Northampton care home for elderly dementia patients still 'requires improvement', says health watchdog

A care home for elderly dementia patients in Northampton still 'requires improvement', according to health watchdogs.

The unannounced inspection at Apollo House in The Avenue, Dallington took place on October 26 and ended on November 3, with the subsequent report published in December.

Health watchdogs Care Quality Commission (CQC) say the site requires improvements across all five categories which are are: safety, well-led, effective, caring and responsible.

The CQC report says: "We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this focussed inspection and remains requires improvement.

"We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

"For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains requires improvement. This is based on the findings at this inspection."

At the previous inspection in April 2021, CQC said in its previous report that it did a comprehensive inspection following reported concerns.

The previous report says: "We received concerns in relation to the level of care people received, limited information within care plans and risk assessments and limited oversight. As a result, we undertook a full comprehensive inspection.

"We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, investigation into unexplained bruising and oversight of the service at this inspection."

However, in this latest report, CQC said the site is not longer in breach of regulations.

The latest report says: "At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations. The service remains rated requires improvement. This is the second time the service has been rated requires improvement."

The report adds: "People told us they felt safe living in Apollo House. One person said, "They [staff] are all very good, can't do enough for you."

An Apollo House spokeswoman said: “We took over a home that had been neglected for a number of years and have worked hard to bring about positive changes. We now have a robust management team and a very positive culture within the home.

"We are proud of everything our team has achieved in the short period of time since we took over, particularly given the difficulties affecting the care sector during the pandemic and in the current challenging climate.

"Naturally, we are disappointed at the rating outcome. However, the comments in the report are supportive of the service and we are pleased that the inspectors recognised that improvements have been made and that we were not in breach of the regulations.”

Click here to read the online report in full.