Helping Hands Chester

Updated 21 January 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

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

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.

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 5 December 2019 and ended on 16 December 2019. We visited the office location on 5 and 16 December 2019. We visited people in their homes on 13 December 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited three people and two relatives in their own homes. We spoke by telephone with four people who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the provider, registered manager, deputy manager, senior support worker and support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 21 January 2020

About the service

Helping Hands Chester is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people living in their own homes. 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. At the time of our inspection, 42 people were receiving a regulated service.

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

People were supported by staff that had been safely recruited and had received an induction, shadow shifts and training suitable for their role. There were enough staff to meet people’s needs. People told us mostly regular staff visited them.

People’s needs were assessed before they were supported by the service and they told us they were involved in this process. Care plans and risk assessments reflected people’s individual needs and were regularly reviewed to ensure the most up-to-date information was available for staff to follow. Staff had a good understanding of people’s needs and had developed positive relationships with the people they visited regularly.

People were protected from the risk of harm and abuse. Safeguarding policies and procedures were in place and staff had received training on how to keep people safe. Staff told us they felt confident to raise any concerns they had about people’s safety.

Medication was managed safely by trained and competent staff. Staff had access to medicines policies and procedures as well as best practice guidelines. Medication administration records (MARs) were fully completed and regularly audited to identify areas for development and improvement. Staff had received infection control training and understood how to minimise the risk of infection being spread.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected, and their independence was promoted where possible. People spoke mainly positively about the service and the staff that supported them. There were audit systems in place that identified areas for development and improvement.

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.

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 5 December 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.