Unknowingly heading to failure. Inadvertently heading to disaster. Bad news. Going to hell is bad enough and the reference to ‘hand basket’ suggests a  naivete about the path that is leading to such a dire outcome. Although an old fashioned idiom, it still pops up nowadays because it perfectly explains inexperienced people going down a path of ruin. (Compare to Slippery slope.)

“Now that the young, college grad has become the new president without experience in our factory, we are going to hell in a hand basket.”