Helping Hands Gloucester

Updated 2 February 2026

Date of Assessment: 4 February to 26 February 2026. The service is a home care agency providing support to people in their own homes. Not everyone using the service receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'; 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 assessment, 34 people were receiving care under the regulated activity and a further 13 people were being supported with other social care needs.

We rated this service overall as good.

We found areas of exceptional practice in the key question of ‘caring’ where people received care they described as safe, compassionate and enhanced their daily living experiences. Staff were reported to be well trained, kind and took the time to listen to how people preferred their care to be given.

Leaders had embedded an effective learning culture and people could raise concerns safely in the knowledge these would be acted upon and practice improved as a result. The language and terminology used by staff in conversations was always respectful, polite and demonstrated a genuinely caring approach.

Staff were recruited safely and had effective support and supervision. This created a positive staff team who enjoyed their role, had a good understanding of the provider’s values and worked hard to enable privacy, choice and independence in people’s care. The service had a training programme to ensure staff had the knowledge and skills to undertake their role. The service had effective systems to share important information with the staff team and to ensure staff were supported.

The service had effective systems to ensure people’s needs were assessed and their care was planned. Staff demonstrated a thorough knowledge about the needs of people they supported and any signs or symptoms to look for that may suggest a person was unwell or experiencing a deterioration in their health.

Updated 2 February 2026

People were highly complementary of the service they received, the managers and the staff. We received overwhelmingly positive comments relating to the management of the service and the care delivery. People and relatives told us, “Staff appear attentive and mindful of his needs” and “They are kind and professional.”

People shared examples of where they had been supported in personalised ways to achieve better outcomes which had huge impacts in their day to day lives. The registered manager had worked hard to strengthen the staff team and improve communication since being in post and improvements in this area had been noticed. One person told us, “I would thoroughly recommend them, I really would.”

People were happy to be involved in their care planning and felt able to share their views. People knew how to raise concerns if required and commented that staff and managers were approachable and easy to engage with.

People were positive about their transition into the service and support they received. We saw people had been involved in planning their care and understood their rights. Information was shared in the service to help inform and involve people. This included distributing a newsletter that helped people feel involved in the plans and decisions being made about the service.

People told us they felt staff were well trained and able to meet their needs and keep them safe. People commented, “I have full confidence in them” and “I feel safe and they manage everything properly.”