# Helping Hand

*Operated by Mrs Nicola Kay French.*

Helping Hand is a CQC-regulated home-care agency in Grantham.

## CQC Ratings

| Key question | Rating |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | Good |
| Safe | Good |
| Effective | Good |
| Caring | Good |
| Responsive | Good |
| Well-led | Good |

Rating published: 21/11/2023

## Practical info

- Postcode: NG31 7EU
- Local authority: Lincolnshire
- Region: East Midlands
- City: Grantham
- Last CQC check: 21/Nov/2023 - 00:00

## Inspection findings

### Other

- Finding
  - Evidence: Strong partnership working with community health and social care agencies.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Staff felt well supported, could raise concerns, and found the provider approachable.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Regular audits, quality visits, and satisfaction questionnaires maintained effective oversight.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: People and relatives were very positive about the service quality and staff compassion.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Lessons learned from incidents, including medicines errors, were shared with all staff through training, supervision, and weekly memos.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Effective infection prevention and control practices were in place, with regular spot checks and competence assessments.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Staff medicines competency was assessed and people received medicines support as and when needed.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Safe recruitment processes were in place with appropriate pre-employment checks completed.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: People and relatives reported staff always visited on time and stayed as long as they should.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- Finding
  - Evidence: Staff completed safeguarding training and knew the action to take if abuse was suspected, with processes in place for appropriate action on safeguarding incidents.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- **staff_training** _(minor)_
  - Evidence: One relative and one community professional felt that staff could benefit from training in supporting people with dementia.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- **medication_management** _(minor)_
  - Evidence: Some minor improvements were needed to ensure medicines administration records (MARs) reflected National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance.
  - Published: 2023-11-21
- **care_planning** _(minor)_
  - Evidence: One person's care plan needed to be updated to ensure it reflected the person's risks accurately. Their care plan documented that they were at risk of falls but had not been updated following their most recent fall.
  - Published: 2023-11-21

## Source

Data published by the [Care Quality Commission](https://www.cqc.org.uk/) under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Canonical page: https://homecarecompass.co.uk/agency/1-2983486362

HomeCare Compass is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the CQC.