- Homecare service
Apollo Care Blackpool
Report from 18 February 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 24 February 2025 to 4 March 2025. Apollo Care Blackpool is a domiciliary care agency and provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Not everyone was receiving personal care. CQC only inspects where people are receiving the regulated activity personal care. Where they do, we consider any wider social care provided. At the time of this inspection 33 people were receiving support with personal care.
There was an exceptional shared vision from the provider which was communicated to staff which was based on care, supporting, empowering and inspiring people. The provider had built on these values by ensuring staff were not only exceptionally skilled and motivated, but they felt empowered to give feedback and valued when they went above and beyond.
The provider worked alongside staff to come up with creative ideas to ensure people were not isolated and felt part of a larger community.
Relatives reached out to us and shared their experiences of how Apollo Care Blackpool changed their relatives lives for the better, and how ‘no other care company could compare.’
People told us they were treated with exceptional kindness and the staff were like family.
Training was completed and offered in ‘bundles’ to help support staff understanding. Training was delivered in a classroom, and we saw how the core values of Apollo Care Blackpool was written into the bespoke training packages.
The provider continuously researched and developed their auditing systems to ensure any errors or mistakes were identified and corrected early on. They used tried and tested approaches such as weekly auditing exercises and had a 100% success rate when trying to bring people ready to be discharged from hospital home to their preferred place.
People were involved in decisions regarding their care and had given consent where able. There was an exceptionally high level of positive feedback.
People's experience of this service
People were overwhelmingly positive about the quality of their care. People told us they were fully involved from the moment they met Apollo Care Blackpool and right through to meeting their new staff team. Comments included, “They are by far the best, their approach is just everything and more.” A relative said, “How they compare to other care companies is simple - they do not compare to them at all. Hands down the best provider.” A person said, “The staff are exceptionally skilled and the fact I get to meet them first makes a difference. I know who is coming.” Another person said, “We got to meet the staff first, and they did a shadow with more experienced care staff. They were shown the ropes, so to speak.”
Relatives told us how the care packages were often ‘tweaked’ upon request to take into account any appointments or last-minute plans people had. One relative said, “The difference with Apollo is, they ring me with solutions to things, not problems. They are very responsive and appreciate things can sometimes change. This is exceptional.”
People and relatives felt safe. A relative said, “If they felt [person] was too unsteady or too unwell to leave alone, they never do. They let me know and a staff member always stays with [person]. This makes me feel they are safe and well protected.”
Stakeholders contacted us to share experiences. One stakeholder said, “Any problems, queries or feedback that I have had in the past has always been dealt with professionally, promptly and friendly.” Another stakeholder told us, “Team [Apollo Care Blackpool] show true professionalism, at what can often be very stressful times for family and service users, especially so where they are being discharged from a hospital setting back into their own homes."