Hales Group Limited - Hull

Updated 4 March 2023

The inspection

We carried out this performance review and assessment under Section 46 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act). We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements of the regulations associated with the Act and looked at the quality of the service to provide a rating.

Unlike our standard approach to assessing performance, we did not physically visit the office of the location. This is a new approach we have introduced to reviewing and assessing performance of some care at home providers. Instead of visiting the office location we use technology such as electronic file sharing and video or phone calls to engage with people using the service and staff.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 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 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 CQC 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 a short period of notice of the inspection. This was to make arrangements to carry out the inspection and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 7 February 2023 and ended on 24 February 2023. We contacted people using the service on 10 February 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We used information the provider sent us in the provider information return. 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 reviewed information we held about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

This performance review and assessment was carried out without a visit to the location’s office. We used technology such as video and telephone calls to enable us to engage with people using the service and staff, and electronic file sharing to enable us to review documentation.

We spoke with 8 people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 9 members of staff, including the registered manager, the provider, the managing director and 6 care staff.

We reviewed a range of records including 4 people's care and medicines records. We looked at recruitment records for 2 members of staff. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures, were also reviewed.

Updated 4 March 2023

About the service

Hales Group Limited - Hull is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in their own home. At the time of inspection, the provider delivered services to 85 people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support:

People were happy with the support they received and spoke positively about staff who provided their care. Staff wore personal protective equipment (PPE) appropriately which helped to protect people from the risk of infection. Medicines were administered safely.

Right Care:

Effective recruitment procedures were in place and there were enough staff employed to meet people’s needs. Staff received regular training and supervision to provide care in a person-centred way.

Risks to people’s health, safety and well-being were effectively managed.

Right Culture:

Support was personalised and based on people's assessed needs and preferences. Staff worked effectively with external professionals to ensure people received the support they wanted and needed. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

This was an 'inspection using remote technology'. This means we did not visit the office location and instead used technology such as electronic file sharing to gather information, and video and phone calls to engage with people using the service as part of this performance review and assessment.

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 7 October 2021 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection to rate the service.

Follow up

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