Helping Hands Harlow

Updated 7 October 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.

Inspection team

The 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 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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 September 2021 and ended on 23 September 2021. We visited the office location on 16 September 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we held about 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff including the registered manager and care staff. We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care and medicines records, three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision and a variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to review the provider’s training and quality assurance documentation.

Updated 7 October 2021

About the service

Helping Hands Harlow is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. At the time of the inspection 24 people were using the service.

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

People and relatives spoke positively about the care and support they received from staff. However, we received mixed feedback about whether there was enough staff available and relatives did not always feel there was adequate communication or engagement from the provider.

Staff told us they did not always feel valued or supported in their roles. The registered manager told us the service had gone through a period of change with staff leaving and new staff being recruited but the service was now becoming more settled.

Risks to people’s safety had been assessed and reviewed and there were processes in place to protect people from the risk of abuse. People received their medicines as prescribed and people’s care plans detailed how they liked to be supported with their medicines. People were protected from the risk of infection and the provider had followed appropriate guidelines to manage the risk of COVID-19.

People told us the staff were kind and caring. People’s care was personalised and reflected their individual preferences. 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.

Staff had received an induction and training relevant to their role and the registered manager monitored this to ensure training remained up to date. The provider had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service and worked effectively alongside other health professionals to meet people’s needs

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 5 March 2020 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection as the service had not been rated.

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