Nourish

Frequently asked questions

 

What will Nourish do and why are we using it?

What will Nourish be used for?

Instead of using paper support plans, we will be moving to having digital records. All the most recent and relevant information which is currently in someone’s Plan for Life will be added to a digital record instead. We will also be adding working safely information and, in the future, potentially start using it for incident management too.

Why did we choose Nourish?

We have involved staff and people we support in selecting the right system for Brandon. Nourish was chosen as it is easy to use and is already in use by 25% of the social care market. We spoke to some of the people who were already using Nourish and they confirmed that it has had a really positive impact on how they record and update support plans.  Oxfordshire have now been using the system since July 2024 and all the managers surveyed said they were either positive or very positive.  Staff also fed back very positively about using the system. 

How will the app change how we record and use support plans?

Anyone on shift, including any bank or agency workers, will have access to either a Brandon tablet or a mobile phone to use Nourish whilst on-shift. Managers will need to ensure agency and bank staff have access to the system by completing the online form Microsoft Forms (office.com) 

Team Leaders will work with managers to ensure existing assessment and support planning information is added onto the system.  On a daily basis you will record information as you go; the system will help remind you of the interactions planned throughout the day (and night). 

Will staff have to spend more time on support plans and notes? 

The feedback from other people already using the system is that it takes less time, not more time, and the quality of information you can capture is better. The best feature is the ability to capture daily notes as you go out and about using voice notes. It also provides more opportunity for the people we support to be involved in their own daily notes.

What information will people we support, and their families/contacts have access to?

Nourish is designed for an individual and their support worker to work together to update information throughout the day. At this point we are not rolling out the family portal due to the complexity of confidentially, at this point. 

 

How will Nourish be introduced in my area and what information will need to be transferred over?

What training and support will be provided to use Nourish?

All locality managers and team leaders will have two days training. This can be booked through Learning Hive. Your area manager will be informed about the dates and when you need to book on. 

The software is easy to use so for support workers – they will be guided through how to use the system within Nourish. If you’re stuck, there is guidance built into the software, including an online support function, available 24/7. There will also be online drop-in sessions, more detail can be found on the intranet Nourish (brandontrust.org). Steph, Gareth and Will, members of the Brandon Nourish project team, will also be coming out to help you in your area. 

How will existing support plans be moved into the new system?

Following full training, team leaders will be responsible for adding current support plan information into Nourish. Just the latest information will need to be added.

Again, support will on hand if you’re stuck with how to do anything.

How do I ensure all the staff in my team understand the updated support plans?

Support staff who are logging in to a person they support will be asked to complete an acknowledgment that they have read and understood the updated support plan. Whilst this will mean several acknowledgements will need to be completed for each person. However, it is important that people become familiar with the new layout of information and understand any changes which may have been made.

What other types of records, information and checks will be recorded in Nourish?

Most of the routine building and equipment checks will also be recorded in the system: carbon monoxide testing, fire alarm testing, fridge temperature checks etc.

At this point incident reporting will continue to be managed through B-Safe, but as part of the pilot we will be testing it in Nourish. If successful, this will be rolled out in future years.

Risk Management

When adding risk information into Nourish, please make sure you use the pre- mitigation score to ensure it appears on the front page for each person we support, if there is a high risk. This will be explained further during the locality manager training.

What do we do about hospital passports?

Nourish has the option of generating an emergency pack, with the latest information.  This should be printed, at least every six months or when there is a change. 

This information can be emailed to a medical professional using a secure email address or if a support worker goes to hospital with a person we support, they can access and share the information live. 

This does not replace your current processes but can be used in addition. The on- call duty manager will also have access to record and can email this, out of hours, if required. 

 

What will happen to previous support plans and information?

What should happen with paper support records/files? 

Plan for Life

• Handover notes in Nourish will be used instead of writing handover notes in communication books.
  
  
• In the initial weeks of implementing Nourish we will need to ensure that printed paperwork (from Sharepoint) & daily notes are still available. Once we are confident that Nourish is working as expected, this folder, which belongs to Brandon Trust as part of our commissioned agreement, will be archived as per our Records Management & Retention Policy.
  
  
• Paper support notes and health notes will need to be kept locally for 9 months, in case they required as evidence for CQC or local authority inspections. These can then be archived as per policy.

What will happen to the Working Safely folder?

• You will continue to use existing paperwork but we will looking to move the working safely folder onto Nourish in Spring 2025 

What’s happening with Health Action Plans?

This information is will now be available on Nourish and so this paperwork will no longer be required. Old information can be archived.

 

What will managers team leaders need to check to make sure support plans are kept updated in Nourish?

 As a manager, what will I be expected to check?

It will be expected that you must check support plans are in date each week, using the dashboard in Nourish. The training will cover how do this.

As a team leader, what will I be expected to check?

As a team leader you must regularly check alerts throughout the day, to ensure medications have been taken at the right time and that staff are updating interactions and daily notes throughout the day. You must check alerts at the beginning, middle and end of your shift.

At minimum, once a month all people we support should complete the ‘How am I’ interaction.

How are we going to be using the alerts function in Nourish?

Setting up alerts in Nourish can be useful to remind teams and staff members about important information or tasks relating to a person you support or their home.

To make sure alerts don’t become too frequent or make it difficult to see other key information in Nourish, we will therefore initially only be using alerts for medications. There is normally a two-hour window for taking medication and so a medium alert will be triggered an hour after the start of the medication window and a high alert at the end of the two-hour window. Managers will be expected to check these alerts and follow up. Whilst staff can also raise an alert, it is expected this should not substitute for a phone call or discussion with your manager if there is something you are worried about.

If, as a manager, there are alerts you would like to add in future, please speak with Gareth Williams or Stephanie Taylor and we can add this onto our list for consideration in the future. The purpose of the pilot is for us to learn together how to use Nourish to help us provide even better support, so we are keen to know what would help us do that.

 

Technology and internet connection

What devices or technology is needed to use Nourish?

Nourish is an online app used on an Andriod smart phones and/or tablets. There is also a desktop version that will mainly be used by managers.

We will be making sure that all teams have the right Brandon devices available, so that all members of staff on shift supporting people can use Nourish whilst they are working.

What if our workplace/place we support people has no internet or connection issues?

As it’s an online app, Nourish requires an internet connection to use. We will be supporting any teams that have internet connectivity issues at their place of work. 

If you are already aware of internet issues at your workplace and have not raised this with our DS Team, please let them know by raising a request on the Service Desk.

How do we give access to Nourish to Agency, Bank and Permanent staff who are temporarily working in a different location?

1. Agency Staff - we are working towards a solution where when you set up any agency any member of staff in Neuven, they will automatically have access to the right location via the booking. However, in the short term, please complete the online webform.
2. Bank staff - will be allocated a location within B-Hive based on where they have worked over the last 6 months. this will determine which locations they have access to in Nourish. If they need to work somewhere else to for a time limited period: complete the online webform.
3. Permanent staff who need to work somewhere else for a time limited period: complete the online webform.

 

Please set up the agency, bank or permanent detailing times they are supporting someone. Do not give access longer than needed. There will be monthly audits to ensure we are not breaching our GDPR obligations.

 

Will Brandon be paying for eye tests now I have to use Nourish?

Nourish is designed for support staff to be able to quickly and easily update support plans, as activities happen throughout the day rather than notes being completed at the end of the shift. Due to this, we do not expect the screen time spent using the app to be overly long and will not quality for free eye tests/glasses.

However, if as a manager you have concerns that a person’s change of role or duties requires extended use of screens, please let the Health and Safety team know and they can undertake DSE assessment, if required.