New Age Care

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

The majority of people told us they were involved in deciding what care they wanted before they joined the service. Systems were in place to review people’s assessments to reflect people’s suggestions, or changes in their needs. The assessment process used provided staff with an overview of people’s health, social history, care needs and preferences. People were encouraged to have enough to eat and drink to remain well. Staff supported people to see other health and social care professionals when they wanted this. People valued the opportunities provided to remain healthy and reduce their social isolation. Staff were supported to communicate key information about changes in people’s care needs across New Age Care staff teams and gave us examples showing how they had advocated for people when decisions were made by other health professionals. Other health and social care professionals told us New Age staff knew the needs of the people they cared for well and told us staff followed advice they provided. The care provided by staff had resulted in improvement in people’s health and well-being. Staff considered if people needed support to make key decisions about their care and consulted other health and social care professionals where decisions were required to be made in people’s best interests. However, systems did not always ensure reviews of people’s care always reflected the level of support they had received and the outcomes achieved. There were instances where staff would benefit from further, consistent guidance to ensure they understood how to support people. This included in relation to skin integrity and nutrition. In other cases, there were examples where the level of guidance given to staff to enable them to meet people’s needs and promote good outcomes was detailed. The provider’s representative provided assurances a system would be introduced to check referrals to other health and social care professionals would be followed up. .

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People told us they were involved in deciding what care they wanted before they joined the service. People said staff spent time chatting with them to find out what care they wanted. One person said as a consequence of this, “My care plan covers everything I wanted to be in and I get that care.” Other people said their needs were reassessed as they changed. People valued that the assessment process considered which staff they would be compatible with and said this helped to ensure they developed good relationships with the staff caring for them. One relative told us they supported their family member when their needs were being assessed and plans developed to address their family members care needs. The relative said, “I helped write it and we talked about [person’s name] needs.” However, for one person, the assessment process had not been robust. It was identified at assessment this person required assistance at regular intervals. The person’s relative told us this information was communicated to staff but staff had not assessed this thoroughly and therefore agreed to provide care which they subsequently had to withdraw from providing.

Staff told us people’s needs were initially assessed by senior staff before they started to receive care. Staff described the level of information they received about people’s initial assessments as good, for example, staff were provided with an overview of people’s health, social history, care needs and preferences. Staff said they were also supported to provide the care people wanted from the start of their care through introductory visits with senior staff. This helped to ensure people’s needs and preferences were met. One staff member told us they had started to work alongside senior staff to undertake people’s assessments. The staff member said, “They’re more in depth than I though. We amend care plans if they disclose more later. We use care plans for more information, to work out what to chat to people about.” Staff gave us examples showing how they identified when people’s needs had changed. Staff told us people’s needs were then reassessed and their care plans changed. This included where people’s health or mobility needs changed.

Processes were in place to identify people’s needs and develop care plans which reflected these. Systems were in place to review people’s assessments based on their suggestions, or changes in their needs. Based on the experience of one person, the provider may wish to consider further developing their assessments in relation to repositioning and continence care.

People told us staff encouraged them to have enough to eat and drink to remain well, by providing drinks and meals which reflected their preferences. One person told us staff, “Makes me breakfast and makes me drinks. [Staff member] is organised and does my toast nice. [Staff member] always makes me a cup of tea.” Another person said, “Staff do listen to my food choices.” Other people told us staff supported them to store their food at the correct temperate.

Staff understood the link between good nutrition and hydration and health. Staff gave us examples showing how they supported people's individual needs so they would have sufficient to eat and drink to remain well. This included supporting people in hospital settings, as staff recognised the importance for some people of having access to nutritional and hydration support from staff who they knew well. Staff explained they ensured they offered people choices based on their food and drink preferences, so they would be encouraged to eat and drink enough. One staff member gave us an example of extra support one person needed to be encouraged to eat and drink enough. This included carefully explaining to the person what fluid they were being offered, so they would be encouraged drink it.

Systems for ensuring staff always had consistent guidance in how to support people required further development. Processes to ensure referrals had been made to other health and social care professionals needed to be improved. Processes were in place to assess people’s nutritional and hydration needs.

People gave us examples showing how staff had supported them when they required care from other agencies, such as their GPs, when people were ill. One person told us how much they valued the gentle exercise sessions provided by New Age staff each week, and told us this complimented the care they received from other agencies. Relatives were confident staff would contact other health and social care professionals when their family members wanted additional support.

