We carried out a review of the data available to us about Helping Hands Macclesfield on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Helping Hands Macclesfield, you can give feedback on this service.
Helping Hands Macclesfield is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own houses and flats in Macclesfield and surrounding areas. 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 inspection, staff supported 18 out of the 42 people who used the service with personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People’s experience of using the service was very positive overall. People and relatives commented, “The staff bring brightness into my life”, “The laughs I hear coming from the bedroom or shower [when staff support personal care] are lovely” and “Most are sensible and know what they are doing. 80% get it right 80% of the time and that is good going.” People and relatives generally had no concerns or complaints, but felt any issues raised would be dealt with effectively. The service kept people, relatives and staff well informed and involved, through regular reviews and meetings.
The new manager had recognised improvements needed at the service and was addressing these effectively. They were well respected by people using the service and relatives. Staff recognised the difference they had made and felt well supported. The provider had identified that as the number of their services had grown substantially, more regionally based support to branches was required. Together with the new manager they had a clear action plan to remedy previous quality issues and continuously improve people’s care and the systems underpinning it.
People were supported by a reliable staff team that had not missed calls and generally attended on time. Care plans supported staff’s knowledge of people and their person-centred care. There were some positive examples of personalisation and the manager was developing this further. People felt safe with support from the service and relatives felt their loved ones were “in safe hands” with staff. At times care plans and risk assessments needed to be updated following accidents or incidents, to ensure actions to prevent recurrence were recorded and shared effectively.
Staff worked effectively in partnership with people, relatives and other professionals to achieve positive outcomes, which included increasing their independence. 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 manager had identified the need to develop mental capacity assessments so that the policies and systems in the service consistently 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
This service was registered with us on 18 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned visit in line with our inspection programme.
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.