Helping Hands Macclesfield

Updated 18 March 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

The inspection was carried out by one inspector and one assistant inspector.

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 did not currently have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This means the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The new manager was in the final stages in their application process to register with CQC.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a smaller service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. We also needed the service to check with people and relatives whether they would be happy for us to call them. Inspection activity started on 25 February 2020 and ended on 27 February 2020. We visited the office location on 25 February 2020.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We sought feedback from the local authority. The provider had not been asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) before our inspection. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and seven relatives on the telephone, about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with nine members of staff, including six care staff, the care coordinator, the manager and the regional compliance business partner.

We reviewed a range of records. This included four people’s care records, as well as medication charts. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and quality assurance procedures, were reviewed.

Updated 18 March 2020

About the service

Helping Hands Macclesfield is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own houses and flats in Macclesfield and surrounding areas. 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. At the time of inspection, staff supported 18 out of the 42 people who used the service with personal care.

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

People’s experience of using the service was very positive overall. People and relatives commented, “The staff bring brightness into my life”, “The laughs I hear coming from the bedroom or shower [when staff support personal care] are lovely” and “Most are sensible and know what they are doing. 80% get it right 80% of the time and that is good going.” People and relatives generally had no concerns or complaints, but felt any issues raised would be dealt with effectively. The service kept people, relatives and staff well informed and involved, through regular reviews and meetings.

The new manager had recognised improvements needed at the service and was addressing these effectively. They were well respected by people using the service and relatives. Staff recognised the difference they had made and felt well supported. The provider had identified that as the number of their services had grown substantially, more regionally based support to branches was required. Together with the new manager they had a clear action plan to remedy previous quality issues and continuously improve people’s care and the systems underpinning it.

People were supported by a reliable staff team that had not missed calls and generally attended on time. Care plans supported staff’s knowledge of people and their person-centred care. There were some positive examples of personalisation and the manager was developing this further. People felt safe with support from the service and relatives felt their loved ones were “in safe hands” with staff. At times care plans and risk assessments needed to be updated following accidents or incidents, to ensure actions to prevent recurrence were recorded and shared effectively.

Staff worked effectively in partnership with people, relatives and other professionals to achieve positive outcomes, which included increasing their independence. 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 manager had identified the need to develop mental capacity assessments so that the policies and systems in the service consistently supported this practice.

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 18 February 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned visit in line with our inspection programme.

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.