20 June 2019
During a routine inspection
Bluebird Care (Huntingdonshire) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to people living with dementia, people with mental health needs, people with a physical disability, older people and people with sensory impairments. Its office is based in the outskirts of Huntingdon. At the time of our inspection visit there were 26 people receiving a service of personal care.
Peoples experience of using this service:
People were effectively supported to be safe by staff who understood how to apply safeguarding systems and reporting procedures. A sufficient number of staff were in post; they continued to be recruited safely. Medicines were administered and managed safely. Risks were identified and managed well. Lesson’s were learned when things did not go well. There were systems in place to promote good hygiene and infection prevention standards.
Staff received appropriate support for their roles and this included training, supervision, shadowing experienced staff and staff meetings. People’s needs were met. The registered manager ensured staff followed best practice guidance such as for medicines in the community. People were supported to eat and drink enough. Staff enabled people 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. The staff team worked well with others to help ensure people’s care was consistent.
People were cared for with kindness and compassion. People were listened to and staff respected their choices. The registered manager signposted people to local advocacy services. Staff upheld people’s dignity and promoted their privacy. People were supported to be as independent as practicable. One person told us how good staff were at supporting them in a dignified way”.
People involved others in their care including relatives and friends. People’s care plans were up-to-date, accurate and gave staff information they needed about what was important to people. Staff cared for and supported people in the way they preferred. Concerns were acted upon before they became a complaint. Systems were in place to support people with dignified end of life care.
The registered manager had fostered an open and honest staff team culture. Staff upheld the provider’s values in the provision of good quality care. Staff received appropriate support for their role. Audits, quality assurance and oversight were effective in driving improvement. One of the many compliments stated, “Thank you for all the lovely care you gave to me from all the staff over the years”. People had a say in how the service was run. The provider and registered manager worked well with other stakeholders in providing coordinated care. Systems were in place should any person require information in an alternative format including large print or an alternative language format.
We undertook an announced focused inspection of Bluebird Care (Huntingdonshire) on 18 January 2019. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection 19 January 2018 had been made. The team inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well led. This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements. At this inspection in January 2019 we found the provider had made the improvements they told us they would make.
No risks, concerns or significant improvement were identified in the remaining Key Questions through our ongoing monitoring or during our inspection activity so we did not inspect them. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for these Key Questions were included in calculating the overall rating in this inspection.
Rating at last inspection: Good (report published 23 January 2019. At the latest inspection the service had improved the rating in: is the service safe to Good and the overall rating remained Good.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up: We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk