POVA care is a domiciliary care agency established by an individual, whom was a carer for 15 years herself, we provide home care services and support to adults over the age of 18, allowing them to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own home surroundings encouraging them to live as independently as possible. POVA care is committed to employing a highly skilled staff as this gives usthe confidence and ability to meet the needs of our service users and enable us to provide them with high quality care.

OUR PHILOSOPHY OF CARE

TRUSTED TRANSPARENT THE WAY HOME CARE SHOULD BE

The provision of high quality of care is at the heart of ourphilosophy of care. POVA Care places the rights and the wellbeing of the service users at the forefront of its philosophy. We believe that compassion and care for thevulnerable should form the basis of our practice.

It is part of our philosophy to provide each service user with a quality service which is tailored to their individual needs and to encourage emotional and social wellbeing. We believe it is of vital importance that service users gain and maintain as much independence in their lives as possible and to feel in control of their own lives. We believe we can achieve this by developing positive relationships with our service users and by respecting their individuality and diversity. We will say no if we don’t have the capacity for your needs, rather than taking you on board and later altering your visit times leaving you unhappy.

OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To empower the people who use our service to make informed choices, to remain as independent as possible and to take reasonable risks to enable them to live a fulfilled life in their community.

To provide the highest possible quality care within the constraints available, ensuring the health and wellbeing of the people using our services is promoted and maintained. We will work in partnership withsupport services and relatives to ensure that the best interests of the people using our services are met and that they are always treated with respect for their dignity and privacy.

Ensuring that the individuals using our services are safe. We will ensure that staff are subject to a robust recruitment process and that the appropriate checks and references are completed.

To ensure that the individuals using our service are supported and cared for by appropriately qualified and competent staff. We will invest instaff training and personal development. We will provide a robust induction programme that follows the Care Certificate and provide on-going supervision and appraisals to demonstrate staff competency.

We will encourage improvement within the service, a robust concerns, comments, and complaints procedure is in place to ensure that all comments, concerns, and complaints are received, listened to and acted upon. Information will be provided in accessible formats. We will ensure that the

people who use our services are listened to through our

quality assurance systems and user-friendly complaints procedure to inform the planning, development, and improvement of our service. To ensure that people who use our services.

Equality, Diversity, and human rights are actively promoted.

We will ensure that relevant policies and procedures are in place andtheir implementation is monitored and reviewed.

Doing our best to ensure that the care provided is of the highest quality and meets legislative regulations, robust quality.

Assurance procedures and systems will be used to monitor the outcomes for people using our service and enable us to develop our services to provide outstanding outcomes for those that useour services.

POVA CARE SERVICES:

Care relating to personal hygiene and toileting.

Dressing and undressing.

Assistance with feeding, eating and drinking.

Management of urinary and bowel functions. Promotion of continence and management of incontinence.

Assistance with mobility and transfers, including help with getting up and going to bed.

Promotion of independence and social functioning. Anxiety and behavior management.

Social care needs assessment and ensuring personal safety. Encouragement and assistance with cognitive functions.

Supervision and monitoring of medication.

Night sitting
Live in carers provided 24-hour care available

SOCIAL CARE:

Listening and talking to people is regarded as an important part of delivering care. We can assist clients inthe following ways:

Assistance with shopping Assisting with laundry Assisting with bed making

Assistance with household cleaning Going on a social outing into the community. The choice of transport must be agreed prior to ensure all risk assessments are carried out.

PROVISION OF MEALS AND DIETARY CARE: This includes: Food preparation within the home environment

Assistance with feeding

We encourage service users to eat a takeout every now and then, such as Fish and chips etc. Our carer’s will collect this for them.

Offer service users choices of meals to hand within the home.

OUR SERVICE STANDARDS
Service users can expect the following:

• Their carers to have the competence, knowledge and skills to carry out their tasks

• Their carer to arrive as near as possible to the time stated in the care plan

• Their carer to wear a POVA Care uniform and carry photographic identification

• Their carer to complete all the tasks detailed in the care plan

• To have their rights and dignity always respected and have their independence promoted

• To have their home, belongings and personal standards respected

• To have any changes in their needs reported and recorded • To maintain and uphold their confidentiality.

STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS

POVA care is committed to ensuring that our employees and carers uphold the principles of honesty, integrity and are both competent and responsible. They will have undergone various types of training to ensure that they can carry out the activities for which they are employed. We can confirm the suitability of each candidate through our recruitment and selection policy.

Prior to employment, we:
• Confirm the identity of the applicant

• Request and verify two written references
• Confirm entitlement to work
• Undertake a Criminal Record Bureau (DBS) check

• Undertake a Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults (SOVA) check. If successful, each staff member will complete an induction course, during which their knowledge and skills

are assessed and verified. They will then undertake a structured Training programme. After completing the Training, they will be expected to complete, within the first two years of employment, a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 2 in Care.

