Bluebird Care (Manchester North and Salford)

Updated 11 May 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

The inspection was completed by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own or their families houses and flats.

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

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 4 April 2023 and ended on 5 April 2023. We visited the location’s office on 4 April 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since their registration. 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 spoke with 4 members of staff including the registered manager, nominated individual, support worker and director. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider.

We reviewed a range of records, including 3 people’s care and medication records. We looked at 2 staff files in relation to recruitment. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance, complaints and safeguarding were reviewed.

Following our visit to the office we spoke with 1 person who uses the service, 2 relatives and 3 support workers by telephone. We contacted 3 case managers working with the service by email,

Updated 11 May 2023

About the service

Bluebird Care (Manchester North and Salford) is a domiciliary care agency. It provided personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection, the service was providing support to 6 people, all of whom received support with the regulated activity ‘personal care’. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. We also considered any wider social care provided.

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

At the time of the inspection the location supported one person diagnosed with a mild learning disability. This did not impact on the support they needed or their ability to make their own decisions. We assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People and their relatives were very positive about the care and support provided by Bluebird Care (Manchester North and Salford). A case manager said, “They are very efficient, always deal with requests promptly and most importantly, they make their clients a priority and tailor each package to those clients’ needs.”

Care and support plans identified peoples support needs, provided guidance for meeting their needs and managing identified risks. People and their relatives had been involved in agreeing and reviewing the care and support plans.

People were supported to maintain their health and nutritional needs where applicable. People were supported to take part in local community activities where this was part of the agreed support.

Staff were safely recruited and received the training they needed for their role. Staff were positive about working for the service and felt well supported by the management team. Consistent staff supported each person so they knew people’s needs well.

A quality assurance system was in place. Communication between people, their families, the staff teams and the management team were good. Any issues raised were resolved.

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

This service was registered with us on 25 May 2022, and this is the first inspection.

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

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.