Helping Hands Wokingham

Updated 13 March 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

Helping Hands Wokingham is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

The service did not have a manager registered with the CQC. Registered managers and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The service had a manager in place who was completing the CQC process to become the registered manager. They are referred to as the branch manager throughout this report and together with their two care training practitioners and care coordinator as the management team.

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 branch manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 17 February 2021 and ended on 2 March 2021. We visited the office location on 17 February 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed other information we had received about the service, including notifications received from the provider. The law requires providers to send us notifications about certain events that happen during the running of a service. We sought feedback from the local authority, community professionals who work with the service and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We reviewed the provider’s website. 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 this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with six people who used the service and six relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 15 members of staff, including the branch manager, a care training practitioner, a care coordinator, the provider’s compliance manager and 11 care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records, medication records and daily notes. We looked at 11 staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service were reviewed, including the provider’s policies, procedures, quality assurance audits, accident and incident reports.

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 five community professionals who engaged with the service.

Updated 13 March 2021

About the service

Helping Hands Wokingham is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supports older people, people living with dementia and people with a physical disability. Not everyone who uses the service may receive 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. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 48 people in the Wokingham area.

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

People were supported by enough suitable staff, who understood their responsibilities to safeguard people from discrimination, neglect, and abuse. Staff effectively assessed people’s needs and risks to their health and safety, which were managed safely. People experienced good continuity and consistency of care from regular staff who knew them well and how they wished their care to be delivered. The provider recruited staff safely in accordance with regulations. Staff were trained effectively and supported to provide high quality care. People received prescribed medicines safely from staff who had their competency to do so regularly assessed. Staff followed required food safety standards when preparing or handling food. Staff raised concerns and reported incidents, which ensured action was taken to protect people from similar events in the future. We were assured that staff followed good infection control practices.

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 provider had established systems and processes for reviewing the quality and safety of the service, which the management team operated effectively. The service was well managed by the branch manager, who provided clear and direct leadership, which inspired staff and instilled confidence in people. The branch manager had developed the care training practitioners and care coordinator into an effective management team that worked well together. The management team and staff were focused on putting people first to ensure they consistently experienced good outcomes. The branch manager readily assumed responsibility and accountability when concerns had been raised or mistakes had been made. The management team actively encouraged critical feedback from people and staff to drive continuous improvement in the service. Staff had developed good relationships with community health care professionals and effective communication and information sharing ensured people’s changing needs were met with the appropriate care and treatment.

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 requires improvement (report published 17 December 2017). The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the service had improved to good.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.