Background to this inspection
Updated
13 August 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
The inspection team consisted of 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.
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 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection site visit activity started on 26 June 2019 and ended on 27 June 2019. We visited the office location on 26 and 27 June 2019 to see the registered manger; and to review care records and policies and procedures.
What we did before the inspection
Before our inspection we completed our planning tool and reviewed the information we held on the service. This included notifications we had received from the provider, about incidents that affect the health, safety and welfare of people supported by the service.
We checked to see if any information concerning the care and welfare of people supported by the service had been received. We also sought feedback from professionals who work with the agency.
As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Returns. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.
We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with six people who used the service, five relatives of people and three health and social care professionals about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with five members of care staff as well as the registered manager, deputy manager and a director of the company. In addition, we spoke with two senior carers at the agency.
We reviewed a range of records. These included the care records of two people, staff training records, arrangements for staff recruitment, supervision and appraisal, medication procedures and records relating to the management of the service.
After the inspection
We received updates from the registered manager about the quality of care they provided. We contacted two community professionals who regularly used the service for their feedback about the agency.
Updated
13 August 2019
About the service
Bluebird Care (Cheshire East) is registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. The offices for the service are located in Crewe. At the time of the inspection 55 people were supported by the agency.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service was praised by people and visiting professionals. People spoke extremely positively about the ways in which the quality of their life had improved by the service they received. We were told staff made a fantastic effort and promoted an exceptional quality of life for people with their outstanding caring and respectful attitude.
The organisation, registered manager and staff were passionate about the quality of service delivery and led by example. They pursued opportunities to improve and monitor care and people's experiences to achieve better outcomes.
There was an open, honest, caring and positive culture across the service and staff demonstrated a high value base. This was clearly led from the management team to all staff.
The service continued to promote people’s individual and cultural needs. This included training to support staff in person-centred care and diversity and understanding so staff were aware of what high standards looked like.
The service worked extremely well in partnership with other organisations to ensure they followed the best practice. The registered manager took a person-centred approach to support people. This had resulted in exceptionally positive outcomes for people. Risk was managed well to keep people safe from harm.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
Procedures were in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. People told us they had no concerns about their safety whilst in the care of staff supporting them.
The service had a complaints procedure which was made available to people and their family members. No complaints had been received since the last inspection. People told us they were happy with their service and had no complaints but knew the procedure should they need to.
The service used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits and satisfaction surveys to seek people’s views about the service provided.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at the last inspection (and update)
The last rating for this service was Good (published 25 November 2016).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.