Helping Hands Wimbledon

Updated 23 November 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by an inspector and Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

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

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider would be available to support the inspection when we visited.

We visited the location’s office on 2 October 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service including the last inspection report and notifications. A notification is information about important events, which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 2 people who used the service and 9 family members. We also spoke with the branch manager and 4 staff members who provided care to people.

We reviewed a range of records. This included people's care plans and risk assessments, medicines management procedures and staff files in relation to training and recruitment data. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including audits and policies were also reviewed.

Updated 23 November 2023

About the service

Helping Hands Wimbledon is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. This service specialises in supporting people living with dementia. At the time of the inspection, out of a total number of 49 people the service was supporting, 16 people were receiving support with 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 and their relative's told us that the management team's communication was not always affective and that they were not always provided with regular staff members to ensure consistent care delivery. Staff training needs required reviewing to ensure they had the necessary knowledge for the job. We made recommendations for this.

People felt safe supported by their regular carers. They received support with managing their medicines as prescribed. There were robust staff recruitment procedures in place. Staff had the necessary guidance to effectively manage risks associated with infection control. Risk assessments were individualised and provided guidance for staff on how to mitigate the potential risks to people. However information was not included in relation to how the service assessed the level of risk and also the areas being looked into during the environmental and fire safety risk assessments.

Initial assessments were carried out to gather personal information about people before the service started supporting them. Care records reflected the support people required to attend to their health and nutritional needs. 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 felt valued by their regular staff members. People's privacy was respected and they had support to maintain their independence skills. However their choice of gender care was not always adhered to by the service.

Care plans were person- centred and reflected people's choices and life-styles. Systems were in place for recording the actions taken when a complaint was received. End of life care wishes were discussed where people felt comfortable to do so.

People had good relationships with their regular staff members who attended to their care with compassion. Systems and processes were in place to monitor the care being delivered to people. Healthcare professionals were involved as and when necessary to support people's well-being.

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 good (published 23 July 2018).

You can read the report from our last inspection, by selecting the 'all reports' link for Helping Hands Wimbledon on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service and when the service was last inspected.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection program. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.