Caring Hands

Updated 9 October 2021

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

One inspector carried out this inspection.

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 it is a small service and 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

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We spoke with two health professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 9 October 2021

About the service

Caring Hands is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to adults living with families or in their own homes in the community. 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. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 21 people living with frailty of old age and other health related conditions.

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

People were encouraged to make decisions about the care they received and were treated with dignity and respect by compassionate, caring staff who promoted independence and choice. People told us they were asked what they wanted or needed before care was delivered. One person said, “They try to help with independence, and don’t do things I can do for myself.”

Care was delivered by staff who were trained and understood their roles and responsibilities. The registered manager and senior staff carried out spot checks on staff to monitor the quality of the service provided, and to seek people's views. People, relatives and staff were encouraged to offer feedback both formally and informally. Changes were made as a result of feedback.

Staff felt well supported and people were confident in the service they received. Quality assurance systems and practice identified potential issues, enabling prompt actions to be taken.

Staff were proactive in supporting people’s health and well-being and were responsive to changes in people’s needs. Care plans were detailed and person-centred and contained guidance for staff to support people’s known health conditions. Management and staff worked in partnership with other agencies and health care professionals.

There were systems and processes to effectively monitor the quality of care delivery; people’s records were clear, informative and securely maintained.

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.

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 The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 26 February 2020) and there was a breach of regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The registered person had not established systems and processes to audit and monitor the safety and quality of the service provided. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulation.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 10, 13 and 15 January 2020. A breach of legal requirements was found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve systems and processes to audit and monitor the safety and quality of the service provided.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the key questions caring and well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Caring Hands on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

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.