This inspection was carried out on 29 and 30 November 2017 and was announced. Helping Hands Aylesbury is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to older adults and younger disabled adults. The office is based in the town of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good.

At this inspection we found the service remained Good.

People we spoke with gave us positive feedback about the care staff. Comments included “The carers are really lovely. They’re very polite and kind,” “They know what they need to do after they’ve been once and after they’ve finished what they should do they always ask if there’s anything else I would like them to do. They automatically do any washing up without me needing to ask. They just use their common sense and just look around for jobs to do” and “The housework they do is definitely to my standard. There’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to do it yourself so it’s good that they make sure I’m happy.”

People were supported by staff who had been recruited by a robust process to ensure they had the right skills and attributes.

Staff were aware of how to recognise abuse and were knowledgeable about what to do in the event of a concern being raised.

People could be confident that staff were trained to support them, the provider ensured staff had access to training and systems were in place to monitor staff performance.

People were supported by a service that sought to continually learn from when things went wrong and developed ways to reduce the likelihood to harm to people.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice.

Where required, people were supported with their nutritional needs. The service worked with external health care professionals to keep people healthy and well.

Staff were aware of people’s likes and dislikes, information was gathered about people’s interests. Staff encouraged people to be independent one person told us “They’re very respectful indeed towards me, they always let me do the bits that I can and make me feel very comfortable in their presence. I don’t feel any embarrassment at all with them.”

Systems were in place to monitor the quality of the service provided. There was a clear vision in the organisation to support people to achieve a fulfilling, safe and good quality of life.

Record management within the service required improvements. We found paper and computer records did not always contain up to date information. There was a lack of information being recorded about telephone calls made to the service. For instance, we found there was not always a clear audit trail for changes made to people’s care needs. We have made a recommendation about this in the report.

Helping Hands Aylesbury provides domiciliary care to people within their homes in Aylesbury, Oxford and the surrounding areas. The office is based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and provides care to both social services’ clients and private clients. Visits to people include support with personal care, shopping, housework and social visits.

Helping Hands Aylesbury has a registered manager in place. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The provider was given 48 hours’ notice of our visit. This was to ensure documentation and people were accessible on the day of our inspection. As the service was newly registered and had not been inspected before, the highest rating they could achieve was ‘good’ as they were unable to demonstrate a level of consistency; however, we found elements of the service to be outstanding.

People were extremely complimentary about the service they received from Helping Hands Aylesbury. People’s needs were assessed and appropriate information was given to people before the service commenced. People were involved in the planning and delivery of their care including writing their care plans with office staff. One person who used the service told us “I don’t want anyone else. They are fantastic.”

People were protected from harm by staff who were very well inducted, trained and supervised within the service. People received consistent care staff who knew their needs and treated them with dignity and respect. People told us care staff always went above and beyond to ensure their needs were met.

The provider had excellent systems in place to ensure the running of the service. This included the use of continuous quality checks. People and staff told us the service was extremely well led by the registered manager and co-ordinator. Staff’s hard work was recognised by the provider and the service worked within and promoted the provider’s values.

Health professionals were complimentary about the service and provided examples of where the service had achieved positive outcomes for people. The provider informed us that they focused on the quality of care, not the quantity which allowed them to provide personalised, tailored care to people. New care packages were thoroughly assessed to ensure the service could provide the care people needed before committing to taking on the care package.

The service was well-led and people’s care was regularly reviewed. The registered manager had excellent oversight of the service. Staff members told us they felt happy, supported and confident working for Helping Hands Aylesbury.