Bluebird Care (New Forest)

Updated 15 May 2018

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection checked whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

This inspection took place on 19 and 20 March 2018 and was announced. We gave the provider 48 hours’ notice that we would be visiting the service. This was because the service provides care to people living in their own homes and we wanted to make sure staff would be available to speak with us.

The inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector and one 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.

Before our inspection we reviewed information we held about the service including statutory notifications that had been submitted. Statutory notifications include information about important events which the provider is required to send us.

We sent questionnaires to people, their relatives and staff seeking their views on the service people received. A total of 24 people or their families and 30 staff responded to our questionnaire. We also spoke to three health and social care professionals to obtain their views on the delivery of care.

Inspection activity started on 19 March 2018 and ended on 20 March 2018. We visited the office location on 19 March 2018 and spoke with the registered manager, nominated individual, the provider’s HR and quality assurance director and one member of staff. We spoke with seven people receiving care and support and two relatives by telephone to obtain feedback on the delivery of their care. We also visited two people in their own homes and spoke with a further two relatives.

On the 20 March 2018 we had telephone conversations with five members of staff and the relative of one person receiving care.

We reviewed care records and documents central to people's health and well-being. These included care records relating to three people, recruitment records for four staff members, staff training records and quality audits.

The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We last inspected the service in January 2016 and rated the service as Good.

Updated 15 May 2018

The inspection took place on 19 and 20 March 2018 and was announced.

Bluebird Care (New Forest) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. The service is registered to provide care for people living with dementia, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder, older people, physical disability, sensory impairment and younger adults. At the time of this inspection the service provided care and support to 59 people, seven of which were receiving 24 hour live in care.

The service had a registered manager. 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 received effective care from trained staff who had exceptional skills and knowledge to meet people’s individual needs and choices.

People were cared for by exceptional staff who provided kind, compassionate and respectful care. They treated people as individuals and involved people and their families in their planned personalised care.

The leadership and management of the service was outstanding. There was a well organised management team who had clear roles and responsibilities. The registered manager acted as a role model for staff.

The management team promoted strong values and a person centred approach. There was an open culture where ‘lessons learnt’ were encouraged.

The service actively promoted good community links. Staff were regularly involved in fundraising events for local charities and worked alongside and supported other organisations to raise awareness.

There were robust systems to assure quality and identify any potential improvements to the service. This meant people benefited from a constantly improving service that they were at the heart of.

Staff were motivated, passionate and proud of their jobs. They spoke positively about the management team and that they felt involved in the running of the service. Award ceremonies were held to recognise and celebrate good care from staff members.

Staff took account people’s wellbeing and what was important to them. They enhanced people’s quality of life as much as possible.

Staff went the ‘extra mile’ to support people and showed an outstanding kind and caring approach to people.

Staff completed annual development training on a number of subjects that related to the people they were supporting.

Staff were supported through one to one supervision, on site observations, team meetings and dedicated and responsive office staff and management.

People's rights were protected in line with the principles of the MCA. Staff were knowledgeable about the five principles of the act. This ensured people were supported in least restrictive ways and would enable people to have positive experiences.

Recruitment processes were robust to make sure people were cared for by suitable staff. There were sufficient numbers of staff deployed to meet people’s individual needs.

There was an effective complaints system in place. People told us they were confident to raise any issues about their care and that they would be listened to and addressed.

Systems were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service provided.