Apple House

Who the service is for
This is a specialist service for people who have a learning disability and/or who are autistic. 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 that most people take for granted.

Key findings
We carried out this assessment on 16 September 2026. This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.
People told us they felt safe living at Apple House. People, their relatives and social care professionals spoke positively about the care and support provided.
Staff were confident in their abilities to promote positive risk taking which enabled people to be more independent and to live their lives as they chose. A staff member told us, “Working at Apple House is to bring joy. Being able to show people new things and celebrate when they start to learn to do these things for themselves makes me proud. A task that some may think simple, like making the bed, is a chance to promote being independent, time to socialise, time to develop our collaboration with the people we support.”

People can only be deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment with appropriate legal authority. In care homes, this can be done through a procedure called the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which is part of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We checked whether the service was working within the principles of the MCA and how they managed DoLS within the service. We found that staff and management worked within the MCA. DoLS authorisations were appropriately applied for and overseen. People were not subject to unlawful or excessive restrictions, they had choice, control and freedom over their lives.

We observed care was delivered in ways that were person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. Staff treated people with kindness and respect.

Staff were confident all concerns would be investigated by the registered manager and the provider. Staff knew of external agencies such as the police and local authority safeguarding team who they could contact in the event the concerns were not acted upon.

The service was secure, and we observed checks taking place to ensure only authorised people could enter the property. Staff understood and followed the service’s health and safety procedures, the provider ensured these were fully accessible for staff. Health and safety audits took place regularly and any areas for action were addressed.

Staff told us they felt supported to undertake all requirements of their role with guidance from the registered manager. The provider encouraged all colleagues to live the organisation’s values of; Passion, Empowerment, Respect and Collaboration.
Staff told us, “I am a role model. It is important to live our values and nurture our new staff. This way we are all working to give our very best for the people of Apple House.”
The provider told us they are proud of the flexibility they offer staff. This included access to support 24/7 and training courses run from 7am to 7pm to encourage an improved work/life balance.

The registered manager worked closely with social care professionals to review the medicines of people using the service, in line with the principles of STOMP (Stopping the over medication of people with a learning disability, autism or both). The registered manager told us, “At Apple House, we focus on mindfulness and think about ways to keep active because keeping active is part of a holistic approach that keeps everybody well, people that live here and the staff team. We focus on regular fit breaks and goal setting such as saving some money each week to purchase new gym equipment and it’s had a really positive impact on people’s wellbeing.”
Where necessary, referrals to health services had been made to ensure people maintained a healthy lifestyle, identified goals and had positive outcomes. Instructions for staff on how to achieve this were included in people’s care plan. Each care plan was individual and centred around the person, with input from relatives as appropriate. A social care professional fed back, “I have been very impressed with how hard the registered manager works to improve the individual’s day to day life.”