Bridgewater Home Care

Updated 29 October 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. 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

This inspection was conducted by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service supported 41 people with personal care.

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 a short period of notice for the inspection because we needed to give people the opportunity to speak with the inspector.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the service first registered with CQC. This included any statutory notifications sent to us by the registered provider about incidents and events that had occurred at the service. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send to us by law. We also contacted local commissioners of the service to gain their views. We used the information the provider sent us in the ‘provider information return.’ This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to formulate a ‘planning tool’; this helped us to identify key areas we needed to focus on during the inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with three people who used the service and five relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with eight members of staff and the registered manage.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care records and multiple medication records. We looked at two 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.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at quality assurance records, updates of various policies and results of surveys and questionnaires.

Updated 29 October 2019

Bridgewater Home Care Ltd is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection 41 people were receiving care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is to 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

We found that some processes needed improvement to evidence more effective quality assurance systems. Governance checks had not identified issues raised during the inspection with record keeping, management of numbers of supervision for staff and management of notifications. Following the inspection the registered manager had submitted appropriate updates to CQC. The provider had recently employed a brand manager who they planned to provide over site and support to the location.This would help strengthen the governance systems of the service.

People and their relatives spoke very positively about the caring nature of staff. We received positive feedback on how staff were supportive and went the extra mile to get care just right for people. They told us they were always treated well by staff and were consulted about their care. Staff supported people with their personal care needs in a sensitive manner. People told us how staff supported them in protecting their privacy.

People were protected from the risk of abuse or neglect. Staff were well trained in safeguarding vulnerable adults. Systems and processes were in place to reduce the risk of harm. Medicines were well-managed and regularly audited to provide safe checks and support. Thorough recruitment practices were in place to provide safe systems to ensure new staff were suited to working with vulnerable people. Staffing levels were managed in sufficient numbers to meet people’s needs and provide safe care. Staff recorded incidents and accidents in sufficient detail to aid analysis and reduce risk.

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

Rating at last inspection

This was the first inspection since the provider moved to the new address for this location.

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection following the service's registration with CQC.

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.