Helping Hands Preston

Updated 1 September 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

The inspection was completed by 1 inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

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. A new registered manager had been appointed and was in a handover period to ensure consistency for staff and people who used the service.

Notice of inspection

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we required consent and contact details for the Expert by Experience to gain people’s views about the service.

Inspection activity started on 20 July 2023 and ended on 2 August 2023. We visited the location’s office on 20 July 2023.

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. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). 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 used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 3 people who used the service and 2 relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 7 members of staff including the registered manager and area manager. We reviewed multiple medicine administration records and reviewed 4 people's care records and looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. We looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

Updated 1 September 2023

About the service

Helping Hands Preston is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 41 people using the service. 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

The registered manager assessed peoples’ individual needs prior to them receiving care and support. Individual risk assessments were in place to highlight areas of risk however, we found some gaps in the information to guide staff. We have made a recommendation about the level of detail included in care documentation.

We found some inconsistencies in medicine administration records. We found staff were not always documenting the time medication was given. This information is required for medicines that are to be given before or after food or separate to other medicines. The provider responded immediately during our inspection to address this.

People were given their medicines by staff who were trained to do so. One person told us, “One lady is particularly good and gives me good advice on medicines.” People and their relatives told us they felt safe with the care staff. Staff were aware of how to identify and report safeguarding concerns. We were assured by the infection prevention and control procedures in place. We found recruitment was safe and the staff files we viewed contained the relevant information.

People told us the service was well managed. We received consistently positive feedback about the registered manager. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the care provided. Suggestions around improvement to these systems were discussed with the registered manger during the inspection and these changes were implemented during the inspection.

We found the management team receptive to feedback and keen to improve the service. The registered manager worked with us in a positive manner and provided all the information we requested.

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 good (published 06 June 2019).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the management of medicines and staff training. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well led only.

We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the safe and well led sections of this full report.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good based on the findings of this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Helping Hands Preston on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Recommendations

We have made a recommendation about the level of detail included in care documentation.

Follow up

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