Gentle Hands Home Care

Updated 17 June 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service four days’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We were mindful of the impact and added pressures of COVID-19 pandemic on the service. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances and requirements arising as part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inspection activity started on 21 May to 24 May 2021. We visited the office location on 1 June 2021.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

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 with 10 people or their relatives about their experience of using the service.

We spoke with the registered manager, deputy and eight members of the care staff team.

We reviewed a range of records. This included parts of four people’s care records and several medication records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including training data and quality assurance records were considered in making our judgements.

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 professionals who regularly visit the service.

Updated 17 June 2021

About the service

Gentle Hands is a domiciliary care provider providing personal care to 36 people at the time of the inspection. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes, so they can live as independently as possible.

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

People received care from a consistent team of staff who had been provided with comprehensive training. Personal preferences were observed, and these were detailed in the person-centred plans.

Risk assessments had been completed and any know risks were mitigated. Staff understood the importance of reporting any concerns and these were investigated.

Staff were recruited safety and there were enough staff to support the needs of people using the service. During COVID-19 the provide had taken appropriate steps to improve infection control measures.

People were encouraged to share their views through telephone reviews and annual surveys.

A range of audits and systems were used to ensure that the quality of the service was maintained and there was an opportunity to drive improvement.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 02/10/2019).

Why we inspected

This was a planned focused inspection on the key areas Safe and Welled. This was based on the previous rating of Requires Improvement. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions 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 Gentle 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.