Background to this inspection
Updated
29 June 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.
The membership of the inspection team:
The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.
This inspection site visit took place on 20 June 2019 and was announced.
Service and service type:
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. 26 people were receiving this service.
Not everyone using Bluebird Care (Huntingdonshire) receives the regulated activity of personal care. 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.
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 a few days’ notice of the inspection site visit because some of the people using it could not consent to a home visit from an inspector, which meant that we had to arrange for a ‘best interests’ decision about this. We needed to speak with relatives of people who lacked the mental capacity to do this.
What we did before the inspection:
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 reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority who work with the service. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
What we did during our inspection:
The inspection took place between 20 and 21 June 2019. It included speaking with people and relatives by telephone. We spoke with five people and four relatives by telephone on 20 June 2019 and one other person on 21 June 2019.
We visited the office location on 20 June 2019 to see the registered manager. We spoke with the registered manager, a care coordinator and one care staff member. We also spoke with another three staff members by telephone.
We looked at three people's care records and their medicines' administration records. We also looked at staff training and supervision planning records and other records relating to the management of the service. These included records associated with audit and quality assurance, accidents and incidents, compliments and complaints.
Updated
29 June 2019
About the service:
Bluebird Care (Huntingdonshire) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats. It provides a service to people living with dementia, people with mental health needs, people with a physical disability, older people and people with sensory impairments. Its office is based in the outskirts of Huntingdon. At the time of our inspection visit there were 26 people receiving a service of personal care.
Peoples experience of using this service:
People were effectively supported to be safe by staff who understood how to apply safeguarding systems and reporting procedures. A sufficient number of staff were in post; they continued to be recruited safely. Medicines were administered and managed safely. Risks were identified and managed well. Lesson’s were learned when things did not go well. There were systems in place to promote good hygiene and infection prevention standards.
Staff received appropriate support for their roles and this included training, supervision, shadowing experienced staff and staff meetings. People’s needs were met. The registered manager ensured staff followed best practice guidance such as for medicines in the community. People were supported to eat and drink enough. Staff enabled people to access healthcare support. 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. The staff team worked well with others to help ensure people’s care was consistent.
People were cared for with kindness and compassion. People were listened to and staff respected their choices. The registered manager signposted people to local advocacy services. Staff upheld people’s dignity and promoted their privacy. People were supported to be as independent as practicable. One person told us how good staff were at supporting them in a dignified way”.
People involved others in their care including relatives and friends. People’s care plans were up-to-date, accurate and gave staff information they needed about what was important to people. Staff cared for and supported people in the way they preferred. Concerns were acted upon before they became a complaint. Systems were in place to support people with dignified end of life care.
The registered manager had fostered an open and honest staff team culture. Staff upheld the provider’s values in the provision of good quality care. Staff received appropriate support for their role. Audits, quality assurance and oversight were effective in driving improvement. One of the many compliments stated, “Thank you for all the lovely care you gave to me from all the staff over the years”. People had a say in how the service was run. The provider and registered manager worked well with other stakeholders in providing coordinated care. Systems were in place should any person require information in an alternative format including large print or an alternative language format.
We undertook an announced focused inspection of Bluebird Care (Huntingdonshire) on 18 January 2019. This inspection was done to check that improvements to meet legal requirements planned by the provider after our comprehensive inspection 19 January 2018 had been made. The team inspected the service against one of the five questions we ask about services: is the service well led. This is because the service was not meeting some legal requirements. At this inspection in January 2019 we found the provider had made the improvements they told us they would make.
No risks, concerns or significant improvement were identified in the remaining Key Questions through our ongoing monitoring or during our inspection activity so we did not inspect them. The ratings from the previous comprehensive inspection for these Key Questions were included in calculating the overall rating in this inspection.
Rating at last inspection: Good (report published 23 January 2019. At the latest inspection the service had improved the rating in: is the service safe to Good and the overall rating remained Good.
Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
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