Helping Hands Durham

Helping Hands Durham is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to younger adults and older people. It supports autistic people, those with learning and/or physical disabilities, sensory impairments, mental health needs and those living with dementia. At the time of our inspection there were 47 people receiving personal care from 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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. 'Right support, right care, right culture' is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support

People received safe care and support in their own homes. Staff received training in safeguarding and knew how to protect people from the risk of abuse. People's individual risks were assessed and recorded. Staff reported accidents and incidents which were followed up appropriately and reviewed by the management team. The registered manager had effective systems and processes in place to ensure oversight of the safety and quality of the service. People and relatives were happy with the care and support provided.

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.

Right Care

When people showed behaviour which may indicate distress, staff knew how to offer care and appropriate support. Staff were recruited safely, and people received support from a small team of consistent staff wherever possible. Medicines were managed safely and effectively. People's individual choices were recognised and respected.

Right Culture

The registered manager encouraged an open and positive culture. The service was well managed and provided high quality, consistent care to people in their own homes. Effective quality monitoring systems ensured improvements were identified and acted upon for the benefit of people using the service.

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

Rating at last inspection and update

The last rating for this service was good (published 29 March 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service remains good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Helping Hands Durham on our website at www.cqc.org.uk

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

This service is a domiciliary care service. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It currently provides a service to people living with dementia, mental health issues and physical disabilities.

Not everyone using Helping Hands Durham receives regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 11 people were using the service, 4 of whom received personal care.

There was a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives told us staff employed by the service helped them to stay safe. Risks to individuals were documented. These assessments included guidance for care staff on how to manage any risks identified and minimise the likelihood of harm.

The provider had business continuity plans in place to ensure that peoples support needs were still met in emergency situations. Infection control policies and procedures were followed to ensure the control of infection. Medicines were managed safely.

People were safeguarded from abuse and avoidable harm. Staffing levels were monitored by the registered manager to ensure sufficient staff were on duty to keep people safe. Recruitment policies minimised the risk of unsuitable staff being employed.

Staff received the training they required to help them keep people safe and were supported with regular supervision. Staff appraisals had not yet taken place due to the length of time the service had been in operation however these had been scheduled.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

Some people using the service received support with food and nutrition. Where this was the case people were assisted with their dietary needs and preferences. People were supported to access external professionals to monitor and promote their health. The service actively engaged with the local community, taking part in charitable activities and offering rooms for local charities to use. Information leaflets for the general public in relation to care services were available in the company’s office.

All of the people and relatives we spoke with said that the staff team were kind and caring. We observed and were told by both people and their relatives that staff treated people with respect and promoted independence. Information was available to signpost people to advocacy services. Personalised care was planned and delivered based upon people’s support needs and preferences.

A clear complaints policy and procedure was in place. Staff understood and followed people's care and support. The provider had policies in place to support people with end of life care if needed.

People, their relatives and staff informed us communication within the company was good. The staff we spoke with told us there was always someone to speak to if they needed guidance or support. Quality assurance checks were carried out by the registered manager and provider to monitor and improve standards at the service. Feedback from people, relatives and staff about the service was sought and analysed.

The registered manager promoted and monitored the provider's policies and procedures regarding the expected quality outcomes for people supported

The registered manager had informed CQC of significant events in a timely way by submitting the required notifications. This meant we could check that appropriate action had been taken.