Helping Hands Epsom

Updated 19 January 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection, carried out by two inspectors, took place on 10 January 2019 and was announced. The inspection was announced as this is our methodology for inspecting this type of service as we need to ensure someone is available to assist with our requests for documentation.

We asked the provider to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to our inspection. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. This enabled us to ensure we were addressing potential areas of concern at our inspection. We reviewed the PIR as part of our inspection.

During we spoke with the registered manager, the provider’s area manager, governance lead, care coordinator and four carers. We read care plans for five people, looked at medicines records and the records of accidents and incidents. We also looked records of staff training. We saw records of quality assurance audits and reviewed three staff files. We looked at a selection of policies and procedures and health and safety audits. We also looked at minutes of meetings of staff, people and relatives.

Following the inspection, we spoke with eight people and three relatives to hear their views on the service provided by Helping Hands – Epsom.

Updated 19 January 2019

This inspection took place on 10 January 2019 and was announced. This was the first inspection of Helping Hands – Epsom since they registered with us in January 2018.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to older people living in their own homes. The agency provided personal care to 21 people at the time of our inspection. This included people who were elderly, frail, or living with a diagnosis of dementia.

There was a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager assisted us in our inspection.

People’s medicines were managed safely and people told us that staff followed good infection control procedures.

Staff understood their responsibility in relation to reporting any concerns around abuse. People told us they felt safe and we read that risks to people had been identified and recorded. Where accidents and incidents resulting in lessons learnt information was circulated provider-wide for learning.

People were cared for by a sufficient number of staff who told us they did not feel rushed and had sufficient travelling time between calls. Staff had gone through a good recruitment process which included checking the prospective staff member had no criminal offences. Staff had access to sufficient training, supervision and support to help make them competent and feel valued in their role.

People’s consent was sought and staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). People’s needs were assessed prior to the care package commencing and where people needed health care services or their meals provided for them, both of these needs were met.

People told us staff were kind and caring and knew them and their needs. People said they could remain independent but staff supported them in a way that was individualised. People said staff showed them respect.

People’s care plans contained detailed information in all aspects of a person’s care and staff were able to describe people to us. People were asked for any end of life wishes they had. People received responsive care that was person-centred due to the information in the documentation.

People were provided with information about the agency upon commencement of the care package. This included information on how to contact staff out of hours and how to make a complaint.

A wide range of quality assurance monitoring took place which included provider-wide monitoring, area-wide monitoring and individual branch monitoring. People’s feedback was sought and any comments or suggestions responded to. Staff were involved in the agency and demonstrated positive, person-centred values. The registered manager worked with external agencies in respect of people’s care. Notifications were received from the registered manager in line with their requirements of registration.