Bradford Home Support

Updated 7 December 2019

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 carried out by one inspector and two 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. The service provides short term support, usually up to a maximum of six weeks, following discharge from hospital or in response to a social care crisis.

The service had a manager 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

We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we needed to make sure the registered manager would be available to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 16 September 2019 and ended on 25 September 2019. We visited the office location on 16 and 25 September 2019.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We carried out telephone interviews with 19 people who used the service and eight relatives about their experiences of the care provided. We spoke with 16 staff including support workers, care co-ordinators, care managers, the technical manager and the registered manager. We reviewed a range of record which included nine people’s care records and several medication records. We looked at two staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. We looked at other records relating to the management of the service, such as training records, meeting notes, audits and survey results.

After the inspection

We reviewed additional information sent to us by the provider.

Updated 7 December 2019

Bradford Home Support (also known as Bradford Enablement and Support Team, BEST), is registered to provide personal care and support to people at home. The service provides short term support to people when they are discharged from hospital or in response to a social care crisis. Because of the type of service, the numbers of people supported can vary from day to day and at any given time the service supports between 200 and 300 people. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 231 people across the Bradford district.

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

The leadership of the service was excellent. Significant time and resources had been invested in implementing and improving digital systems to ensure people consistently received a high-quality responsive service which met their needs and preferences. People were extremely positive about the service and told us they would have no hesitation in recommending it.

The service had excellent quality assurance and monitoring systems to ensure people received safe care and treatment. These systems meant the management team were able to identify any shortfalls in the service and act quickly to rectify them.

The management team were passionate about the service and were continuously looking at ways to improve people’s experiences. They worked in partnership with other health and social care agencies and this collaborative work had benefited people across the whole Bradford district. Examples of this included reduced admissions to hospital and improved support for people receiving end of life care at home.

The management team had dedicated a lot of time and resources to staff training and development. Staff told us they were very proud to work for the service and felt extremely well supported in their roles. They said they would recommend it to family and friends who needed care and as a place to work.

People were supported by staff who were exceptionally kind and caring. Staff were dedicated to ensuring people experienced the best possible care and support. People’s equality and diversity needs, and preferences were respected.

The service placed a strong emphasis on enablement, supporting people to live fulfilling lives and be part of their local community. Staff actively encouraged and supported people to be as independent as possible. We found numerous examples of staff supporting people to improve their quality of life by supporting them to access local services.

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.

People told us the service was safe. Staff knew how to recognise and report any concerns about people’s safety and welfare. Robust recruitment procedures helped to protect people against the risk of being supported by unsuitable staff.

Risks to people safety and welfare were identified and managed.

People’s needs were assessed. From the outset people were involved in planning how their support needs would be met and in setting goals to help them become as independent as possible. This meant people received person centred care.

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 16 March 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.