Bridges Home Care Ltd

Updated 28 August 2020

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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was conducted by two inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a

person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community.

The service had a manager who was registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they, and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the

care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours' notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We also looked at notifications received from the provider. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. This ensured we were addressing any areas of concern.

During the inspection

We spoke with eight people and eight relatives. We looked at three people's care records and four medicine administration records (MAR). We spoke with six care staff and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of records relating to the management of the service. These included medicine records, quality assurance audits, training records, policies and surveys.

Updated 28 August 2020

About the service

Bridges Homecare is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). The service provides personal care services to people

in their own homes or people in supported living arrangements.

At the time of our inspection 135 people received personal care as the regulated activity. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is to help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

The last rating for this service was Requires Improvement (Report published 1 February 2020). At the last inspection we found medicines management was not based on current best practice.

The systems in place to monitor the quality of service were not always effective in that they had not identified the concerns found in relation to their registration and medicines management. This was a breach of Regulation 17 HSCA RA Regulations 2014 Good governance.

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found the provider had taken action and improvements had been made. The provider was no longer in breach of this regulation.

People's experience of using this service

Medicines were administered and managed safely. Records were accurate and up to date and staff’s competency to safely administer medicine was regularly checked and recorded.

The registered manager had quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service. This included monitoring of medicine management systems. The service had a clear management and staffing structure in place and promoted a positive, caring culture.

People told us they felt safe. Staff had received training to enable them to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and they felt confident in how to report these types of concerns. People had risk assessments in place to enable them to be as independent as they could be in a safe manner.

There were sufficient staff on duty to support people with their needs and keep them safe. Effective and safe recruitment processes were consistently followed by the provider.

People were safe from the risk of infection. This included measures introduced by the provider to safeguard people and staff from COVID-19.

We undertook this focused inspection to check the provider had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.

The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for those key questions not looked at on this occasion were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection. The overall rating for the service has changed from Requires Improvement to Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bridges Home Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.