Archived: Surrey Helping Hands Limited

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. People were complimentary about the caring nature of staff. Comments included, “They are all very kind and caring” and, “Staff treat me well and are very attentive.” One relative said, “We love the carers very much and we’re like a family. They are just so lovely with my mum.” Staff told us they would ensure they treated people with respect and dignity. One told us, “I would respect their own ways, I am in somebody’s house. I respect their rules. I respect everyone as an individual.”

Staff treated people as individuals. The provider had created care plans with people to outline their needs and how they wanted to be cared for. People using the service and their relatives explained staff knew them well, including their preferences. One member of staff said, “Every week, I would encourage (person) to go and have a coffee. They would say no and just sit in the chair. I always encourage them to go out because they used to and now, they do.”

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff ensured people were encouraged with their independence. One person told us, “They know I like to be independent as possible, and they support with that.” The provider told us, “We want our people to stay as independent as possible and feel in control. By offering choice, it empowers them that they are in control of their care.” A member of staff told us, “We try and promote their independence as much as possible. We say to them we are here to help you and give them choices of what they want to eat, how they want to be helped with personal care.”

Staff responded to people’s immediate needs. People told us that staffing arrangements were flexible to suit their needs. The provider monitored when staff arrived and left people’s homes through an electronic call monitoring system. The provider had an emergency 24-hour telephone number which people and staff could call if they needed to speak with a manager. One member of staff said, “If they want to stay in bed until their lunch time that is fine. We make sure they’ve got everything they need for them to do that.”

The provider did not always care about and promote the wellbeing of their staff. They did not always support or enable staff to deliver person-centred care. Despite staff raising concerns about not being provided with travel time in between calls, action had not been taken to address this.

However, staff did say that other elements of their wellbeing were considered, and they felt supported by the leadership team. Comments included, “If I had a problem, I could call them, and they are lovely. They are really nice” and, “I personally think they are very kind. I feel like they are family to me. They are nice to me as a staff, and they are always there when I need them.”