Bluebird Care (Mid and West Cornwall)

Updated 12 April 2019

The inspection:

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked 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.

Inspection team: This inspection was carried out by an inspector, assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type: Bluebird Care is a domiciliary care service. Staff deliver personal care and support to people living in their own homes. Services are provided to both younger and older people who have learning or physical disabilities, who are living with dementia, have sensory impairments and or related mental health conditions.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because it is a domiciliary service and the manager is often out of the office supporting staff or providing care. We needed to be sure that they would be available to speak with us. We also needed to ensure that people’s consent was gained for us to contact them for feedback about the service. The Expert by Experience telephoned people, with their permission on the 4 March 2019 to gain their views of the service. The inspector and assistant inspector visited the office location on 5 March 2019 to speak with the registered manager and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did: We reviewed the records held about the service. This included previous inspection reports and notifications. Notifications are specific events that the provider is required to tell us by law. We reviewed the Provider Information Return (PIR) submitted by the registered manager. This told us what the service had achieved and what they intend to develop in future. We require the provider to submit this annually and it provides us with information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection we spoke with the provider, care coordinator, team leaders, care worker, administrators and trainer. We reviewed five staff recruitment and supervision files, six care records and records relating to health and safety, safeguarding and other aspects of the service. The Expert by Experience telephoned and spoke with six people who used the service and three relatives to gain their views of the service. We provided details for care staff to contact us to share their views on the service and received three phone calls from care staff. We also received feedback from two health and social care professionals to gain their views on the service.

Updated 12 April 2019

About the service: Bluebird Care (Mid and West Cornwall) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes in the community. When we inspected they were providing the regulated activity, personal care, to 49 people in the Truro and surrounding areas in Cornwall.

What life is like for people using this service:

• People using this service still benefitted from an outstanding caring and well led service. People consistently told us how they were treated with exceptional kindness, compassion and respect. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback on how staff were supportive and went the extra mile to get care just right for people.

• People were truly placed at the centre of the service and were consulted on every level. Respect for privacy and dignity was at the heart of the service's culture and values. It is embedded in everything that the service and its staff do. People and staff feel respected, listened to, and influential.

• People received exceptionally personalised care and support specific to their needs and preferences. People had a core team of staff to support them. Each person was respected as an individual, with their own social and cultural diversity, values and beliefs. People had their human rights upheld.

• People received effective care and treatment from competent, knowledgeable and skilled staff who had the relevant qualifications to meet their needs. The provider had a good system to ensure all staff had regular training to keep them up to date with best practice. Training methods included online, face to face training and competency assessments.

• The service encouraged people to be involved in the service to improve standards of care. For example, people attended bespoke training with staff so that they could all learn together. A person also produced a course on empathy training which was received positively by staff and all staff now attend. People’s views are sought in the recruitment of new staff.

• The whole service continued to have a good track record.

• Staff were, motivated by and proud of the service. There were high levels of satisfaction across all staff.

• The registered manager is passionate about promoting the care industry. The registered manager was involved in the initiative with South West Local Authority and Primary Care Trust on how they could promote the care industry. The registered manager is on the committee and organised the ‘Proud to care’ festival in Cornwall. This involved liaising with many health and social care providers to come together to celebrate and promote the benefits of working in the care industry, plus inviting guest speakers and voluntary groups

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

Rating at last inspection: Outstanding (report published September 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. At our last inspection we rated the service Outstanding. At this inspection the service remained Outstanding.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.