About the service Helping Hands Bolton is a domiciliary service which provides personal care to adults with a range of support needs in their houses and flats. At the time of this inspection the service was supporting 123 people who used the live-in service and nine people who used the daily visiting 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
Systems in place helped safeguard people from the risk of abuse. Assessments of risk and safety and supporting measures in place helped minimise risks. Staff managed people’s medicines safely. Staff followed infection prevention and control guidance to minimise risks related to the spread of infection.
Staffing levels were sufficient to meet people’s needs and managers recruited staff safely. Staff followed an induction programme, and training was on-going throughout employment.
Staff thoroughly assessed people’s needs prior to a service starting. Care plans included information about support required in areas such as nutrition, mobility and personal care to help inform care provision. Staff made appropriate referrals to other agencies and professionals when required.
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.
People told us they were well treated and their equality and diversity respected. People felt staff respected their privacy and dignity and took into account their views when agreeing on the support required. Staff identified people’s communication needs and addressed these with appropriate actions.
Managers responded to complaints appropriately and used these to inform improvement to care provision. The provider was open and honest, in dealing with concerns raised. The management team were available for people to contact and undertook regular quality checks, to help ensure continued good standards of care.
The provider and registered manager followed governance systems which provided effective oversight and monitoring of the service. These governance systems and processes ensured the service provided to people was safe.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was good (published 09 February 2021).
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.