Archived: Bluebird Care (Manchester South)

The service was last inspected on 17 September 2013 and was found to be meeting the regulations we inspected against.

Bluebird Care (Manchester South) is registered to provide personal care to people in the community, living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 36 people receiving a regulated activity.

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People and their relatives told us they felt safe receiving support from care workers and were happy with the service.

Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and had received up to date training. Staff were confident in their role to safeguard people and told us they felt confident to raise any concerns. All safeguarding concerns were reported to the local authority, were investigated and appropriate action was taken where necessary.

People had appropriate risk assessments in place where required which were clearly linked to associated care plans. The service also had general risk assessments in place covering environmental factors and work tasks.

Medicines were managed and administered in a safe way. MAR sheets were fully completed and staff received regular competency checks as well as appropriate training to enable them to administer medicines.

People and relatives told us there were enough staff to meet their needs and staff rotas reflected this. People received support from a consistent cohort of carers where possible. The care co-ordinator explained how they tried to ensure people were supported by the same staff members when possible. Staff were recruited in a safe way with appropriate checks carried out prior to them providing care and support to people.

Staff received regular training and all mandatory training was up to date. The service encouraged staff to complete additional courses such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ's). One care worker told us they had recently discussed pursuing an NVQ training course with the registered manager during a recent supervision.

Staff told us and records confirmed they received regular supervisions. Staff also received annual appraisals which were recorded and included training and development opportunities as well as achievements and areas for improvement.

Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and were able to describe how they gained consent from people prior to providing support. Staff understood the importance of gaining consent from people, respecting their decisions if they chose to refuse an aspect of their care and the importance of encouraging people to make decisions.

People were supported by staff to meet their nutritional needs where appropriate. Specific care plans were in place containing adequate detail to inform and guide staff how to provide effective support to people. People told us staff members asked what they would like to eat and made whatever they wanted.

People and relatives spoke highly of care staff and felt they were friendly, kind and very nice. People felt comfortable and at ease receiving support from staff.

Care plans were personalised, detailed and updated regularly. People and their relatives felt involved in planning their care and were confident communicating any changes they wanted to management.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident to do so. They informed us they had no issues or problems with the service to complain about. The registered manager investigated all complaints received and took appropriate action.

The registered manager operated an open door policy and staff were happy that they could approach management with any issues or concerns and felt supported in their roles because of this.

Regular staff and senior team meetings took place as part of ongoing monitoring and improvement of the service.

The service regularly received compliments in the form of thank you cards, emails and letters from people who received a service and relatives.

The people who used the service said they were very happy with the support they received and spoke highly of the staff team. One person told us the staff are always polite and respectful. Another person said, 'The staff are very professional. This is the best agency I have used and I would recommend it to anyone.'

A relative of one of the people who used the service described the staff as 'excellent'. They explained that sometimes their relative was unwell and did not always want the usual personal care service. They said the staff were always considerate of their relative's care needs and fully respected their wishes. Another relative told us, 'The service is very efficient and the staff are lovely. Communication with staff is good and I am always informed of any changes to the usual arrangements.'

Staff were trained on how to safeguard people from abuse and harm when they were first employed and this was part of the on- going training programme. None of the people who used the service or their relatives had any concerns to raise about the staff who supported them. One person said, 'The staff are lovely, they are all very kind.' Another person told us, 'I have absolutely no concerns about my relative's safety.'

Thorough recruitment and selection processes were in place which meant the staff employed had relevant qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience to carry out their role.

All of the people we spoke with said they were aware of the agency's complaint procedure which meant they knew what to do if they were unhappy with the standard of care they received and wanted to raise a concern. One person told us, "I have raised a concern in the past and this was dealt with very quickly and without any fuss. I was very happy with the response I received.'

'The staff are very polite and helpful, they always do what is required. They always arrive on time and stay for the agreed amount of time. If they are going to be late, I'm always informed.'

'The staff are very gentle and I am very well looked after.'

'My current carer is 5 star. She is very conscientious and considerate.'

'The organisation is very well managed, everything runs smoothly.'

The relative of one of the people who used the service said, 'I'm quite happy with everything and so is my relative. She has three carers and they are all very nice, she is very pleased with everything.' Another relative said, The management is very good and the quality of the service is excellent.'