Helping Hands Sheffield

Helping Hands Sheffield is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 27 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People said the service was safe and that there were enough staff who were consistently on time. Staff were recruited safely. People received their medicines as prescribed from trained staff whose competency was assessed.

Staff received an induction and training before starting work, and staff had adequate ongoing monitoring and support through supervisions, spot checks and appraisals.

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

People and their relatives said staff were kind, caring and compassionate. people’s dignity, privacy and independence were promoted and protected by staff. Care plans contained good person-centred detail on their routines and preferences, and care plans were updated and reviewed regularly.

Staff said the manager was approachable, and there was a clear leadership structure in place. The manager had oversight of the quality of the service through audits and reports. The provider sought feedback from people in order to improve the service and held regular meetings with staff.

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

Rating at last inspection and update: The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 24 August 2018) and there was one breach of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of this inspection Helping Hands, Sheffield was supporting 35 people.

Not everyone using Helping Hands, Sheffield necessarily receives support with the regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The manager had been at Helping Hands, Sheffield for approximately two months at the time of this inspection. They were in the process of registration with CQC. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission 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.

The registered provider had a compliments and complaints policy and procedure in place and people told us they were aware of how to make a complaint if they needed to. However, some people and their relatives told us of occasions when they had tried to complain and they did not receive a satisfactory response.

Not everyone we spoke with thought there were enough staff available to ensure their care and support needs were met in a timely way. Some people and their relatives told us sometimes calls were missed or late. Not everyone had a regular group of the same care workers visiting them.

The registered provider had effective recruitment procedures in place to make sure staff had the required skills and were of suitable character and background.

Staff understood what it meant to protect people from abuse. They told us they were confident any concerns they raised would be taken seriously by the manager.

Staff were provided with an effective induction and relevant training to make sure they had the right skills and knowledge for their role. Staff were supported in their jobs through regular supervisions.

Staff understood the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The registered provider’s policies and systems supported this practice.

People told us they were treated with dignity and respect.

People received personalised care. People’s care records reflected the person’s current health and social care needs. Care records contained up to date risk assessments.

Staff told us they felt supported by the manager and were comfortable raising any concerns or queries.

People, their relatives and staff were regularly asked for their views of the service.

There were effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.

The registered provider had up to date policies and procedures which reflected current legislation and good practice guidance.

We found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This was a breach of Regulation 16, Receiving and acting on complaints.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of the report.