Helping Hands Oxford

Updated 7 June 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 carried out 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 houses and flats.

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.

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 11 May 2023 when we visited the location’s office. It ended on 23 May 2023.

What we did before the inspection

Prior to our inspection, we reviewed information we held about the service. This included any information received and statutory notifications. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to send us by law. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. 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.

During the inspection

During the inspection, we spoke with the registered manager and the care coordinator . The care coordinator organises the care calls, supports with care planning and covers an on call duty system. We reviewed a range of records relating to people's care and the way the service was managed. These included care records for 3 people receiving personal care, staff training records, 3 staff recruitment files, quality assurance audits, incidents and accidents reports, complaints records, and records relating to the management of the service. We also spoke to 3 people who used the service and 7 relatives of those using the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found and sought feedback from 3 staff members about their experience of the service.

Updated 7 June 2023

About the service

Helping Hands Oxford is a domiciliary care service providing the regulated activity of personal care. The service provides support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 32 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. At the time of inspection 12 people out of the 32 were receiving a regulated activity.

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

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

Right Support: Staff received the training they needed to meet people's needs. Management had effective systems and processes in place to ensure oversight of the safety and quality of the service. People and relatives spoke positively about the service they received from staff.

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. We saw that for one person they did not have all appropriate legal authorisations documented. Whilst this was not the immediate responsibility of the provider, they had not through their own systems, identified or taken action in response to this shortfall. We raised this with the registered manager who took immediate action and put further documentation and planning in place.

Right Care: People were protected from abuse and poor care and any concerns were addressed. The service had enough appropriately skilled staff to meet their needs and keep them safe. Care plans reflected the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. People were supported by staff who knew them well. Risks to people were identified and effectively managed. People had access to health care professionals. Medicines were managed safely; and people felt safe receiving support from staff. Appropriate checks were carried out when recruiting new staff to safeguard people.

Right Culture: Staff spoke positively about the culture of the service and told us they placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did. The service promoted positive care and support for people using the service. People were involved in decision making and their views sought to improve the service.

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

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection for a newly registered service.

This service was registered with us on 06 January 2022 and this is the first inspection.

Follow up

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