Graceful Hands Care

Updated 18 March 2023

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

This inspection was carried out by one inspector

Service and service type

Graceful Hands 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

This was a remote 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 available to support the inspection. The inspection activity started on 12 January 2023 and ended on 3 February 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information we had about the service including notifications they had sent us. A notification is information about incidents or events that providers are required to inform us about. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke to the registered manager, one staff member and one relative. We reviewed a range of records including one person’s care and risk management records. We reviewed three staff recruitment records. We also reviewed records used in managing the service for example, policies and procedures, monitoring records and audits.

Updated 18 March 2023

About the service

Graceful Hands is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults. At the time of this inspection there was one person using the service.

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

The provider failed to ensure appropriate risk assessments to people were completed and risk management plans were not always in place to manage these risks. The risks included, falls and people who had suffered a stroke. Appropriate recruitment checks were not carried out before staff joined the service. Accidents, incidents and complaints were recorded, but not investigated and learning was not disseminated to staff. People and their relatives' views about the service were sought but there were no records to show any action taken by the provider to drive improvements. Regular audits to identify shortfalls were not carried out.

Assessments were carried out prior to people joining the service to ensure their needs could be met. Procedures were in place to reduce the risk of infections and staff had enough personal protective equipment. Staff were happy working at the service and felt supported by the registered manager.

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 was the first inspection of the service.

Why we inspected - This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, staff recruitment and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.