Helping Hands Bath

Updated 29 April 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection, a registered manager was in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 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 23rd March 2022 and ended on 29th March 2022. We visited the location’s office on 23rd March 2022.

What we did before the inspection

Before the inspection we reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We reviewed CQC notifications. These describe events that happen in the service that the provider is legally required to tell us about.

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 all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and eight relatives about their experience of the care provided. We received feedback from two professionals who had contact with the service. We spoke with 10 members of staff, including the registered manager and care co-ordinator. Their comments have been incorporated into this report.

We looked at a range of records relating to the management of the service. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff support. We read records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures and audits.

We considered all this information to help us to make a judgement about the service.

Updated 29 April 2022

About the service

Helping Hands Bath is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports adults who have a range of physical, sensory or mental health needs. At the time of the inspection, 17 people were using the service and receiving 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

People were safeguarded from the risk of abuse and felt safe with the staff who supported them.

Systems and processes were in place to keep people safe and staff understood their responsibilities. Risk assessments were in place to help ensure staff kept people safe.

People’s support plans helped them get the help they needed because it was easy for staff to access, understand and keep high quality records. Support plans were personalised and reflected people’s needs. These were reviewed and updated regularly.

People were supported by staff who followed systems and processes to prescribe, administer, record and store medicines safely.

Staff received training in relevant mandatory and core topics. Training reflected legislation, guidelines and current standards. Managers checked staff’s competency to ensure they understood and applied training and best practice.

People and their relatives were positive about the service and told us about ways in which staff were caring, considerate and supportive. People’s individual needs and preferences were identified, and appropriate staff were available to support people.

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

There were appropriate staffing levels to meet people's needs and keep them safe. Staff received supervision, informal support and recognition for good practice. Staff were positive about the service and said they felt respected and well supported by managers, who led by example. This encouraged a positive culture.

Governance processes were effective and helped to hold staff to account, keep people safe, protect people’s rights and provide good quality support. People and their relatives were empowered to make decisions about the service and felt confident to feed back on their care and support. Lessons were learned when things went wrong, and actions taken when necessary.

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 16th May 2019 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to check whether the provider was meeting legal requirements and regulations, and to provide a rating for the service as directed by the Care Act 2014.

Follow up

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