About the service Extra Hands of Heacham Limited – Heacham Office is a service providing care and support to people in their own homes. 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 our inspection the service was providing personal care to 113 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Overall medicines were managed safely, however, there were some areas of medicines management which needed further development and improvement. We have made a recommendation about the management of medicines which are only occasionally required (PRN.)
People told us they felt safe. Staff were clear about their safeguarding responsibilities. Risks and infection control procedures were managed well and kept under review. There were enough staff and people told us they could rely on the service. Recently some calls had not run on time, but this was a resolving situation and had had no major impact on people’s care.
People’s needs were comprehensively assessed before a service was provided. Staff were well trained and had been recruited safely. The service worked well with other health and social care agencies.
People consented to their care and treatment and this was recorded. 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.
People received care and support from kind, patient and caring staff who often went the extra mile for them. People’s dignity and privacy was upheld. They were encouraged to express their views about their care and treatment and the provider respected these.
People received a person-centred service which considered their care needs holistically. Complaints were well managed and lessons learned where necessary. Information about people’s end of life care preferences was basic. However, the provider has designed a survey to capture more detail, should people wish to share this.
Recent management changes had identified that oversight of some aspects of the service needed improving and immediate action was taken. The provider had a clear vision for the future of the service and new measures, such as the new electronic care recording system have been introduced. This had improved communication and saved staff time.
People who used the service and staff were keen to share very positive feedback with us about the quality of the service. We have confidence that this provider will attend to the minor issues we have raised and continue to make further improvements.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 13 April 2019.)
Why we inspected
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services rated Good and Outstanding to test the reliability of our new monitoring approach.