Helping Hands Liverpool

Updated 1 September 2021

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

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.

Inspection Team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Notice of the Inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and we needed to make sure staff were at the office to assist with the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 June 2021 and ended on 18 June 2021. We visited the office location on 17 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We did not request for the provider to send us 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 contacted the local authority for feedback. We used this information to plan our inspection and formulate our ‘planning tool’.

What we did during our inspection

During the inspection, we spoke with four people using the service or their family members about their experience of care on the telephone. We also spoke with the registered manager, the regional care director and four members of staff.

We looked at two people’s care records and a selection of other records including quality monitoring records, recruitment and training records for three staff.

Updated 1 September 2021

About the service

Helping Hands Liverpool is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection 38 people were using the service and 15 people received personal care.

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.

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

We found one complaint had not been robustly recorded in line with the concerns raised by one person. Care plans reflected the needs of people. The provider took immediate action to implement an action plan to review this complaint.

Although some audits and checks were in place these had not identified the recording and local oversight issues we found during the inspection. The registered provider was taking actions in developing the service.

There were detailed risk assessments in place which were tailored to reflect each person’s needs .People confirmed they received their medications and calls on time. Staff knew how to report safeguarding concerns and staff were recruited safely.

Staff treated people with kindness, compassion and dignity. People confirmed they were involved in choices and decisions regarding their care and support, including which staff were invited to their home to support them. People’s diverse needs were catered for. Relatives confirmed communication from staff was good and they were always asked for feedback on the service.

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

This service was registered with us on 25 July 2019 and this is the first inspection. The overall rating for this service is 'requires improvement.'

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.