4 February 2021
During a routine inspection
Novus Care provides personal care to 56 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Except for two, the people we spoke with during this inspection were positive about the service they received.
People and their relatives said they felt safe with the staff who supported them. Robust recruitment checks were in place. When care had to be prioritised it had been scheduled around those people with the greatest needs. People said that despite having experienced some problems caused by the effects of the pandemic, they had regular staff. Staff had been trained in safeguarding and knew how to raise any concerns correctly.
Staff had a good supply of PPE and used this effectively when supporting people.
Staff had been trained in a range of mandatory subjects, and new employees were given an induction. People’s needs were assessed before care started. People were supported to eat and drink in line with their assessed needs. Detailed information was available in people’s care plans relating to their health needs and the support they needed.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The staff respected people’s choices and asked them about the care they wanted. Records included information for staff about what outcomes the person wanted to achieve and how to support them to maintain their independence. People were generally supported by regular staff which helped to develop a good rapport.
Care plans had been reviewed, and people and staff told us they had been involved in this process. Where appropriate, end of life choices had been recorded. The registered manager had oversight of the complaints process and provided appropriate and timely responses.
Some staff told us that communication between themselves and the office could be improved. Generally, people told us they could not fault the staff and that they did a good job. Several people said they would recommend the company. Governance checks had been put in place, and these were being routinely carried out to monitor the quality of the service people received.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection. This service was registered with us on 30/10/2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
The inspection was prompted in part due to concerns received about the staff working without the correct recruitment checks or PPE. A decision was made for us to inspect and examine those risks.
We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe sections of this full report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor the information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.