Bolingo Care Birmingham Branch

Updated 30 November 2023

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 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.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 24 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because the service is small and we needed to be sure that the registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 19 September 2023 and ended on 27 September 2023. We visited the location’s office on 19 September 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used information gathered as part of a monitoring activity that took place on 25 October 2022 to help plan the inspection and inform our judgements. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the registered manager who was also the nominated individual. We reviewed 1 person’s care plan and risk assessments. We reviewed 2 staff files to review the recruitment methods in place. We looked at a range of policies, audits and systems in place that monitored the safety and quality of the service.

We spoke with 2 staff and 1 relative via telephone following our visit to the office.

Updated 30 November 2023

About the service

Bolingo Care Birmingham Branch is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to 1 person. The service is registered to provide support to people living with dementia, mental health needs, older people and people with a physical disability. Whilst the service is also registered to provide support to people under a supported living framework, this was not being provided at the time of the inspection.

At the time of our inspection there was 1 person receiving the regulated activity. As there was only 1 person receiving care at the time of the inspection and the fact that we want to protect the person’s right to a private life, the report will provide an overview of the service rather than specific examples of care.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The registered manager had developed systems to oversee and monitor the quality of the service. Improvements were needed to some of these systems to enable all aspects of the service to be monitored effectively and ensure robust record keeping was in place. Staff felt well supported in their roles and involved in the service. People had opportunity to feedback about their care.

People were supported safely as staff understood the risks associated with people’s care. People were supported by staff who had been safely recruited and who understood their responsibilities under safeguarding. Whilst the service did not currently support people with medication management, there were systems in place should the service commence providing support with this.

People were supported by staff who had received training for their roles. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

People were involved in developing and reviewing their care and support plans. We noted this involvement could be more clearly recorded and evidenced.

Staff knew the person they were supporting well. Staff told us how they ensured the person was involved in choices around their care and were treated with dignity and respect.

There were complaint procedures in place and systems had been put in place to inform people of the complaint process and to check with people if they had any concerns or complaints about the service.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 09 November 2021 and this is the first inspection. The service had a period of dormancy after registration and actively began providing care on 01 April 2022.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.