Bluedrive Care Homes

Updated 11 May 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This 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.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

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 9 March 2022 and ended on 14 March 2022. We visited the location’s office on 9 and 10 March 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed the information we held about the service. We spoke with a local authority commissioner who worked with the service to gain their feedback. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We visited the office and spoke with the registered manager and two care staff. We reviewed records, including three people’s care plans and risk assessments, five staff recruitment records, a sample of the daily notes recorded by staff when they visited people, as well as staff training records and scheduling information.

Following our site visit we spoke with six people and two relatives to gain their feedback about the service they received.

Updated 11 May 2022

About the service

Bluedrive Care Homes is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in the London Borough of Southwark and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. At the time of our inspection there were 14 people using the service.

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

Risks to people had not always been assessed and staff did not always have access to information on how to provide people with safe support. People’s medicines were not always safely managed.

People’s care plans did not always accurately reflect the support they required or contain information about their care preferences. The provider’s systems for monitoring the quality and safety of the service were not always effective in identifying issues or driving service improvements.

People’s needs were assessed by the registered manager when they started using the service, but improvement was required to ensure assessments identified key areas to be included in people’s care plans. Staff were supported in their roles through training and supervision, but improvement was required to ensure training consistently reflected the recommendations laid out in national guidelines in key areas such as medicines management.

People were protected from the risk of abuse by staff who had completed safeguarding training and knew the action to take if they suspected abuse had occurred. The service deployed sufficient staff to meet people’s needs. The provider followed safe recruitment practices. Staff completed infection control training and followed national guidelines when supporting people to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. They were aware to report any accidents or incidents which occurred during their work. The registered manager confirmed they would review accident and incident information to help identify any learning which might prevent repeat occurrence.

People were supported to maintain a balanced diet where this was part of their care plan. They had access to a range of healthcare services when needed and staff worked to ensure people received consistent support across different services. Staff sought consent from people when offering them assistance. 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.

Staff treated people with kindness and consideration. They respected their privacy and treated them with dignity. People were supported to make decisions about the care they received and were encouraged to maintain their independence wherever possible. The provider had a complaints policy and procedure in place which people were aware of. They were confident that any issues they raised would be addressed by the registered manager.

People, relatives and staff spoke positively about the culture of the service. The registered manager understood the responsibilities of their role including the duty of candour. The provider had systems in place to gain feedback from people to help identify any improvements. Recent feedback showed people were experiencing good outcomes from the support they received from staff.

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 CQC on 10 July 2019 and this was the first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Enforcement

We are mindful of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our regulatory function. This meant we took account of the exceptional circumstances arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic when considering what enforcement action was necessary and proportionate to keep people safe as a result of this inspection. We will continue to monitor the service and will take further action if needed.

We have identified breaches in relation to the safe management of risk and medicines, person centred care and good governance at this inspection.

Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.