This inspection took place on 10 May 2016 and 3 June 2016. On both days, the inspection was announced. Due to the amount of people this agency supported, the provider was given seven days’ notice of our inspection visit to ensure senior management, registered managers, care staff and associated records were available when we visited the agency’s office. Helping Hands is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care and support to people in their own homes within the local geographical area of Alcester. In the report, this is referred to as the hourly service. Helping Hands also provides a nationwide ‘live in’ service to support people living in their own homes who may have more complex care needs and therefore, require additional levels of support.
At the time of our inspection visit, the agency supported in excess of 1000 people across the live in service and the hourly service (hourly service calls range from 15 minutes to 10 hours in duration).
This service was last inspected on 22 April 2013, when we found the provider was compliant with the essential standards described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010.
There was a registered manager in post. 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. Helping Hands employed several registered managers at this location. Each regional area, North, South, East and Central had a registered manager responsible for the staff and the delivery of care to people using the service, within those regions. Where required, we have split certain sections of our report into these geographic areas to report on our findings.
People felt safe using the service and staff understood how to protect people from abuse and keep people safe. There were procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely. Checks were carried out on staff during the recruitment process to make sure they were suitable to work with people who used the service.
There were enough staff to deliver the care and support people required and people received care from a consistent staff team. People told us staff were friendly, respectful and caring and had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Staff received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training to support them in meeting people’s needs. Staff felt the training provided them with the right skills and knowledge to support people safely and effectively.
The provider understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and staff respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.
Care plans contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available to them. Staff said they could raise any concerns or issues with the provider and registered manager, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.
There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys, operational board meetings, spot checks on care staff and a programme of other checks and audits.
In the report we have reported the hourly service and live in service separately where we want to make people’s experiences of those services reflective of the service they received.