Bluebird Care Highgate & Haringey

Updated 28 June 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

The inspection was carried out by two inspectors 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

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

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 24 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.

What we did before the inspection

We looked at the information we held about the service. This information included statutory notifications the provider had sent to CQC. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to send us by law. 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 spoke with the registered manager, both of the company directors and three care workers. We spoke with two people who used the service and eight relatives.

We looked at a range of documents. These included four people's records related to their care and support, medicines records, four staff recruitment records, staffing rotas, minutes from meetings and records related to the auditing and monitoring of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.

Updated 28 June 2022

About the service

Bluebird Care Highgate and Haringey is a domiciliary care service providing care and support to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 16 people.

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

Bluebird Care Highgate and Haringey was an exceptionally responsive and well led service. There was value based, visible and effective leadership where the meaning of inclusion of people and staff in the development of the service was visible. The service was innovative and proactive with the goal of ensuring people were safe and well cared for.

The open and transparent culture resulted in an effectively organised, supportive and well-run service. The registered manager and two directors were clear about their expectations relating to how the service should be provided and they led by example. Care workers who supported people and the office staff team were passionate and fully committed to delivering quality person-centred support to people. This led to people achieving positive outcomes.

The service was very driven in supporting their staff and had access to resources to benefit the health and wellbeing of the people they employed. Care workers spoke very highly about working for the service. People told us their care workers were exceptionally caring and respectful. Care workers had a very good understanding of how to support people in a way that promoted their privacy, dignity and independence.

The service worked to meet people's needs in relation to equality and diversity and people told us they had regular care workers who knew them well. People told us they were involved in making decisions about their care and that they were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and care workers supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests.

People's care records were comprehensive, accurate and reflected the care and support provided. Care workers went above and beyond to ensure the people they looked after were safe.

The service had systems in place to protect people from abuse and people told us they felt safe. Risk assessments were in place to help minimise risks people faced. Infection control measures were in operation. There were enough care workers employed to support people and checks were carried out all staff to verify they were suitable to work in the care sector. Steps were taken to learn lessons if things went wrong. Systems were in place for monitoring and reviewing the quality of care and support provided.

Mental Capacity Act

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.

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

This service was registered with us 13 September 2019 and this is the first inspection.

Why we inspected

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