Background to this inspection
Updated
27 January 2024
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
The inspection team consisted of 2 inspectors. One inspector visited the office location and 1 inspector made telephone calls to people and their relatives off-site.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and specialist housing.
Registered Manager
This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.
Notice of inspection
The inspection was announced. We gave the service 24 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity commenced on 9 January 2024 and finished on 12 January 2024. We visited the provider’s office location on 9 and 10 January 2024.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. 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 this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We gathered feedback from 3 people who used the service and 11 relatives or representatives about their experience of the care provided.
We gathered feedback from 9 staff, including the registered manager, care co-ordinators and care staff.
We reviewed a range of records. These included 4 people's care records and 3 people’s medication records. We checked 2 staff recruitment and induction files. We reviewed records relating to the management and safety of the service, including audits, risks analysis, feedback and training records.
Updated
27 January 2024
About the service
Bluebird Care (Stratford & Warwick) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults living in their own homes. 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.
At the time of our inspection visit 47 people were receiving the regulated activity of 'personal care'.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Governance processes ensured the provider’s values were centred around people who used the service and their families. This meant people remained at the heart of how the service was developed and delivered. People and their relatives were overwhelmingly positive about consistent and high-quality standards of care which enabled people to remain living in their own homes and communities. Staff demonstrated a high level of satisfaction with their role at Bluebird Care (Stratford & Warwick).
The management team were committed to improving the care people received and recognised the value of research. There was a strong culture of investigating and learning from incidents and mistakes to ensure sustainable improvement was implemented. Staff felt confident to report any mistakes because there was a 'no blame' culture in the service.
People and their relatives were encouraged to provide feedback and the registered manager empowered staff to raise concerns knowing they would be listened and responded to. The registered manager signposted people and their relatives to other organisations and healthcare professionals to ensure they had the support they were entitled to.
People received care calls when they expected them and spoke of a caring staff team who made them feel safe and confident. Staff understood their role in keeping people safe and had information to mitigate any risks associated with people’s care. Staff followed good infection control and medicines management practices and followed the provider’s procedures for reporting any concerns.
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.
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 19 January 2018).
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
We undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. For those key question not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection by selecting the 'all reports' link for Bluebird Care (Stratford & Warwick) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow Up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.