Bluebird Care (Barnet)

Updated 7 November 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 carried out by 1 inspector and 2 Experts 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 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 not a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service a short period notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 26 September 2023 and ended on 17 October 2023. We visited the location’s office on 28 and 29 September 2023.

What we did before inspection

We looked at all the information we held about the provider including information they sent us when they were registered with us. We also looked at reviews people had posted online about the service. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with 1 relative of a person who used the service, 4 care workers, a supervisor, a coordinator, the operations manager and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We viewed a range of records. This included 5 people's care and risk management plans and care records. We saw 6 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. We viewed a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including medicines support records, audits, meeting records and procedures. We spoke with 10 people and 16 relatives of people who use the service. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 7 November 2023

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 did not care or support for anyone with a learning disability or an autistic person. However, we assessed the care provision under Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture, as it is registered as a specialist service for this population group.

About the service

Bluebird Care (Barnet) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care and support to people in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the agency was supporting 90 people. 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.

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

Right Care

People felt safe, staff were caring and treated them with dignity and respect. People and their relatives generally felt the service was managed well and people’s care needs were met. People’s care and risk management plans set out their care needs, preferences and communication support. Staff found these plans helpful. Staff received regular training, supervision and the provider checked their competency. Staff and managers knew how to report and respond to potential safeguarding adults concerns.

Right Support

Staff supported people with their medicines appropriately. There were procedures for responding to and learning from accidents and incidents. There were enough staff to meet people's needs. People were usually visited by the same staff with whom they were familiar. There were safe recruitment processes in place.

Right Culture

People knew how to raise issues or complaints and the provider responded to these appropriately. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and recognise when improvements were required. People and staff were asked to give feedback about the service. The service worked in partnership with other professionals to meet people’s needs and help them to access healthcare support. 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 (12 October 2017). The rating for the service following this inspection remains good.

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.