Helping Hands Leeds

Updated 1 March 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team: The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type: Helping Hands Leeds is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

At the time of the inspection, the manager of the service had applied to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.

Notice of inspection: We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection visit. We needed to be sure the service would be available to facilitate this inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 8 January 2019 and ended on 29 January 2019. We visited the office location on 8 and 17 January 2019. We visited people in their homes on 17 January 2019. On 29 January 2019, we spoke with people's relatives and staff by telephone.

What we did: The provider had completed a Provider Information Return (PIR) in December 2018. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at information we held about the service including notifications they had made to us about important events.

We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders for example the local authority and members of the public.

We spoke with five people during our visit and two relatives, this included visiting people in their homes. We also spoke with four staff, the manager, the area manager and the head of home care during our visit. We received feedback from one health and social care professional.

We reviewed five people's care records, policies and procedures, records relating to the management of the service, training records and the recruitment records of care workers.

Updated 1 March 2019

About the service: Helping Hands Leeds is registered as a domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity 'personal care' to the people who live in their own homes. The service was providing personal care to 49 people aged 65 and over at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using the service: People were observed to have good relationships with staff. We visited people in their own homes and they told us staff understood their needs and provided them with care and support.

People told us they felt well cared for by staff who treated them with respect and dignity. People told us they were listened to and were involved in their care, and what they did on a day to day basis. People's right to privacy was maintained by the actions and care given by staff members.

Not all staff were trained to support people at the end of their life. Action was taken during the inspection to ensure all staff were booked on training.

The management of medicines was safe. The manager took immediate action where signatures had been missed on people's records.

There were enough skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of people who used the service. Recruitment checks were completed on new staff to ensure they were suitable to support people who used the service. A comprehensive induction and training programme was completed by all staff.

Risks to people were assessed and records contained clear guidance for staff to follow. Staff knew how to respond to possible harm and how to reduce risks to people.

People were safe and protected from avoidable harm as staff knew how to recognise and respond to concerns of ill-treatment and abuse. Lessons were learnt about accidents and incidents and these were shared with staff members to ensure changes were made to staff practice or the environment, to reduce the risk of further occurrences.

The provider followed effective infection prevention and control guidance when supporting people in their own homes. The equipment that people used was maintained and kept in safe working order. The provider completed safety checks with people at their home addresses.

A detailed assessment was carried out to assess people's needs and preferences prior to them receiving a service. People's personal and health care needs were met and detailed care records guided staff in how to do this. Where staff noted a concern they quickly involved healthcare professionals.

Where required, people were supported to have sufficient food to eat and drink and their health needs were regularly monitored. Staff followed the advice health care professionals gave them.

Staff understood their responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People told us they were involved in making every day decisions and choices about how they wanted to live their lives.

A complaints system was in place and there was information so people knew who to speak with if they had concerns.

The provider had embedded quality assurance systems to monitor the quality and safety of the care provided. People and relatives were asked for their views and their suggestions were used to improve the service.

More information is in the full report below.

Rating at last inspection: Requires Improvement (published 9 January 2018).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating of requires improvement. The overall rating has improved to good.

Follow up: Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated Good. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.