Helping Hands Colchester

Updated 19 September 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. 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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and one Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

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.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection, we looked at information we had received about the service. This included any notifications from the provider. Statutory notifications included information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. 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 inspection. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 13 people who used the service and four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff the registered manager and one care co-ordinator. We reviewed a range of records. This included eight people’s care records and medication records. We looked at four 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 seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 19 September 2019

About the service

Helping Hands (Colchester) is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care to people in their own home. The service supports some people on a 24-hour basis and others who may require support with personal care needs at specific times during the day and /or night. The service was supporting 43 people with personal care at the time of our inspection. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care.

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

Staff had the right skills and experience to meet people's needs. A comprehensive induction and training programme was completed by all staff. Assessments were carried out to ensure people's needs could be met. Staff understood people's likes, dislikes and preferences and people told us they were offered choices about their care.

People were supported to have their medicines correctly and staff had been trained. Medication audits and spot checks were carried out. Systems and processes were in place to safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Staff knew how to prevent the spread of infection.

Assessments were in place which detailed people’s needs and choices. Staff had been trained and were given regular supervision. People were supported to eat and drink in line with their assessed needs. 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.

Care plans were individual and contained information about how people preferred to communicate and their ability to make decisions.

Relatives and staff were complimentary about the management of the service. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in providing safe and good quality care to the people who used the service.

The management team had systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service provided. Regular surveys were carried out with a range of people, relatives, staff and professionals. Information was used to make improvements to 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. This is a new service therefore this was the first time this service had been inspected.

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 re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.