Background to this inspection
Updated
22 May 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 one assistant inspector.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides services to people living with dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, mental health, older people and younger adults.
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:
The inspection was announced. We gave the service two days’ notice of the inspection site visit because we needed to be sure someone would be present.
We visited the office location on 15 and 23 April 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We then contacted people who used the service and staff on 16 April 2019.
What we did:
We reviewed information we had received about the service. This included details about incidents the provider must notify us about. We assessed the information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection, we looked at five people’s care records and elements of another two people’s records, records relating to the management of the service, including staff training records, audits and meeting minutes. As part of the inspection, we spoke with four people who use the service, four relatives and five staff.
Updated
22 May 2019
About the service:
Bluebird Care is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides services to younger and older adults, people with learning disabilities, people with physical disabilities and complex health needs. At the time of inspection 87 people were receiving support.
People’s experience of using this service:
People who used the service and their relatives told us staff were kind and caring. 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.
People’s healthcare needs were being met and medicines were being managed safely.
People were protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination. The care they received was safe.
Care plans were up to date and detailed what care and support people wanted and needed. Risk assessments were in place and showed what action had been taken to mitigate identified risks.
People's likes, preferences and dislikes were assessed, and care packages met people's desired
expectations.
Staff were being recruited safely and there were enough staff to take care of people. Staff were receiving appropriate training and they told us the training was good and relevant to their role. Staff were supported by the registered manager and were receiving formal supervision where they could discuss their ongoing development needs.
There was a complaints procedure and people knew how to complain.
Everyone spoke highly of the registered manager who they said was approachable and supportive. The provider had effective systems in place to monitor the quality of care provided and where issues were identified, they acted to make improvements.
The provider and registered manager understood the regulatory requirements and monitored the quality and safety of the service on a regular basis. Some improvement was needed to ensure CQC were informed of all notifications required under legislation.
Rating at last inspection:
At the last inspection the service was rated Good, the report was published November 2016.
Why we inspected:
This was a planned comprehensive inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
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