Helping Hands Nantwich

Updated 2 November 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 two inspectors.

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 provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager 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 16 September and ended on 3 October 2022. We visited the location’s office/service on 20 September 2022.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 5 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We gathered feedback from 6 staff members including the registered manager, senior quality assurance business partner and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records including 3 peoples’ support plans, risk assessments and medicines records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies, procedures and quality assurance records.

Updated 2 November 2022

About the service

Helping Hands Nantwich is a domiciliary care agency. The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to adults some of whom have physical disabilities, mental health needs and are living with dementia. At the time of our inspection 11 were receiving support with 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

People and their relatives were positive about the care and support they received. People told us they felt safe with staff and systems were in place to help safeguard people from risk of abuse.

The service continued to recruit staff and the provider had introduced a new strategy to support effective recruitment. Staff were recruited safely. There were enough staff to meet people’s care needs. People told us they were supported by familiar staff who usually arrived as expected. Staff were suitably trained and supervised.

People were complimentary about the way they were supported and told us they were treated with dignity and respect. People’s choices and wishes were taken into account.

Systems were in place to ensure people received their medicines safely. People were protected from the risk of infection.

Staff developed personalised support plans, following an assessment. People and their relatives were involved in this process Staff undertook risk assessments to ensure potential risks to people were identified and they received safe care. However, in some cases, risk assessments would benefit from further details about the nature of the risk and its management, to help further guide staff.

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.

The service was well-led. The registered manager since coming into post had focused on improving communication and was working through an action plan to help develop the service. They were responsive to any issues raised during the inspection and took immediate action to address these. Staff were supported, and effective systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service. The provider sought people’s feedback to help develop 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

This service was registered with us on 14 January 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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

Follow up

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