INSURANCE

POVA Care has all the mandatory insurance including comprehensive insurance cover in respect of Employer’s Liability and Public Liability. All relevant certificates can be inspected at our office.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

POVA Care operates an equal opportunities policy in its recruitment procedures to ensure that all care workers are selected based on their ability to fulfil the requirements of the job. Service users and care workers alike should be treated equally and regardless of Race, Religion, Colour, Nationality, gender, Marital status, Sexual orientation, Social status, politics, Disability or Age.

PRIVACY AND DIGNITY

POVA Care recognises that most interactions between care workers and service users means some form of dependence upon the care worker, therefore, an obligation exist to ensure that care workers adhere to a code of conduct which is there to ensure that all actions undertaken:

• Are with the expressed wish of the service user

• Are conducted in such a way that the service user does not feel undervalued or inadequate

• Protect privacy and dignity

• Promote respect between the care worker and the service user. In each case

• The care worker must be made aware of the nature of the care needed

• The views of the service user on support and assistance will take precedence unless otherwise explicitly stated in the care plan or where concerns arise in relation to health and safety

• When accompanying a service user to the toilet, assisting with bathing, dressing or other intimate tasks, care workers must endeavour to maintain the service user’s dignity and privacy, only undertaking those tasks that the service user is clearly unable to do.

Whenever possible the service user’s wishes will be respected concerning the sex of the care worker assigned, where a genuine occupational requirement is evident and when intimate care is to be provided. However, POVA Care recognizes that there is no automatic reason why a service user should raise concerns about a care worker of the opposite gender.

RECORDS
Every service user’s file will contain records on:

• The time, date of every visit, with a description of the services provided

• Assistance with medication and other requests for assistance with medication and the action taken

• Details of any changes in their circumstances, health, physical condition and care needs

• Any accident, however minor, to the service user or to the care worker

• Any other untoward incidents

• Any other information which would assist the next health or social care worker to ensure consistency in the provision of care;

The service user and their representatives will always have access to these records.

SAFE WORKING PRACTICES

POVA Care has an overriding responsibility to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of all its employees. In the field of domiciliary care and support, the service user’s home is the care worker “workplace” for much of the time. While the worker is in a service user’s home, POVA Care shares responsibility of its employee’s health and safety with the service user or their representative.

POVA Care will always endeavour to balance the needs of everyone involved in the care process (particularly the needs of the service user on the one hand and the needs of the care worker on the other) in order to ensure that: • Care workers do not perform tasks that put them and the service user at unreasonable risks.

• Care workers avoid moving and handling activities where it is not reasonably practicable.

• Risks are assessed, and appropriate steps are taken to reduce them as far as possible.

• Service users’ personal wishes on the type of assistance given to them by care workers are listened to and respected wherever possible.

• Service users’ independence and autonomy is supported as fully as possible.

EQUIPMENT

POVA Care provides appropriate protective equipment to its care workers including gloves and aprons. It is the responsibility of the service user and/or the commissioning trust/ health service executive to provide all other equipment in good working order e.g. hoists, commode, bath seat, rotary stands etc. It is also the responsibility of the afore mentioned to maintain such equipment in good working order.

PROTECTION FROM ABUSE

Abuse is defined as follows: “A single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action occurring within any relationship

where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress”.

POVA Care is fully committed to preventing abuse of any kind. We will strive to achieve this by

• Promoting a strong and identifiable culture of respect and valuing people

• Ensuring systematic recruitment practices are followed which ensure that references are taken up for all care workers, and use is made of all checking procedures, particularly the disclosure process

• Encouraging the role of the advocate for service users. Service users who have no relatives or friends to act as advocates should be encouraged to have an independent advocate who will act as a spokesperson for the service user and participate in care reviews as necessary.

We will always strive to provide a high quality of service. However, things can sometimes go wrong for totally unpredictable reasons. Service users and their representatives have the right to complain at any time if they are dissatisfied with the care we provide. All complaints or concerns will be thoroughly and fairly investigated without discrimination.

If we are at fault, we will attempt to put things right and no one will be treated less favourably because they made a complaint. Remember, it is your right to complain!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

At POVA Care any cancelled visits will be charged for, as we must keep the allocated time for the individual open. In respect to hospital admissions, we do also charge for the duration of the service user being admitted in hospital as the time slots are allocated to the individual, when services will be reinstated can be difficult to predict, we will charge for up to 4 weeks of admission. Inthe event of outbreaks, such as COVID or other virus outbreaks, we respect families may take decisions to temporary postpone care, in this instance POVA Care will charge for the allocated visits, as the times cannot be offered elsewhere.

COMMENTS, COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS

AT POVA Care your views matter to us!

In any case, we hope that as a first step a quick discussion about your concerns with your carer and/ or an office staff will resolve the problem. If for whatever reason this is not possible, and the problem is not resolved you can contact the manager (Aliciya Ranu) who will investigate your complaint in detail, carry out an investigation, review files and interview relevant staff and issue a formal response to you in writing.