About the service: Norfolk First Support provides a comprehensive range of assessment and reablement services to enable people to regain a level of independence and live as safely as possible in their own homes, or to provide support to carers to help them achieve this aim. The service is time limited for up to six weeks, where people are either discharged or longer-term care is arranged.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ People told us that care staff were kind and caring in their interactions with them, but sometimes they were not fully involved in agreeing their reablement goals. Some people also said that a full assessment of their needs had in some cases been delayed longer than the services' aim of 48 hours. People sometimes required longer than 48 hours to settle following discharge back home and so the visit was timed to maximise their ability to contribute to setting their reablement aims and goals.

¿ Auditing processes needed to be more robust and detailed to identify where improvement was needed. A registered manager was in post at the time of inspection but only worked part time which impacted on the oversight and governance of the service. Since the inspection they have been made full time.

¿ Further improvements were needed to ensure that risk assessments and care plans were sufficiently detailed so staff had clearer guidance.

¿ Staff knew how to support people and received mandatory training in their roles. However, due to the increasing complexity of people using the service, staff had requested training in more specialist areas to ensure they had the necessary skills to care for people effectively. This included mental health, end of life care, and substance misuse.

¿ People were supported to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. Further information was however required within care plans with reference to people’s dietary needs and food preferences.

¿ There were sufficient staff to cover all visits. Recruitment procedures were in place to ensure staff were suitable for their roles.

¿ People had access to healthcare professionals when required.

¿ The principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) were adhered to; the service had referred to social care professionals where there was doubt about a person’s mental capacity.

¿ There was a warm and friendly culture at the service. Staff felt supported and valued. The provider was committed to ensuring that improvements found would be addressed promptly.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection of this service since being registered with the Care Quality Commission in March 2018.

Why we inspected: We inspected this service in line with our inspection schedule for services not yet rated.

Enforcement: Action we told the provider to take is outlined at the back of the report.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor this service according to our inspection schedule in line with the rating of ‘Requires Improvement.’

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