Helping Hands Truro

Updated 4 February 2020

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 team consisted of one inspector.

Service and service type

Helping Hands Truro is a domiciliary care service that provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. This includes people with physical disabilities and dementia care needs.

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

We gave the service four working days notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that we could access the office premises to look at records and arrange to visit people in their own homes.

The inspection started on the 9 January 2020 when we made calls to people who used the service and staff. We continued to make phone calls to people and staff on 10 January 2020. The location office site visit and visits to people’s homes took place on 13 January 2020. Following the site visit we received further feedback from staff. The inspection ended on 14 January 2020.

What we did before the inspection

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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We also reviewed information that we held about the service such as notifications. These are events that happen in the service that the provider is required to tell us about. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with five people who used the service and four relatives. We spoke with the registered manager and 12 care staff. We obtained consent from two people to visit them in their own homes and we reviewed their care records. We reviewed records of staff rotas, staff recruitment, training and support as well as audits and quality assurance reports.

After the inspection

We continued to receive further information from the service. We sought further clarification from the provider regarding the support provided to the registered manager.

Updated 4 February 2020

About the service

Helping Hands Truro is a domiciliary care service that provides care and support to people living in their own homes in the community. The service mainly provides personal care for people in short visits at key times of the day to help people get up in the morning, go to bed at night and support with meals.

When we inspected the service was providing the regulated activity, personal care, to approximately 30 people in Truro, Falmouth, Newquay and surrounding areas. The service is owned by Midshires Care Limited, who have 88 branches in England.

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

People using the service consistently told us they felt safe and that staff were caring and respectful. People received a reliable service, had agreed the times of their visits and were kept informed of any changes. Comments included, “I chose my times and they ring me if anything changes”, “Staff always arrive on time and stay the full time”, “Staff are caring and respectful” and “Super staff.”

People were supported by a staff team who had the skills and knowledge to meet their needs. Staff spoke passionately about the people they supported and were clearly committed to providing a responsive and caring service in line with people’s wishes.

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.

Risks in relation to the person using the service and to the staff supporting them had been identified and assessed. Staff were provided with guidance on how to manage and mitigate risks while still supporting people’s independence. These were kept under regular review and updated as people’s needs changed.

People were supported to access healthcare services, staff recognised changes in people's health, and sought professional advice appropriately. The service worked collaboratively with healthcare professionals to access training and advice which helped ensure people’s health needs were met.

The service’s rotas were well organised and there were enough staff available to provide all planned care visits. A mobile phone call monitoring application was used to ensure all visits were provided and to share information securely with staff. No one reported having experienced a missed care visit.

Robust processes were robust to help ensure staff were suitable to work with vulnerable people. Staff spoke positively about working for the service. They were supported by a system of induction, training and supervision to ensure they were effective in their role.

People, their relatives and staff told us management were approachable and they listened to them when they had any concerns or ideas. All feedback was used to make continuous improvements to the service.

There were clear processes for the registered manager to check the quality of all aspects of the service. The provider had a defined organisational management structure and there was regular oversight and input from senior management. The provider had a supportive management structure in place for the registered manager which included regional management and area management.

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 16/01/2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was the first planned comprehensive inspection of the service. This service has an overall rating of Good.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.