Helping Hands Cambridge

Updated 17 April 2019

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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care 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 in the community.

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:

This inspection was announced and took place on 15 March 2019. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection site visit to ensure the registered manager would be present and to ensure people's consent was gained for us to contact them for their feedback.

What we did:

We used information the provider sent to us in the Provider Information return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send to us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at information we held about the service, including notifications they had made to us about important events. We also reviewed all other information sent to us from other stakeholders, for example, the local authority and members of the public.

During the inspection, we spoke with three people who used the service and one relative to ask about their experience of the care delivered. We spoke with the registered manager, area manager and head of home care for the organisation and two members of the care staff.

We looked at the care records for four people, three staff employment related records and records relating to the quality and management of the service.

Details are in the Key Questions below.

Updated 17 April 2019

About the service: Helping Hands Cambridge is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. At the time of the inspection it was providing care to 17 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

• People were supported to be safe in their home and there were enough staff employed to fulfil people’s arranged care visits.

• People received the medicines they were prescribed.

• Staff understood their responsibilities about keeping people safe.

• Risks to people’s health were assessed and clearly documented in the care plan.

• Incidents and accidents were monitored to inform practice and make improvements to the service.

• Staff understood their responsibilities to prevent the spread of infection whilst working between people's homes.

• Staff had received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles well. People had confidence in the staff and were content with the care they received.

• People were supported to access health care services when they needed to. Staff described positive working relationships with health care professionals.

• 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 procedures in the service supported this practice.

• Staff supported people to remain independent and promoted their dignity. People's privacy was respected and their personal information was kept securely.

• The service had a complaints policy of which people were aware.

• There was a clear management structure that supported staff well.

• Governance arrangements were in practice. Regular audits identified any shortfalls in provision of care.

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection of the service which was registered with the Care Quality Commission on 18 December 2017.

Why we inspected: Our methodology is to plan to inspect services within the first year of being registered

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk