Helping Hands Horley

Updated 3 December 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. 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

The inspection team consisted of three inspectors. Two inspectors visited the service’s office and people in their homes and one inspector spoke with people who use the service on the telephone.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 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 4 November 2019 and ended on 7 November 2019. We visited the office location on 4 November 2019.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. Prior to this inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service, including data about safeguarding and statutory notifications. Statutory notifications are information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at our inspection. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with ten people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two 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 visited and spoke with two people who use the service in their homes, as well as one relative and two staff members. We also checked the records the service kept in their households. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 3 December 2019

About the service

Helping Hands Horley is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people with a range of needs such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. 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, 34 people who were using the service received a regulated activity.

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

People received the medicines they required and medicine administration was safe. We did identify some shortfalls in recording however the registered manager was already working on this. Staff followed safe infection control practices and were aware of their responsibility to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. There were sufficient numbers of safely recruited staff to meet people’s needs. Missed calls that had occurred in the last three months were fully investigated and steps had been taken to prevent future occurrence.

People and relatives told us staff were extremely kind and caring towards them and treated them with dignity and respect at all times. People were involved in reviews of their care and felt comfortable to raise concerns if they needed to. Concerns that had been raised had been dealt with appropriately and in line with the service’s complaints policy.

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. The care delivered to people was personalised and allowed them to be part of the community or attend events that were important to them. Risks to people and their needs were appropriately managed by staff who knew people well. Thorough pre-assessments had been completed to ensure that a person’s needs could be met before staff began to deliver care.

Staff received regular training, including in specialist areas that were pertinent to the care they were delivering. Regular supervisions and direct observations took place to ensure staff were providing high quality care, as well as giving staff the chance to discuss their workloads and any issues. People and staff felt communication within the service was good, and people had been referred to health care professionals in a timely manner where required.

People, relatives and staff felt the registered manager was approachable and felt supported and valued by them. The registered manager was aware of their responsibility to notify CQC of certain events. People, relatives and staff were approached for their feedback through a variety of methods such as face to face, telephone calls or an electronic rating system. Plans were in place to improve areas of the service, such as introducing an electronic medicine recording system and creating profiles for people and staff to swap before care was delivered so they got to know each other. There were close working links with organisations to support people to remain living in their own homes.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 28 March 2017).

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.