Bluebird Care Sefton

Updated 4 April 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

One adult social care inspector carried out this inspection and an Expert by Experience carried out the inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service; they had cared for a relative living with dementia.

Service and service type:

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection it was providing care and support to 125 people.

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 24 hours’ notice of the inspection visit to be sure the registered manager, staff and people they supported would be available to speak with us.

What we did:

Inspection site visit activity started on 26 February 2019 and ended on 5 March 2019. We visited the office location on 27 February 2019 to see the manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

Before our inspection we completed a 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 and previous inspection reports.

As part of the inspection we used information the provider sent us in the Provider Information Return. 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 spoke with 12 people and 10 of their relatives on the telephone.

Updated 4 April 2019

About the service: Bluebird Sefton is a domiciliary care agency registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. At the time of the inspection the service was providing personal care to 124 people.

People’s experience of using this service:

People continued to receive a consistently good service and felt safe with the support they received from the staff. The staff team were well-trained and in sufficient numbers to meet people’s needs.

People supported by the service told us that staff were reliable, caring and professional in their approach to their work. They spoke positively about the quality of service provided. One relative told us, “The agency are excellent all round. Staff are genuinely caring." Another person told us, “ I would rate them as very good, a 10 out of 10. They often go the extra mile to make sure I'm okay.”

The provider assessed people's needs to help ensure they received appropriate care. Care plans covered a range of areas including the support people needed with their medicines, nutrition and healthcare.

People’s care and support had been planned in partnership with them and they felt consulted and listened to about how their care would be delivered.

Risks to people were assessed and mitigated. When incidents took place, the provider reflected on events to help reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

People were safeguarded against the risks of abuse and harm.

We made a recommendation to check that the service was using the latest good practice in reporting safeguarding concerns.

The service had introduced new IT systems to ensure the reliability and quality of the service provided. People told us they had never had a missed call and very few late calls, and even with these the office rang to confirm staff were on the way.

The service worked in partnership with healthcare professionals and families to ensure people’s health care needs were met.

Staff had access to training which was appropriate to their role. Staffing levels were continuously reviewed to ensure there were enough staff to provide a flexible and responsive care.

The service was well-organised and there was a clear staffing structure.

The registered provider and the registered manager used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service.

Rating at last inspection: Good (19 March 2016).

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will monitor as part of the inspection programme for a Good service. 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