Care Plus Devon Ltd Also known as Care Plus

Help at Hand Care Services is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care services to people in their own homes or people in supported living arrangements. At the time of our inspection 21 people received personal care.

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 and their relatives were positive about the service and the care provided. People were cared for by staff who knew how to keep them safe and protect them from avoidable harm.

People received their medicines as planned and systems were in place for the safe management of medicines. People's dignity, confidentiality and privacy were respected, and their independence was promoted.

Incidents and accidents were investigated, and actions were taken to prevent recurrence. Enough staff were available to meet people's needs and people told us when they needed assistance, staff responded promptly. Training records confirmed, and people told us, staff followed infection prevention and control procedures.

Care was delivered by staff who were well trained and knowledgeable about people's care and support needs. People's needs were assessed, and care was planned and delivered to meet legislation and good practice guidance. People were encouraged to maintain good diet and access health services when required. People's rights to make their own decisions were upheld.

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.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and

independence

Right care:

• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human

rights

Right culture:

• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people

using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives

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 17 February 2021) and there were two breaches 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.

Help at Hand Care Services is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people in their own homes. The service provides care and support to people which include personal care, food preparation and medication support. At the time of this inspection, the provider informed us that they were providing care and support to 21 people who used the service.

Not everyone using Help at Hand Care Services received a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service received by people provided with 'personal care'; 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 and relatives were happy with the care workers who supported them. Each person benefited from regular staff who knew them well. Comments included, “I am extremely well looked after” and “A lovely company where I think all the staff are very well trained and professional.”

People felt safe and comfortable when staff were in their home. Comments included, “I feel totally safe with them” and “I am very happy with them and feel very confident in their ability to keep people safe”. However, people's risks were not always identified and there were not always clear plans in place to tell staff how these risks should be managed or reduced.

The systems and processes in place for the safe administration and use of medicines were not always clear and policies were not always followed. We found no evidence that people had been harmed however we could not be sure people were receiving their medicines safely.

When there was an infection control issue relating to the use of PPE with one person, the provider hadn’t sought advice. Following the inspection, the local authority held a multi-disciplinary team meeting which included staff from the service to discuss how risks could be minimised and actions that needed to be taken to ensure people’s safety. We have made a recommendation about infection control during the COVID pandemic.

Staff recruitment practices were safe.

People told us the service was well managed. Comments included, “I think it is very well led. I can always speak with someone if I need reassurance” and “(provider’s name) has always been very professional, reassured me and made sure we are all very happy with the care provided”. There were systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of the service provided. However, monitoring systems had not identified the issues found at this inspection. When we identified issues during the inspection, the provider was responsive and immediately started work on making improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us in October 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This planned focused inspection was carried out based on the date of registration.

This inspection considered the key questions of safe and well-led and provides a rating for those key questions. There will be no overall rating given for the service as this was not a comprehensive inspection.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to records, these included risk assessments, the safe management of medicines, and the governance of the service at this inspection.

You can see what action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety.