Apex Prime Care - Nightingale Lodge

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence.

This is the first assessment for this newly registered service. This key question has been rated good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them. This included initial assessments of people’s needs prior to care packages commencing as well as reviews of people’s care at agreed intervals or when people’s needs changed. This helped to ensure care plans and assessments were kept current and reflective of people’s needs. One relative told us, “The care plan was all put together at the beginning and there is a copy in the flat so that I can read it when I visit. I was offered access to the App, but I haven’t done that so far, I guess because I don’t feel I have to.”

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards. The registered manager and deputy manager conducted competency assessments to ensure staff were following best practice and the advice provided by relevant healthcare professionals. The registered manager told us they attended forums with the provider and other managers across the organisation where they invite healthcare professionals to support them to keep up with best practice and ensure they are following latest guidance.

The service worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services. One relative told us, “If mum has a medical appointment, I just phone the office to let them know what time I need her to be ready and it magically gets done. I can’t fault them.” We received lots of positive feedback from professionals about how the service worked well with them to support people by referring and supporting people with ongoing care and support. Professionals told us the service had a proactive approach and always ensured people were at the centre of their care and support.

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support. People's care records demonstrated they had been supported to access relevant health services, including GP and community nurses. Staff were supported with an application on their phone which helped them identify any concerns by asking people health related questions. If any concerns were noted this went through to management so they could take the appropriate action.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves. We were informed about how the service had made differences to people’s lives and made improvements. For example, for 1 person the move to the service had gained them independence through the support of the service and had improved their quality of life. A relative told us, “If my relative has to press the alarm, someone is immediately on it 24/7. If the situation requires support, the managers organise it all and keep me informed so I know whether I need to go or not. Even if I can’t go, they will be with them all the way.”

The service completed a seated exercise program with people in collaboration with the physiotherapist team as a working project to improve strength and balance to help reduce falls.

The provider did not always tell people about their rights around consent and did not always respect their rights when delivering care and treatment. There were policies and procedures in place to ensure valid consent to care was obtained. People told us staff sought their consent before delivering care. However, the provider did not have a good knowledge around the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and how to practically apply this in their everyday roles. Where people had been assessed as having capacity to make decisions, for some people records were in place that were not needed until they could not make decisions. This meant that the service did not always follow the correct procedures around gaining consent to care.