Novus Care Limited - Canvey Island

Updated 20 February 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

Three inspectors and one expert by experience completed the inspection. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Novus Care is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own homes.

The service should have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The provider had appointed a new manager who was planning to register with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed to be sure the manager would be available.

The inspection site visit started on 13 January 2020 and ended on the 16 January 2020. This included visiting the office location to speak with the manager, interviewing staff and reviewing care records and policies and procedures. Before our initial visit we contacted people and professionals by telephone and email to obtain feedback on the service.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications which include information the provider is required to send us by law. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

During the inspection we spoke with the newly appointed manager, the operations manager and seven members of staff. We spoke with five people who used the service and six relatives. We looked at eight people’s care records including their medication records and daily notes. We looked at four staff member’s recruitment records. We reviewed training and supervision records and documents relating to the management of the service including complaints and compliments, satisfaction surveys and quality audits.

Updated 20 February 2020

Novus Care Limited - Canvey Island is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 72 people 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

People felt safe using the service. Staff knew how to keep people safe from the risk of harm. Risks to people had been assessed and medicines were safely managed. There were enough staff deployed to safely meet people’s needs. Staff had been safely recruited to ensure they were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff used good infection control practices to prevent the spread of infection.

Staff received training, supervision and appraisals to help them develop the necessary knowledge and skills to be competent in their role. 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.

Staff were very caring and motivated to support people. People were respected as individuals. Care plans contained very detailed information and guidance for staff on how to meet people’s needs. People's preferences for their care and support were regarded throughout. Whilst the level of detail was very person centred we noted one care plan required an update.

Staff knew what mattered to each person. People were provided with information on how to make a complaint and systems were in place to respond appropriately. The views of people were sought to drive improvements. People’s end of life needs were not always being identified in their care plans. We made a recommendation in relation to end of life.

Staff were included in the running of the service. Staff told us the management team were supportive and they enjoyed working at the service. The previous registered manager had been promoted to an operations manager, and a new manager had been appointed.

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

The last rating for this service was good (published 02 August 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor 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.