Surrey Helping Hands Limited

Updated 27 May 2021

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

Our inspection was completed by one inspector on site and a second inspector who sought feedback from people by phone.

Service and service type

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

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 24 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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. 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.

During the inspection-

We called and spoke with three people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager, office staff and care staff.

We reviewed a range of records. This included five people's care records and multiple medication records. We reviewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service including three staff recruitment files and audits of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records. We received feedback from a further two people after the inspection.

Updated 27 May 2021

About the service

Surrey Helping Hands is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people in their own homes in the West Surrey area. People who receive a service include those living with frailty, mobility needs and health conditions including dementia. At the time of our inspection the service provided personal care to 42 people.

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

Assessments were not always undertaken to identify risks to people to protect them from harm. The management of medicines required improvement particularly around recording. However, people did say they received their medicines when needed. Accidents and incidents were not always recorded appropriately or analysed.

Quality assurance was not always effective. Where shortfalls had been identified with staff this had not been addressed robustly. Staff were not given travel time in between calls which meant they were not always staying for the full length of the call. However, people, relatives and staff were complimentary of the management team.

People told us that they felt safe with staff and that staff followed good infection control procedures. Staff underwent a robust recruitment process before they started work.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 17 November 2017).

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to the missed calls and the safe delivery of medicines. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of Safe and Well-led only.

We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

We have found evidence that the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the Safe, and Well Led sections of this full report. You can see what action we have asked the provider to take at the end of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Surrey Helping Hands Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection.

We will continue to discharge our regulatory enforcement functions required to keep people safe and to hold providers to account where it is necessary for us to do so.

We have identified breaches in relation to risks related to the care being provided to people, the management of medicines, incident and accident reporting and the lack of robust provider and management quality assurance at this inspection.

For requirement actions of enforcement which we are able to publish at the time of the report being published. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan for the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.