A & E Witt Limited Also known as Bluebird Care Dudley Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills

Updated 17 April 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector and an Expert by Experience (EXE). An EXE is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. On this occasion the EXE’s area of expertise was in dementia.

Service and service type:

Bluebird Care Dudley, Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. It provides a service to people with various needs, including older adults and people with dementia.

Not everyone using the service receives support with a ‘regulated activity’. For this type of service, CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, which includes help with tasks relating to personal hygiene and eating. Where people receive this support, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

At the time of our inspection, the service was supporting 24 people, with the majority receiving a regulated activity.

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 the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit. This is a small service and we weren’t sure if the manager also provided support to people. We needed to check someone would be available at the office to help us carry out the inspection.

Inspection site visit activity started on 28 February 2019 and ended on 1 March 2019. We visited the office location on 28 February 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff, to review care records and policies and procedures. On 28 February and 1 March 2019, we spoke with people on the telephone to gather their views on the service and spoke with one other member of staff.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection we reviewed information we held about the service. This included:

• Feedback about the service published on public review websites.

• The provider information return (PIR) submitted prior to our inspection visit. A PIR 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.

During the inspection we:

• Spoke with six people using the service at their home.

• Spoke with nine relatives or representatives of people using the service.

• Spoke with five members of staff whilst on site at the office. This included the registered manager, the care co-ordinator, one of the directors and two care workers.

•Spoke with one other member of care staff by telephone shortly after the inspection.

• Reviewed records relating to the care people were receiving, including three people’s daily records of care, three people’s care plans and risk assessments and electronic medication administration records (MARs).

• Reviewed other records relating to the running of a domiciliary care agency including; four staff personnel records, records of training and supervision, policies and procedures and audits of the service.

Updated 17 April 2019

About the service:

A & E Witt Limited, also known as Bluebird Care Dudley, Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills and called that throughout this report, is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service mainly to older adults but can also cater for people with dementia, a mental health need, a sensory impairment and younger adults. At the time of this inspection, Bluebird Care Dudley Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills was supporting 24 people living in their own homes.

Not everyone using Bluebird Care Dudley Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills receives regulated activity; the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service:

At this inspection we found the evidence the service met all the characteristics of Good in all areas inspected. More information is in the full report.

People were safe because there were effective risk assessments in place, and systems to keep them safe from abuse or avoidable harm. The provider had suitable systems in place to protect people from abuse including accidents and incidents.

Medicine administration was managed safely. Protocols or detailed instructions for the administration of ‘as required’ medicines were in place.

There were sufficient numbers of trained staff to support people safely. Recruitment processes were robust and helped to ensure staff were appropriate to work with vulnerable people.

People’s needs were thoroughly assessed before starting with the service. People and their relatives, where appropriate, had been involved in the care planning process.

Staff were competent and had the skills and knowledge to enable them to support people safely and effectively. Staff received the training and support they needed to carry out their roles effectively. Staff received regular supervisions and annual appraisals were planned.

People were supported in a friendly and respectful way. People and their relatives were complimentary about the staff and their caring attitude. People told us staff took their time when caring out care and support. Staff were patient and did not rush.

People’s care plans were person-centred and provided staff with the information they needed to provide care and support in a way that met people’s needs and preferences. There was evidence that care plans were reviewed regularly or as people’s needs changed.

People knew how to make a complaint, although no formal complaints had been made to the service. There was an effective complaints process in place to deal with any complaints that might be raised in the future.

People and their relatives told us they were extremely satisfied with the care provided. They said that there was good communication between themselves and the service.

There were processes in place to monitor the safety and quality of the service and the registered manager explored ways to continuously improve the quality of care. The provider worked in partnership with people’s families and other people involved in their care, for example other health professionals.

Rating at last inspection:

This was our first rating of this service. Bluebird Care Dudley Wyre Forest & Malvern Hills was first registered with CQC in August 2017.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection to provide the service with its first rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit in line with 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