Helping Hands Cosham

Updated 27 August 2022

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 4 July 2022 and ended on 25 July 2022. We visited the location’s office on 7 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two family members of people who received care and support. We spoke with the registered manager, care co-ordinator, two care training practitioners and one care staff. We reviewed a range of records including daily care records, support plans and risk assessments. We also reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including recruitment records, quality assurance records, training and supervision information, along with policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 27 August 2022

About the service

Helping Hands - Cosham is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care for people due to old age, illness or disability. At the time of inspection, the agency was providing care to 11 people living in Portsmouth and surrounding areas of Hampshire.

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 told us staff cared for them with kindness and compassion. People were supported by a team that were passionate about providing person centred care, using person centred information. People and their families spoke positively about the care they received, and the competence of the staff employed by the service. People felt safe while being cared for and spoke of being involved in creating their care packages. People were supported to meet their nutritional and medication needs where appropriate and infection prevention and control procedures were followed.

People’s support plans reflected their individual needs and preferences, while any risks had been identified and managed. Staff were supported by an experienced management team, who were committed to identifying and meeting staff’s training needs. This helped reduce risks to people while maintaining their independence and diversity.

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.

Safe recruitment practices were followed and appropriate checks were performed. This ensured that only appropriate staff were employed to provide care in people’s own homes. There were enough staff to provide care to people and plans were in place to recruit alongside supporting new people, to grow the service. Staff told us they received regular supervision and training, which supported them to provide care.

People and staff were able to contact the management team and were happy with their response in the event of raising concerns. Appropriate systems were in place for investigations to be performed when necessary and staff had the relevant knowledge to learn lessons and identify trends and patterns.

There was a passionate team, led by the registered manager, whose aim was to provide person centred care to people in a dignified and respectful way. There were quality assurance systems in place to obtain feedback and make necessary improvements.

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

Rating at last inspection

This was the first inspection at this service. The service registered with us on 29 June 2020 and went into voluntary dormancy on 23 September 2021. The service resumed following dormancy on 26 April 2022.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.