Bluebird Care Sandwell Also known as Flexspace Oldbury

Updated 5 February 2020

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. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one 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.

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. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 15 January 2020 ended on 17 January 2020. We visited the office location on 15 January 2020.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. 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 took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service and two relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with six members of staff including the provider, registered manager, care coordinator and support workers.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people’s care records and medication records. We looked at three staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 5 February 2020

About the service

Bluebird Care Sandwell is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to older people, people with physical disabilities or people who may have a diagnosis of dementia. People are supported in their own homes, at the time of the inspection 12 people were receiving personal care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

People felt safe and staff had good knowledge of safeguarding processes. Staff had been recruited safely. There was a system in place to monitor missed or late calls. Care plan and risk assessments identified peoples support needs and staff had a good understanding of the support people needed.

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.

People were treated with kindness and compassion. People felt well supported. People were listened to and could express their views. People’s privacy and dignity was maintained.

People’s and their relatives were involved in the review process. People’s personal preferences were identified in their care plans. People were involved in decisions about their care.

People received person centred care. People, relatives and staff expressed confidence in the registered manager. People, relatives and staff were given the opportunity to provide feedback. Audits took place to ensure the quality of the service was maintained.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 31 January 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.