Staff told us they were supported to communicate key information about changes in people’s care needs between themselves and their colleagues. One staff member said, “We write this on a handover record, such as if [people] now have different medicines, or need creams. We would also record if a person was ill.” Staff told us they had opportunities at staff meetings and to discuss people’s needs and the best way to support them. Staff told us some people also received care from other health and social care professionals and gave us examples of how they worked together. For example, one staff member said, “[Person’s name] had palliative nurses and attended with the GP. I worked in tandem with the palliative nurses.” Another staff member told us they had worked closely with a person’s district nursing team. As a result of this work, New Age staff had been provided with additional training, so the person was able to receive the support they wanted from their regular care staff team. Staff also gave us examples showing how they had supported people to arrange GP appointments and visits to people’s homes.

Other health and social care professionals told us New Age staff knew the needs of the people they cared for well and told us staff followed their advice. One health professional told us, “We have been involved in a review of New Age Care’s, Care Plan. They will always discuss any ideas they have that can enrich [person’s name] life, and their health and wellbeing.”

Systems for ensuring referrals to professionals were actioned required improvement. For example, where staff had identified and escalated the need for a person to be referred for speech and language support, no system was in place to ensure this had been promptly sought as agreed by the person’s family. The operations manager agreed to add a further action to their Service Improvement Plan to ensure all specific follow up actions had been completed.

People told us staff supported them to maintain their health and well-being. One person said, “Staff have learned my stand and sit exercises so they can take part and do them too. When I am walking with their support, they sing to me in their language and I sing in mine.” Other people told us they appreciated the extra support they received through exercise sessions which were made available by New Age staff and support to eat and drink things they enjoyed, so they would remain well.

Staff knew what support people wanted to enable them to maintain their health and well-being and gave examples showing how they used this knowledge to support people. This included care staff providing support to help to ensure people remained free from infection and to promote people’s opportunities to do things which mattered to them. This helped people to be less isolated. Staff told us they were encouraged to contact ether the office staff or people’s GPs directly, if they had any concerns for people’s physical wellbeing.

Processes were in place to inform staff what support people wanted to maintain their health. Systems were in place to identify if people had any allergies and if any other health and social care professionals supported people to maintain or improve their health. The provider’s representative provided assurances a system would be introduced to check referrals to other health and social care professionals would be followed up.

People told us the care provided by staff had resulted in improvement in their health and well-being. One person told us they now experienced less falls. Another person said, “I have had a sore spot, which the staff have help clear up and they do keep a good eye on these things, and they help with my catheter, which is a big help.” People told us they valued the support they received which helped to reduce their social isolation. One person told us about the support they received from New Age staff to do things they enjoyed and said, “It’s absolutely brilliant, they’ve given me my life back.”

Staff gave us examples showing how they had identified concerns about people’s health and wellbeing and described the approaches they had taken to ensure people received the care they needed. This helped people to recover from illnesses promptly. For example, in relation to the improved health during urinary tract infections, and people experiencing reduced anxiety and social isolation.

Processes to ensure people's needs were consistently monitored and their outcomes always improved required improvement. For example, there were instances where staff would benefit from further guidance to ensure they were given detailed and consistent information on how to support people. This included in relation to skin integrity and nutrition. In other cases, there were examples where the level of guidance given to staff to enable them to meet people’s needs and promote good outcomes was detailed. The systems in use had not always ensured reviews of people’s care always reflected the level of support they had received and the outcomes achieved.

People said staff asked them if they agreed to receiving care. One person told us, “We discuss what I want and what choices [I have].” Another person said, “They [staff] always ask me.” People told us their decisions and choices were respected by staff.

Staff understood the importance of involving people indecisions about their day-to-day care. One staff member explained they would explore alternative ways to communicate and seek people’s consent. The staff member said, “You give [people] a chance to make decisions, but you may need to make best interest decisions whilst respecting them. You would look for [people’s] body language, and try other ways.” Staff gave us examples showing how they had advocated for people with other professionals so they would receive the care they wanted with minimum distress.

Systems were in place to consider if people needed support to make key decisions about their care. Processes were followed by staff who also consulted other health and social care professionals where decisions were required to be made in people’s best interests.