The Care Quality Commission
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  • Homecare service

Apex Prime Care Poole

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Upper Ground Floor, Unit C, Acorn Business Park, Ling Road, Poole, BH12 4NZ

Provided and run by:
Apex Prime Care Ltd

Important: The provider of this service changed. See old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment under our new approach

Apex Prime Care Poole is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes and flats in the community. 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. At the time of the inspection the service was supporting 245 people who were receiving personal care.

The inspection was carried out between 20 June and 9 July 2025. We visited the office on 20, 23 and 26 June 2025. This inspection was prompted by concerns we received about safe care and treatment, including in relation to medicines and moving and handling practice.

We found 2 breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment and good governance.

The principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) were not consistently upheld. The provider lacked effective oversight of the complaints process. The provider failed to submit statutory CQC notifications. The provider confirmed some statutory notifications had inadvertently been saved to draft rather than being submitted electronically. Notifications are important because they support us to monitor the services we regulate. Care plans and risk assessments were not always person-centred or sufficiently detailed to guide staff in delivering the correct support. Governance systems were not always operating effectively as they did not identify the shortfalls within this inspection.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the shortfalls we identified during the inspection.

People were involved in their care. Staff were kind and caring, taking into consideration people’s unique differences. Staff found the registered manager to be approachable.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

13 May 2021

During a routine inspection

About the service

Apex Prime Care Poole is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people at home. Not everyone who uses the service receives 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. There were 75 people using the service at the time of the inspection.

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

People and relatives experienced good care. They said staff were kind, caring and patient, respected their privacy and did not rush them. People’s care needs were individually assessed and planned for. Risk assessments and care plans were kept up to date. Staff understood people’s needs and preferences.

People felt safe with the staff who supported them and had confidence in their skills. There were pre-employment checks to ensure staff were suitable to work in a care setting. The registered manager and staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding people from abuse and avoidable harm. Where people needed support with their medicines, this was managed safely.

People and their loved ones reported that staff noticed changes in their health and supported them to get the appropriate healthcare. The service worked in partnership with health and social care professionals to help ensure the best possible outcomes for people.

People generally had a small team of regular staff. Staff were well supported through training, supervision and informal support from the office team. New staff went through an induction to ensure they had the skills required and felt comfortable with their role.

People and relatives told us care workers always wore clean personal protective equipment (PPE) and washed their hands regularly. PPE was readily available for staff, who were part of a regular coronavirus testing programme. Staff were familiar with current guidance about using PPE.

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.

People and relatives were confident in the leadership of the service and valued the good communication. Staff spoke positively about their work and the way they were managed. The registered manager and staff understood their roles and responsibilities. Quality assurance processes were in operation, with action on any issues identified.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 8 May 2019 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 12 April 2016.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the date the service was registered with us.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.