We recognise as a company that working with the people who can specialise in the best proved systems in our field will afford us the time to do what we do best and provide outstanding care and support. 

Quality Compliance Systems are a market leader in the Care Sector for providing expert written Policies and Procedures, with over 50,000 users accessing the System daily.

QCS has provided Apple House documents completely personalised to our company.

The System is an online platform in which each staff member will be provided their own login details and will be able to access all available policies and procedures. Each person will also have their own reading list which will assist in their individual training pathway.

As part of the partnership, Quality Compliance Systems offers a Customer Care Support Team to help our teams every step of the way. Our staff teams will be able to contact them at any point for any support needed.

Apple House and QCS are committed to supporting all employees, and we welcome people to come to either of us with any questions or feedback.

The Managers of each Home have been undergoing individual training sessions for the new system and are now available to answer any questions.

One of the joys of implementing this system is the instant updates and an easy-to-use online interface; the system provides fast access to up-to-date policies and procedures. We look forward taking this forward and will keep you updated with the implementation across the company.

— Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations, Apple House Ltd

Ms. Sutcliffe’s tweet followed a CQC national press release today announcing Summerwood care home’s ‘Outstanding’ rating, the highest rating possible.  Following the press release, Apple House Ltd were delighted to be contacted by local press taking up this good news story in an age when, all too often, the care sector is in the spotlight for more negative reasons.

Apple House will be holding a celebratory party at Summerwood next month.

Please follow us on social media: @AppleHouseLtd and https://www.facebook.com/AppleHouseCare/

• The public – people who use services, families and carers – know what high-quality care looks like and what they have the right to expect.
• Staff working within adult social care understand what high-quality care looks like and how they can contribute to delivering it.
• Providers of adult social care share a clear vision and commitment to providing high-quality care.
• Commissioners and funders of adult social care support the commissioning of high-quality care and high-quality integrated care.
• National bodies (including regulators and improvement agencies) support integrated working across the system to champion high-quality care.

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What is ‘John’s Campaign?’

“John’s Campaign is named after Dr John Gerrard, who died in November 2014 after a catastrophic stay in hospital.

Shocked at how much damage disconnection can wreak on people with dementia, his daughter Nicci Gerrard and her friend Julia Jones co-founded the campaign with a single, simple principle: We should not enforce disconnection between carers and those who need care. When someone with dementia is hospitalized, the medical staff should do all within their power to make access easy for family carers and utilise their expert knowledge and their love. The principles of John’s Campaign are applicable everywhere when a person with dementia cannot live in their own home. Whether someone with dementia is living in a mental health unit, a nursing home, a rehabilitation unit, supported housing or a care home, their families must be welcome to support them as often as they are able. Families are more than “visitors” to a person with dementia; they are an integral part of that persons life and identity and often their last, best means of connection with the world.

In the two or so years since it was founded, overwhelming support has been shown from across the UK.  Nearly 400 wards, hospitals and other institutions have pledged their support.  Nearly 58 MPs from across political parties signed an Early Day Motion tabled by Valerie Vaz MP in December 2014.  In January 2015, the then PM David Cameron voiced support on the Andrew Marr show.  A year later, NHS England officially endorsed the campaign, including it in their 2016/17 Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payment framework.” — John’s Campaign Website.

Today the campaign continues to grow, with care homes such as Apple House now pledging their support via a family friendly ethos that underpins each home, and with recognition that connecting with families benefits not only those with dementia.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive for Care England, says, “There is really good evidence that people who maintain their relationships have much greater well-being, and better quality-of-life. It is for these reasons that John’s Campaign, is fighting to ensure that there are no restrictions on when people can engage with their loved ones.”

The Division of Clinical Psychology states, “Carer involvement and support is essential to providing best care, for example, by obtaining a person’s life history.”

With support from The Guardian newspaper and The Observer newspaper too, awareness of the vital connection between those receiving care and their families and friends can only increase further.

Here’s our certificate:

Read our blog post about being ‘family friendly, HERE

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BILD is an organisation that champion’s people’s rights and enables support.

Professor Gerry Simon set up BILD in 1971 because he was convinced there could be better support in the community for people with disabilities.  BILD has been championing the rights of people with disabilities ever since.

BILD uses its skills, knowledge and experience to turn policy into practice, solve problems and improve support. In working with Government departments, local authorities, health trusts, service providers and mainstream organisations, their aim is to improve the quality of the lives of people with disabilities. ––BILD Website

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The Apple House Ltd Approach:

The world of management and strategic planning can be full of jargon-based terms and phrases, which can take the core meaning away from readers who want to see the direction and aims a company wants to work towards.

While it is crucial that our company has a clear strategic plan from directorship level, the methods which enable this plan to work through an operational route are key to achieving the common goal. This planning stage will assist the company forward through an ever-increasing demanding economy and climate.

For our Company, the aim is to protect the homes of the people we support and the jobs of the people whom we employ throughout our services.

An infographic is used to give an overview of our Operational Goal Planning.

–Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations, Apple House.

The report summarises that most services they inspect give ‘good’ care to the people they support even though they may now been doing this with less money to pay for it.

It also states that adult care services have been able to maintain quality but that there is concern over the sustainability of adult services. Adult services have less money coming in and need to pay more money to staff members.

Some services are changing the way they provide the care to people to try and balance how they can do more with less.

Quality care provision is at the forefront of Apple House Ltd and we are working creatively and flexibly to adapt to the social care market. Our main principles of being committed to provide compassionate, professional care which enhances the quality of life for our residents and enables them to feel supported and valued within the community in which they live, remain our priority.

You can find more information on the report through the links provided below.

This information is also discussed through our residents, team and management team meetings so that we are kept abreast of national developments.

Link to – The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care in England 2015/16 – Summary

Link to – The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care in England 2015/16 – Easy Read

–– Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations

Over the recent months we have been gathering information and consulting with our staff and residents regarding the use of CCTV in and around our services.

The reason for this and our primary aim is to protect and safeguard the people who live, work and visit our services.

We aim to install CCTV systems in all of our homes over the next 12 months. The system of recording is public and unconcealed, the cameras will be on display. There will not be any introduction of covert CCTV.

As with any monitoring system that may be new and with the case of CCTV, people may be concerned that their privacy is not being respected or have other areas where they may or may not become uneasy regarding monitoring exercises.

Transparency is important, therefore we aim to inform people that there are surveillance cameras within our homes. We will be including this on our website, on notices within the homes, and at the front entrance to the homes.

If you are visiting our page today and would like to raise any points or ask a question then we would welcome this and invite you to use the ‘contact us’ page whereupon I will get back to you as soon as possible.

In the meantime these FAQ may be able to answer some thoughts you may have:

Q: How will I know which services have CCTV?

A: Each service will display a Privacy Notice in prominent positions on the outside of the building before you enter.

Q: Will there be cameras in peoples bedrooms?

A: No, there will not be any cameras in sleeping areas, bathrooms or toilets.

Q: Who will see the recordings?

A: The information, recordings and access to information will be managed at Director level. The information can and will be used if deemed appropriate if an incident or accident occurs and the information recorded is vital to the investigation.

Q: How long will they be kept for?

A: The recordings will be kept for a period of 2 weeks. If it is felt that this time needs to be extended due to the nature of the changing needs of the service then this policy will be reviewed. We aim to keep the recordings for the minimum time necessary.

–– Romaine Lawson, Director of Operations