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Helping Hands Ipswich

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 1, Friars Courtyard, Princes Street, Ipswich, IP1 1RJ (01473) 927756

Provided and run by:
Midshires Care Limited

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

Updated 27 November 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:

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type:

This service is a small domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults, and younger disabled adults. At the time of our inspection, there were four people using the service.

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. However, we were told that the registered manager had given notice to leave the service shortly after our inspection. We were assured that arrangements had been put in place to cover the post until a newly appointed manager took up their post in November.

Notice of inspection:

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector. This meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this.

Inspection site visit activity started on 26 September 2019 and ended on 2 October 2019. We visited the office location to see the registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed any notifications we had received from the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us about by law.

We reviewed the Provider Information Return we had asked the service to complete. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We also reviewed any information about the service that we had received from members of the public and external agencies.

During the inspection we looked at records relating to four people’s care, four staff recruitment records, training records and complaints. We also looked at what audits and systems they had in place to check on the quality of service provided. We spoke with the registered manager and three staff members. We also met with four people while they were attending a coffee morning at the agency’s office.

After the inspection we received further feedback from two people who use the service and two staff members by email.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 27 November 2019

About the service

Helping Hands Ipswich is a Domiciliary Care Agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and younger adults.

At the time of our comprehensive inspection on 26 September and 2 October 2019, there were 32 people in receipt of the regulated activity of personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

Effective systems were in place to ensure people's safety. Risks were assessed and monitored, there were sufficient staff to support people and safe recruitment procedures were followed.

Staffing levels enabled people to maintain choice and involvement in their care and daily routine.

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

People were treated with respect and their privacy and dignity was protected. People were supported and encouraged to remain independent.

The provider had effective quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the care provided. People were asked for their views and their suggestions were used to improve the service and make any necessary changes.

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

Rating at last inspection: This service was registered with us on 20 August 2018 and this is it’s first inspection.

Why we inspected: This was their first planned comprehensive inspection following their registration in August 2018.

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.