Background to this inspection
Updated
27 October 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
This 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 and specialist housing.
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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 27 September 2021 and ended on 30 September 2021. We visited the office location on 28 September 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with two people who used the service and one relative about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the registered manager, area manager, care and training practitioner, and three care workers.
We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and staff survey results
Updated
27 October 2021
About the service
Helping Hands Folkestone is a Domiciliary Care Agency providing personal care to older people and people living with dementia in their own homes.
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. The service was providing personal care for 10 people at the time of inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they felt safe and staff knew how to protect people from abuse and avoidable harm. Risks to people were managed to support people’s health, safety and wellbeing.
People received their care visits as planned from consistent and safely recruited staff. Where required people were supported to take their medicines safely as prescribed.
The service had managed well during covid-19 and effective prevention and control of infection systems were in place. Lessons were learnt from accidents and incidents to prevent them happening again.
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.
People received effective needs assessments and had clear care plans in place to enable staff to meet their needs. Staff worked with other health care professionals to ensure peoples health care needs were met. This included people’s needs in relation to equality and diversity such as their religion and culture.
Staff were competent and skilled and received all the training and support they needed to fulfil their role. Where required people were supported to ensure their dietary needs were met.
Staff were kind and caring with people and respected their rights to privacy and dignity. All feedback we received from people and their loved ones was positive. People were supported to maintain their independence where possible. People were involved in their care and were enabled to express their views.
People received person centred care which met their changing needs from staff who knew them well. There had not been any complaints in the service, but people knew how to complain and who to if they needed to. Where people consented, their wishes for their end of life were known and recorded.
The registered manager had developed a positive, person centred culture in the service which motivated staff to provide quality care for people. Staff felt supported by and respected the registered manager.
There were effective quality assurance systems in place to ensure risk, quality and safe care. There were good communications with the staff team and partnership working with other agencies to ensure people’s needs were met.
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 17/07/2019 and this is the first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the length of time since the service registered with us.
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.