- Homecare service
Helping Hands Aylesbury
Assessment report published 23 March 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
The dates of assessment were from 10 February 2026 to 24 February 2026. We visited the office on 11 and 12 February 2026. Helping Hands Aylesbury is a domiciliary care service, providing care and support for people living in their own homes. At the time of our assessment the service was supporting 59 people with 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 is registered for use by autistic people or people with a learning disability. At the time of the assessment, the service was not used by anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.
The service had not been assessed since November 2017. We arranged this assessment to check the service was providing a safe service. At the last assessment we rated the service Good, at this assessment the overall rating has deteriorated to requires improvement. We identified 2 breaches of the legal regulations in relation to risk management and good governance. There was a lack of consistent oversight of the service and auditing processes were not always effective in identifying shortfalls. Medicines were not routinely managed safely. Risks relating to people’s health, safety and welfare were in place, but they were not always robust and some key areas had not been assessed. Care records were not always detailed accurate and up to date.
There was a registered manager in post. The provider did not work with any local authorities, all of the people supported by Helping Hands Aylesbury funded their own care.
We found the provider and registered manager responsive to our feedback throughout the course of the inspection.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
We arranged for an Expert by Experience to make telephone calls to people and their relatives. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
People told us staff provided safe, kind and reliable support to them. Staff were described as respectful and supportive. People and their relatives felt treated well and told us they were comfortable with staff supporting them in their home and felt listened to.
People told us staff helped them helped maintain safety, dignity and independence where possible. Comments from people and their relative included “They [staff] are all kind and caring”, “They [staff] love [person] and treat them with kindness. [person] feels absolutely safe” and “[staff] definitely improves their quality of life.”