Helping Hands DCS

Updated 14 November 2017

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This announced inspection took place on 2 and 3 October 2017. The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert by experience. An expert-by-experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

As part of the inspection, we reviewed the information we held about the service, including notifications. A notification is information about events that by law the registered persons should tell us about. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We asked for feedback from the commissioners of people's care to find out their views on the quality of the service. We also contacted the Local Authority for information they held about the service. We used this information to help us plan our inspection.

During the inspection, we spoke with nine people who used the service and two relatives. We also spoke with the registered manager, the care manager, a care coordinator and three care staff.

We reviewed a range of records, which included the care records of four people. We looked at four staff files, which included pre-employment checks and training records. We also looked at other records relating to the management of the service including polices and quality audits.

Updated 14 November 2017

This inspection took place on 2nd and 3rd October 2017 and was announced. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because the location provides domiciliary care services; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. Helping Hands provides personal care for people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 51 people using the service. This was the first comprehensive inspection of the service following registration.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People received support from staff that understood how to keep them safe. Staff could describe risks to people’s safety and the action they took to keep people safe. Staff were safely recruited and there were sufficient staff to meet people’s needs when they needed it. People received support to take their prescribed medicines.

People received support from staff with the skills and training to know how to support people safely. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People had support to access a choice of meals and receive support to maintain their health.

People had good relationships with staff and told us they felt they were treated with dignity and respect. People were offered choices and were supported to maintain their independence.

People received a service which was responsive to their needs and preferences. People’s needs were assessed and care plans were reviewed regularly. Complaints were responded to and people felt they could raise any concerns.

People felt able to access the registered manager and staff felt supported in their role.

Quality checks were carried out and people received feedback and this was used to drive improvements. However the checks on medicine records had not identified the concerns around topical medicines and there were gaps in notifications to CQC.