Caring Hands (Domiciliary Care) Ltd.

Caring Hands (Domiciliary Care) Ltd It is registered to provide personal care to younger and older people with a physical disability; learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder; dementia; sensory impairment, eating disorder and mental health needs.

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. At the time of the inspection 108 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Quality assurance systems and processes were not always in effective or in place. Medicines systems and processes required further improvements to ensure people received their medicines as prescribed. The implementation of new systems and processes was planned, this needed to be implemented, embedded in practice and sustained over time.

Some people’s care plan reviews were overdue meaning care plans were not always reflective of their current needs. New care plan documentation had been introduced and was being completed for everyone. New care plans we reviewed contained comprehensive information about people’s need and risks. We made a recommendation about end of life care plans.

Improvements had been made to the scheduling of people’s care calls, this had improved staff timekeeping and consistency. Further improvements were planned to improve people’s experience. People told us calls were never missed and that occasionally calls were late but this did not impact them.

Feedback was sought from people, relatives and staff to identify where improvements were needed. Staff felt supported within their roles and felt confident to discuss any concerns they may have with the management team. The service followed government guidance in relation to infection prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People were supported by staff that had been safely recruited, were kind, caring and enjoyed their role. Staff were knowledgeable about people’s healthcare needs and took prompt action when they identified people were unwell. Staff knew people’s dietary requirements and supported people at mealtimes in line with their care plan.

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.

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 06 November 2019 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service under the previous provider was good, published on 22 February 2018.

Why we inspected

This was the services first inspection under the new provider.

Enforcement and Recommendations

We have identified a breach of regulation in relation to governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspec