We carried out a review of the data available to us about Bluebird Care (Carlisle) on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Bluebird Care (Carlisle), you can give feedback on this service.
Bluebird Care (Carlisle) is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people in their own home. This includes personal care, shopping, activities and appointments. The agency provide support to people with a range of care needs and includes older people, people living with dementia and people with learning or physical disabilities.
The organisation had recently moved location within Carlisle. At the time of our inspection Bluebird Care (Carlisle) provided services to 95 people. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People were safe and protected from abuse because staff assessed and managed risk. They told us staff were reliable, arrived at the agreed time, carried out their care and support as planned and stayed the correct amount of time. People received their medicines as they needed and staff were trained and their competency checked. Staff were recruited safely and had an informative induction.
Staff supported people to access healthcare and liaised with health and social care professionals. They assisted people with meals where needed, and had the training, skills and experience to provide good care. People were helped 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. Staff assessed people's capacity to make decisions and supported them with decision making.
Staff provided care that met people’s needs and preferences. People told us staff were caring and patient and encouraged them to remain as independent as they were able. They felt staff respected their privacy and dignity and treated them as individuals, with different needs, wants and lifestyles. People and where appropriate, their relatives were involved in making decisions about their care.
Staff assessed people’s communication needs and were familiar with the ways they communicated. People told us they knew how to complain and any concerns were taken seriously and acted upon. Bluebird Care (Carlisle) supported people at the end of life. Staff understood the importance of supporting people to make this as comfortable, pain free and peaceful as possible.
People said staff responded promptly to any feedback about their care. They said staff encouraged them to give their opinions about the service and to make decisions about their care. The registered manager and management team monitored and audited the service to check on the quality of care. They worked in partnership with other services and organisations, followed good practice guidance and understood and acted on their legal obligations
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection:
The last rating for this service was good (published 24 May 2017). Since this rating was awarded the service has moved premises. We have used the previous rating to inform our planning and decisions about the rating at this inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. Services provided include; Help with personal care and hygiene; getting up and going to bed; medicines; helping at mealtimes; support with shopping, laundry and housework.
The service is available to people aged 18 or over who may be living with physical or learning disabilities, sensory loss or impairment, mental health illness or dementia.
The service is available in Carlisle and surrounding areas. At the time of our inspection there were 23 people receiving a personal care service from this provider.
There was a registered manager at the service and they were in attendance at the time of our inspection of the service. 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 we spoke to about the service told us that they were very pleased with the service. Staff were described as, “very, very helpful” and “very friendly.” People told us that they felt “safe” with the staff attending them. No one that we spoke to raised any concerns with us about Bluebird Care (Carlisle).
The service had procedures in place and training for staff, to help ensure that people who used the service were protected from the risks of abuse and harm. The sample of care records we reviewed also contained detailed and clear risk assessments to help make sure staff and the people they supported were safe. People who used the service and the staff we spoke to as part of this inspection all told us that copies of these important documents were kept in their homes.
We found that people were supported safely with their medicines, where this formed part of their care package. Staff had undergone training and had been required to update this on a regular basis. Competency checks had been carried out to make sure their practice was safe.
There were emergency plans in place at the service and a robust on-call system. Both staff and people who used the service knew how to use this system.
The staff we spoke to during our inspection all told us that they received training relevant to their job and that they felt well supported by the registered manager and office staff. The staffing records that we reviewed all supported the comments made by care staff. People who used the service, who we spoke to, told us that they felt safe with the care staff supporting them and in their opinion the staff were competent and knew what they were doing.
The staff we spoke to as part of the inspection process told us that the communication systems in place were very good. They thought that they were kept up to date with people’s changing needs. However, some of the people who used the service told us that they were not always told if care staff were going to arrive later than expected. We did not receive any complaints about this and people told us that it was “usually sorted out” when they contacted the office.
People who used the service 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 place at the service supported this practice.
Where people had support with eating and drinking as part of their care package, we saw that there was detailed information about their requirements, needs and preferences, including nutritional assessments.
We found that people who used this service received their support with personal care from a small team of care staff which helped to promote and ensure privacy and dignity was maintained. People had been involved in the development of their care and support plan. People told us that their right to maintain their independence was respected by care staff.
The sample of care plans that we reviewed during our inspection contained detailed information about people’s individual needs and had been written in a person centred style. People had been asked about their views on the quality of the service and there was a complaints process in place, which some people had accessed. We did not receive any complaints about the service from the people we spoke to during our inspection.
The people who used this service who we spoke to were familiar with the registered manager and the staff in office. They knew who to speak to if they needed to and were confident that they would be listened to, with any concerns actioned. There were systems in place to check the quality of the service, including checks on staff practices.
Policies and procedures were in place to help ensure the service operated safely. Internal and external auditing processes were in use. These helped to identify what the service did well and where further improvements could be made. The provider was in the process of implementing new systems to help improve the quality and safety of the service.
We have made a recommendation about the storage of archived documentation.