This inspection was announced and took place on 13 and 14 April 2016. Bluebird Care (Rushcliffe and Melton) is a domiciliary care service which provides personal care and support to adults, in their own homes, in Nottinghamshire. On the day of our inspection 69 people were using the service.The service had a registered manager in place at the time of our inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.
People were kept safe by staff who understood their responsibilities with regard to protecting people they were caring for from harm or abuse.
People were being cared for by sufficient numbers of staff. People received the required support with medicines and they were managed safely.
People were cared for by staff who received the training and support they required to carry out their roles effectively.
People were encouraged to make independent decisions. Staff had received training and understood the principles of legislation designed to protect the rights of people who lacked capacity. We found during our inspection that capacity assessments and best interest decisions were not always documented and this was rectified by the registered manager following our visit.
People received the support they required to meet their nutritional and healthcare needs.
People had positive relationships with their care workers. People and their relatives felt that their relation was treated with kindness and people’s privacy and dignity were respected.
People, who used the service, or their representatives, were encouraged to contribute to the planning of their care and to give their views on the running of the service.
People told us that they were not always kept informed of changes to their care calls and expressed concern about the system used to deploy staff. The registered manager introduced a new monitoring system for late calls following our visit.
People were supported with their independence and to maintain their interests. People’s care plans did not always contain sufficient guidance for staff but we found staff were knowledgeable about people’s needs.
People were provided with information about how to make a complaint and complaints were responded to appropriately.
People, or their representatives, were encouraged to provide feedback on the service. Staff felt supported and motivated by the management team to provide a high quality service to people.
The registered manager and the provider had a good understanding of effective quality assurance systems. There were processes in place to monitor quality to drive improvements within the service.