We carried out a review of the data available to us about HELPR Limited on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about HELPR Limited, you can give feedback on this service.
HelpR Ltd is a domiciliary care service. The service provides care and support to older people and individuals with frailty who are living in their own homes. Not everyone who uses the service receives 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. On the day of the inspection there were ten people receiving this type of support.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Staff were recruited in a safe way, with appropriate checks made by the registered manager prior to being appointed. People felt safe with the staff who supported them, and the staff knew them well. Trusting relationships were built between people and staff, and this in turn developed good rapport and communication between staff, the people they supported, and their wider family. Staff were knowledgeable about risks and well trained, and followed best practice procedures.
People received individual and person centred care and support. Staff were well supported by the registered manager who had good oversight of their performance. Referrals were made in a timely manner to associated health professionals when required, and family involved when appropriate.
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.
The registered manager had made significant improvements to the management arrangements resulting in improved auditing and oversight of the quality of the service. People, staff and families we spoke with told us they felt involved and included in decisions, and the service was well managed. We also received very positive feedback from health professionals who had worked with the service to support people.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (published 13 October 2020).
The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced targeted inspection of this service on 10 September 2020. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve their management oversight of the quality of care, how they recruited staff, and their processes for sending in the required notifications to CQC.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Effective and Well-led which contain those requirements.
The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for HelpR Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
HELPR is a domiciliary care agency who provides personal care to people living in their own accommodation. At the time of our inspection, the agency was providing the regulated activity of personal care to 10 people. People receiving the care were either living with dementia or elderly and frail.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
We found little improvement to the service since our last inspection in February 2019. Although the registered manager told us she was now carrying out supervisions with staff, she was unable to provide us with evidence of this. In addition, audits being carried out did not pick up on shortfalls. The registered manager had limited management oversight of the service. They were unable to give us information about people they provided care to, they could not find the information we requested easily on the day and one person’s care plan was not available in the office. The office is the address registered with CQC and as such all documentation relating to the agency should be stored securely at this location.
Notifications to CQC, which is a statutory requirement of the provider's registration, had not been submitted by the registered manager. Records relating to people's medicines were difficult to read.
Recruitment processes for new staff were not robust and information held about staff training was not recorded in a way that the registered manager could easily identify when staff required refresher training. Staff were required to obtain their own PPE, however the registered manager had not carried out any checks on staff to assure themselves that they were using and wearing the correct PPE particularly during the COVID pandemic.
Despite the poor record keeping and organisation within the agency’s office, people told us they were happy with the care they received. People said they saw consistent staff and staff were kind and caring. People felt safe with staff and told us they appeared calm.
People felt the registered manager was approachable and that communication with them was good. Staff were very happy working for HELPR and told us the registered manager supported them.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (report published 5 April 2019).
At this inspection we found minor improvements to the service but we found a continued breach of Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and a new breach of Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We also found a breach of Regulation 18 of the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced fully comprehensive inspection of this service on 25 February 2019. A breach of regulation was found in Regulation 17, Good Governance and we also made recommendations to the registered provider in relation to risk assessments, pre-assessments, staff training and supervision.
We undertook this targeted inspection to check whether the breach of Regulation 17 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2013 had been met. The overall rating for the service has not changed following this targeted inspection and remains Requires Improvement.
CQC have introduced targeted inspections to follow up on Warning Notices or to check specific concerns. They do not look at an entire key question, only the part of the key question we are specifically concerned about. Targeted inspections do not change the rating from the previous inspection. This is because they do not assess all areas of a key question.
At this inspection we reviewed selected Key Lines of Enquiry in the key questions of Safe and Well-Led only and this report covers our findings in relation to those.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for HELPR on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme when we will carry out a fully comprehensive inspection looking at all key questions. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
HELPR Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults, some of whom are living with dementia.
Not everyone using HELPR Limited receives 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 take into account any wider social care provided. For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
People’s experience of using this service:
Relatives told us they felt their family members were safe, and staff were aware of their role in safeguarding people from abuse. However, risks to people were not always appropriately recorded and managed, and the recording of medicines also required improvement. There were a sufficient number of staff to meet people’s needs, but safe recruitment checks had not always been evidenced.
People’s rights were not always protected in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and pre-assessments had not been completed to ensure that the service could meet people’s needs. Referrals to healthcare professionals had also not always occurred when needed. However, the registered manager has provided evidence that this is now being implemented throughout the service following the inspection. Staff training and supervision policies needed to be improved, but the service’s use of technology encouraged good communication amongst staff.
People and relatives told us staff were extremely kind and caring, and had become more like friends to them. People had been involved in reviews and decisions around their care. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity, and encouraged their independence where possible.
People were receiving person centred care in addition to their care plans being person centred. The service had not received any complaints, but people were aware how to raise a concern if they needed to. People’s end of life wishes had not been explored or recorded. Pre assessments had also not been completed. The registered manager said they would look to implement this in the service.
People and relatives felt the management team were approachable and staff felt valued. Quality checks needed to be recorded to ensure the service was in line with their quality management policy. The registered manager was in the process of getting an annual survey ready to send to people, relatives and staff to gather feedback to aid improvement in the service. The directors of the service took a proactive approach to working in partnership with other agencies in order to create a social enterprise.
Rating at last inspection:
This is the service’s first inspection and therefore does not have a previous rating.
Why we inspected:
This was a scheduled comprehensive inspection. We inspect services that are newly registered with the commission within a year.
Follow up:
We found one breach of regulation during our inspection. We have made recommendations about the recording of risks, pre assessments and quality audits, and staff processes around training and supervisions. We will follow this up during our next inspection, and have requested for the local authority's quality improvement manager in the area to work alongside the service. Please see the ‘action we have told the provider to take’ section towards the end of the report.