Bluewater Care Limited

Updated 6 November 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

The inspection activity started on 24 September 2018 and ended on 25 September 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is small, and the manager may have been out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be in. We visited the office location on 24 September 2018 to see the registered manager; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed all the information we had about the service. The provider had not been asked to complete a Provider Information Return as part of the Provider Information Collection. This 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 contacted the local authority commissioning and contracts department who told us they did not commission this service. We also contacted safeguarding and Healthwatch to assist us in planning the inspection. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. Neither service had any information to share with us.

We spoke with the registered manager and three care staff. Due to the language barrier and with the consent of the people receiving care, we spoke with two of their relatives. We checked all three care files for people using the service. We also checked recruitment records for staff and other records in relation to the management of the service.

Updated 6 November 2018

This inspection took place 24 September 2018 and was announced. This was the first inspection of Bluewater Care Limited since the service registered in October 2017. The registered manager told us the service started supporting people in April 2018. The service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using Bluewater Care Limited receives regulated activity; 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. There were three people receiving support at the time of this inspection. This meant the service was rated on the experience of a small number of people.

There was a registered manager in post who had been registered since October 2017. 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.

The registered provider had arrangements in place to keep people safe and to help protect people from the risk of abuse. Staff understood their responsibilities for safeguarding people from harm and followed the registered provider's policy and procedure. Potential risks associated with people, and their environment had been identified and managed. At the time of the inspection there were no recorded accidents, incidents or safeguarding concerns.

Systems were in place to ensure medicines were managed safely and staff had been trained to support people with their medicines. Staff had their competence to administer medicines checked.

There had been no recorded accidents or incidents since the service began operating. Policies and procedures and a system for reporting were in place. Staff were provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as gloves, aprons and shoe protectors to use when supporting people in line with infection control procedures and cultural requirements.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and were able to describe how they would support people to make decisions and how they would act in their best interests when providing care. We could not evidence they were doing this in practice, as no one using the service lacked the capacity to consent to their care and treatment.

Care plans were personalised and reflected people's current needs and preferences. They contained the information staff needed to provide people with care and support in line with their preferences. Staff understood the importance of treating people with dignity and respect.

Care was responsive and flexible to meet people’s current care needs. Relatives we spoke with knew who to complain to and had every confidence that any concerns would be acted on and resolved by the registered manager.

People’s relatives told us they thought the service was well-run and the registered manager was involved and constantly seeking their feedback. We found the registered provider had some systems and processes in place, and they carried out checks to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the service. Due to the low number of people using the service, some audits had not yet been developed although the registered manager was aware of the need to use audits to ensure continuous improvements.