Helping Hands Worthing

Updated 13 April 2019

The inspection:

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

Inspection team:

This inspection was carried out over one day by one inspector and an expert by experience, who had experience of supporting older people. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type:

Helping Hands is a domiciliary care service, which provides personal care and support services for a range of people living in their own homes. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection:

This was announced inspection. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in.

What we did:

Before inspection:

•We used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return (PIR). Providers are required to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

•We reviewed notifications we received from the service about important events.

•We looked at Information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

•We sought feedback from professionals who work with the home, including health and the local authority.

During the inspection:

•We spoke with six people who use the service, five relatives, the registered manager, area manager, care co-ordinator and four members of staff.

•We pathway tracked the care of three people. Pathway tracking is where we check that the care detailed in individual plans matches the experience of the person receiving care.

•We reviewed records including accident and incident logs, quality assurance records, compliments and complaints, policies and procedures and two staff recruitment records.

Updated 13 April 2019

About the service: Helping Hands is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides support to older people and younger adults with physical disabilities, sensory impairments and mental health needs. At the time of the inspection 20 people were receiving regulated activities.

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

People’s experience of using this service:

•Since the previous inspection, improvements have been made in relation to medicine management and quality assurance monitoring.

•People and relatives told us, they were happy with the care and support they received from Helping Hands staff and were comfortable to raise concerns with staff. One person told us, “I totally trust them.”

•People and relatives told us that staff treated them with kindness and we observed friendly interactions. One person told us, “I am cared for very well, they are all so kind and friendly.”

•To prevent and control the risk of infection staff wore gloves and aprons when supporting people.

•People were supported to maintain their health and had support to access health care services when they needed to and people were supported to maintain a balanced diet. One person said, “They prepare my lunch and offer me the choice.”

•Staff had received essential training and knew how to care for people, in line with their needs and preferences.

•People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

•Systems supported people to stay safe and reduce the risks to them, ensuring they were cared for in a person-centred way. The provider had quality assurance systems in place to monitor the standard of care and drive improvement.

•People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the culture of the service and said it was well managed. One relative told us, “The Manager has excellent communication skills, she will always respond to my calls and emails.”

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (report published 21 March 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this home and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good.