Helping Hands Ramsgate

Updated 26 February 2020

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 5 February 2020 and ended on 5 February 2020. We visited the office location on 5 February 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it registered. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and three relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff including the registered manager, care co-ordinator and care workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 26 February 2020

About the service

Helping Hands Ramsgate is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to older people over 65 in their own homes. The service was supporting 10 people at the time of the inspection who received personal care.

Not everyone who used the service received 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.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People were protected from the risk of abuse and were supported to stay safe in line with their needs. People received regular visits and were supported by consistent, safely recruited and suitable staff. People were supported with their medicines safely. The registered manager reviewed any incidents to learn from these.

People received care from skilled staff to meet their individual needs. People were supported to access any health care they needed, and staff worked with other health professionals to ensure their needs were met. Where required people were supported with meal preparation and ensuring they ate and drank enough.

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.

Feedback from people and relatives confirmed that staff were caring and treated people with dignity and respect. Peoples independence was promoted to enable them to remain living in their own home. People and their loved ones were involved with their care and their privacy was respected.

People received care which was person centred and met all their needs. Staff knew people well and had the time to sit and chat to them. People were able to raise any concerns they had, and the registered manager was responsive to these. People’s wishes for their end of life were known.

People received a safe, quality service as there was good management which included checks to ensure this. There was an open and caring culture in the service and the providers values were promoted. Staff were engaged with the service and well supported to provide effective care to people. The registered manager sought feedback to look at how they could make improvements and worked with others to enable this.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 25 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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.