Applecroft Residential Care Home

We identified several issues where staff had not appropriately followed the provider’s medicines policy and procedures. Whilst the provider completed medicines audits, these were not effective, as they had not identified all the issues found during our assessment.

Overall, staff assessed potential risks to people and took actions to mitigate these risks Staff considered people’s wishes and choices as part of this planning. However, some records relating to risk management required additional information to help guide staff. The provider ensured staff were trained to safeguard people and staff knew how to report concerns should they need to.

The provider had staffing vacancies and often used agency staff to cover staffing gaps. The management team were trying to recruit staff. Overall, there were sufficient staff to respond to people’s needs. Staff received an induction and regular refresher training. The registered manager ensured staff were supported through regular supervision and appraisal meetings. The provider had safe recruitment procedures in place.

Staff used assessments to form the basis of people’s care plans, which were reviewed monthly. Overall, these contained individualised information about people’s care and support needs. However, some care plans did not have up-to-date information and would benefit from some further information to help guide staff.

Staff generally involved people in discussions about their care and support needs. However, where restrictions were placed upon people who lacked the capacity to consent, staff had not always recorded mental capacity assessments and best interest decisions, as required.

The provider’s governance systems were not sufficiently robust to effectively monitor and improve the quality of the service. Audits had not identified and/or addressed all the issues we identified. The registered manager was open and responsive to our feedback; they took some immediate actions. They had already identified and were making some improvements to aspects of the service.

This is the 5th inspection where we have found the provider to be in breach of the legal regulations relating to good governance. We also found a further breach of regulations in relation to safe care and treatment.

In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward.