We carried out a review of the data available to us about Helping Hands Colchester 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 Colchester, you can give feedback on this 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.