New Horizons 24/7 Pvt Ltd was rated Requires Improvement overall following its July 2023 inspection, with breaches of Regulation 12 (safe care and treatment) and Regulation 17 (good governance) identified in relation to excessive staff working hours, incomplete training, inadequate care records, and insufficient governance and audit processes. The service demonstrated notable strengths in the quality of relationships between staff and the person supported, safeguarding practice, and infection control, but requires significant improvement in oversight, record keeping, and staffing management.
Concerns (7)
criticalStaffing levels: “staff worked excessive hours without breaks during shifts or between shifts. They also slept at night when they were required to be awake. This increased the risk of potential harm to person.”
criticalCare planning
: “care records were not reflective of the person's current needs. Risks associated with falls and critical health conditions needed to be sufficiently detailed with guidance in place.”
criticalGovernance: “Governance processes needed further development to ensure they encapsulated all aspects of the service. There were gaps in some of the audits completed for medicines and record keeping.”
criticalRecord keeping: “accurate, complete and contemporaneous records were not in place. This is a breach of regulation 17 (Good governance) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.”
moderateStaff training: “only 2 out of 5 staff had completed training in learning disabilities and 1 staff member had completed training in de-escalation. Not all staff had completed the care certificate.”
moderateMedication management: “Staff understood when to give the person 'when required' medicines, however protocols to dispense these types of medicines were not in place.”
moderateLeadership: “The provider was not aware of guidance to support people with a learning disability and/or autism. They were also not aware of health and safety executive regulations to support staff at work.”
Strengths
· Staff knew the person extremely well and were responsive to their needs, able to anticipate and respond to risks.
· The person had a core staff team who had developed meaningful and supportive relationships, enabling early identification of health changes.
· Staff had received safeguarding training and knew how to recognise and report abuse.
· Effective infection prevention and control measures were in place, with staff using PPE effectively.
· Staff turnover was very low, supporting the person to develop and maintain meaningful relationships.