Novus Care Limited - Watford

People’s experience of using this service:

Care plans had been developed when people started using the service. However, risk assessments had not always been developed for each identified risk and lacked detail and guidance for staff. Staff demonstrated they knew the people they supported.

Care plans were person centred and detailed people’s choice and preferences.

The registered manager was involved in the day to day support due to covering staff vacancies. However, this meant the auditing and monitoring of the service needed to improve. Audits were not always completed in a comprehensive way.

Staff received all the training they needed to do their role.

People felt the staff were caring and they were happy with the support they received. Staff were responsive to people’s needs and supported them in the way they wanted to be supported.

Rating at last inspection: At our last inspection the service was rated as “good”. Our last report was published on 19th April 2016.

Why we inspected: This was a planned comprehensive inspection that was scheduled to take place in line with Care Quality Commission (CQC) scheduling guidelines for adult social care services.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service to ensure that people receive safe, compassionate, high quality care.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Novus Care is a community based service providing home care support for people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection, there were approximately 45 people being supported by the service.

The service has a registered Manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

There were risk assessments in place that gave guidance to staff on how risks to people could be minimised and how to safeguard people from the risk of possible harm.

The provider had effective recruitment processes in place and there were sufficient staff to support people safely. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities and would seek people’s consent before they provided any care or support. Staff received supervision and support, and had been trained to meet people’s individual needs.

People were supported by caring and respectful staff who they felt knew them well. Staff also felt that they were given the opportunity to get to know the people they supported. Relatives we spoke with described the staff as very good and caring.

People’s needs had been assessed, and care plans took account of their individual, preferences, and choices. Staff supported people when required to attend health care visits such as GP appointments and hospital visits.

The provider had a formal process for handling complaints and concerns. They encouraged feedback from people and acted on the comments received to continually improve the quality of the service. The provider also had effective quality monitoring processes in place to ensure that they were meeting the required standards of care.

We reviewed the recruitment policy and noted that there were appropriate arrangements in place and checks were carried out before staff started working with people who used the service. The provider and staff demonstrated they were aware of people's cultural needs and for ensuring equality and valuing diversity. We noted that appropriate care needs and risk assessment were in place. There were arrangements in place for monitoring quality assurance. Feedback forms had been completed by people who used the service. Their comments indicated that they were fully satisfied with the quality of care they received.