The Care Quality Commission rates New Prospects, North Tyneside care service, as Outstanding

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found the quality of care provided by New Prospects to people using this service to be Outstanding following an inspection in April 2016.

The service was providing personal care to 60 people in their own homes in North Tyneside, Newcastle and Northumberland. The service also provided outreach support to 43 people in Newcastle, five of whom receive personal care and to 54 people in North Tyneside, three of whom received personal care. A number of people received 24 hour support from staff. Most of the people who used the service had a learning disability. The service also supported older people, those living with dementia, people with a mental health condition and those with a sensory impairment.

The service has been rated outstanding for being responsive and well-led, and was rated good for being safe, effective and caring. New Prospects was rated Outstanding overall.

A full report of the inspection is available.

The provider's vision and values were imaginative and person-centred to make sure people were at the heart of the service. This vision was driven by the exceptional leadership of the chief executive, manager and special projects manager. People, relatives and staff were extremely complimentary about the manager and the provider. There was a strong emphasis on continually striving to improve. The manager, staff and people carried out a number of checks to monitor the quality and safety of the service.

Staff were highly motivated and demonstrated a clear commitment to providing dignified and compassionate care and support. They told us that they enjoyed working at the service and morale was excellent.

People and relatives described the responsiveness of staff as "outstanding." Staff found inclusive ways to meet people's needs and enable them to live as full a life as possible. A creative activities programme was in place to help meet people's social needs.

People's privacy and dignity were promoted by staff. This was confirmed by people and relatives. One relative said, "They are really aware of dignity and privacy and respect him as a human being." Staff spoke respectfully to people and were able to give examples of how they promoted people's privacy and dignity such as ensuring that they were covered during personal care.

Dignity champions were appointed who delivered dignity training to staff. Staff were also reminded of the National Dignity Council's "10 Dignity Do's" during staff meetings. These included "Support people with the same respect you would want for yourself or your family."

Comments from relatives included:

• "They go that extra mile to get people what they want."
• "I have never seen him happier. He is very well taken care of and the support he gets is exactly tailored to his needs," "We've noticed that he is much more outgoing now and initiates conversations."
• "They know all about his little nuances and changes in behaviour."

Relatives gave examples of how staff were responsive to their family member's needs.

One relative said, "He was overweight, and now he goes to weight watchers, a member of staff goes with him, otherwise he wouldn't go. He has lost over three stone and the staff member has lost weight too! She [staff member] also goes to exercise classes with him too, otherwise he wouldn't go."

Debbie Westhead, Deputy Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care in the North, said:

“This is a fantastic personal care service and there are many examples of outstanding practice that are clearly helping in delivering an excellent person-centred service.

“We were particularly impressed with the service’s commitment to encouraging people using the service to integrate into the local community. This included a social club night once a week attended by people using the service, staff and it was also open to the local community. Senior management such as the chief executive and the manager often went to the social club as well, to talk to people and find out how they were.

“Their commitment to providing a personalised service to people such as food likes and dislikes, and making sure all information was available in an accessible format was very impressive. They even transferred any posts from the service’s Facebook page into audio format so those with difficulty reading could still feel involved.

“This is a real achievement for the whole team at New Prospects, and a great example of what Outstanding care should look like.”

Ends

For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Kerri James on 07464 92 9966.

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