April and 13 May 2025. Appletrees Care Home is a nursing home which provides nursing and personal care and treatment for disease, disorder and injury (TDDI) for up to 46 people. The service provides support to older people and people living with dementia. It also provides support to people with learning disabilities and autistic people, people with sensory impairments and physical disabilities. The service had made some improvements since our last inspection however further improvements were still needed. We found 2 repeated breaches of legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance. People did not always receive their topical medicines as prescribed and recording of medicines administration was not always accurate. The environment was not always safe for people living with dementia. Not all areas of the service were maintained to promote effective infection prevention and control practices, which had not been identified through the service’s governance systems. The provider had some quality systems and processes in place; however, these were ineffective in identifying the concerns we found during this inspection. Staff knew people well and we observed some kind and caring interactions. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities. People and relatives shared mixed feedback about being involved in assessments of need. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity and respected their wishes and choices.

We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities.

The overall rating for this service is requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection. In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website.

People's experience of this service

We spoke with 11 people and 8 relatives about their experience of the care being provided. We spent time seeing how people were cared for. We used the Short Observational Framework for Inspection (SOFI). SOFI is a way of observing care to help us understand the experience of people who could not talk with us. People and relatives shared mixed views on the care and support provided. Some people told us staff were prompt when they asked for assistance, whilst others said they had needed to wait for help. People knew staff and managers and felt able to discuss any concerns they may have. Most relatives told us they had good communication and relationships with the registered manager. People and relatives told us they felt safe, and their privacy and dignity were maintained. One relative told us, “I’m happy with (Relative’s) care, they are looking after them. They organise for them to get their nails and hair done. The food is nice as I came in to eat with my relative on Mother’s Day. We can come in anytime we want to".