Bluebird Care (Cheshire East) Domiciliary Care Agency

Bluebird Care (Cheshire East) is registered to provide personal care to people who live in their own homes. The offices for the service are located in Crewe. At the time of the inspection 55 people were supported by the agency.

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

The service was praised by people and visiting professionals. People spoke extremely positively about the ways in which the quality of their life had improved by the service they received. We were told staff made a fantastic effort and promoted an exceptional quality of life for people with their outstanding caring and respectful attitude.

The organisation, registered manager and staff were passionate about the quality of service delivery and led by example. They pursued opportunities to improve and monitor care and people's experiences to achieve better outcomes.

There was an open, honest, caring and positive culture across the service and staff demonstrated a high value base. This was clearly led from the management team to all staff.

The service continued to promote people’s individual and cultural needs. This included training to support staff in person-centred care and diversity and understanding so staff were aware of what high standards looked like.

The service worked extremely well in partnership with other organisations to ensure they followed the best practice. The registered manager took a person-centred approach to support people. This had resulted in exceptionally positive outcomes for people. Risk was managed well to keep people safe from harm.

People 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 the service supported this practice.

Procedures were in place to record safeguarding concerns, accidents and incidents and take necessary action as required. People told us they had no concerns about their safety whilst in the care of staff supporting them.

The service had a complaints procedure which was made available to people and their family members. No complaints had been received since the last inspection. People told us they were happy with their service and had no complaints but knew the procedure should they need to.

The service used a variety of methods to assess and monitor the quality of the service. These included regular audits and satisfaction surveys to seek people’s views about the service provided.

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

Rating at the last inspection (and update)

The last rating for this service was Good (published 25 November 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

The next scheduled inspection will be in keeping with the overall rating. We will continue to monitor information we receive from and about the service. We may inspect sooner if we receive concerning information about the service.

Bluebird Care (Cheshire East) is registered to provide personal care to children and adults who live in their own homes. The offices for the service are located in Crewe. At the time of the inspection 38 people were in receipt of personal care.

The service has 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 were very positive and complimentary about the support they received from Bluebird Care (Cheshire East). They found the service to be very reliable and responsive to their needs. Comments included “I can’t speak too highly of them, they are excellent,” “They care greatly” and “I am indeed happy with the way they treat me.”

People told us that they felt safe and we found that people were protected from harm and abuse. Staff were trained in safeguarding procedures and understood their responsibilities to report any concerns of this nature. Two staff members were uncertain where they could report safeguarding concerns to outside of their organisation. The registered manager addressed this immediately and ensured that all staff had a copy of the service’s safeguarding process flow chart with contact details.

We found that there were sufficient staff to meet the needs of the people supported by the service. The service was focused on the recruitment of new staff and the manager told us that additional care packages would not be accepted unless they had the staff to cover these. People told us that their care calls were never missed, and that staff always arrived to support them as expected.

All new employees were appropriately checked through robust recruitment processes.

People who required support with taking their prescribed medicine were provided with this. We saw that medicine administration records (MAR) had been written and printed by staff. However we found in a few cases, the information written on the MARs did not always reflect the current medication requirements, although people were receiving their medication as required. The registered manager took immediate action to address these issues.

Staff were skilled and knowledgeable. We found that staff completed an induction prior to starting work in the service and received regular and on-going training. Staff told us that they felt supported, they received regular supervision and appraisals.

Staff had an understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). Staff ensured that they obtained consent from people prior to carrying out any support tasks. The registered manager told us that all of the people they supported at the current time had the capacity to make decisions about their care.

We found that people were well cared for and treated with compassion. Staff supported people in a caring manner. They knew the people they were supporting well and understood their requirements for care. People told us that were treated with dignity and respect.

People received personalised care and the service was responsive to people’s changing needs. Assessments and care plans were in place. They provided sufficient information and were regularly reviewed. The care plans and risk assessments provided some person centred information but this was an area that the service had already identified for further improvement.

The service had a complaints policy and procedure that was included in people's care records. People and staff spoken with said they felt confident they could raise concerns with the registered manager and staff. Records showed the service responded to concerns and complaints and learnt from the issues raised.

The management team were friendly and approachable. We found that information was organised and readily available. There were systems in place to monitor the care provided and people's views and opinions were sought regularly about the quality of the service. Staff told us that they felt well supported by the management team. Communication within the staff team was effective and the registered manager ensured that staff were kept up to date with best practice guidance. There were plans in place to develop and improve further the quality of the service.

Standards we looked at took account of the care and welfare of people using the service and what they experienced. We looked at how complaints were managed and responded to. We also looked at what quality assurance systems the agency used to monitor and develop its service provision.

People we spoke with were positive about the service they received. One person told us, 'It is a good service for me. There have been times when different staff arrive, but that's been sorted out now'. Another person said, 'Staff do an excellent job. Always pleasant and cheerful'. We spoke with a member of the staff team. They told us it was well managed. They felt supported and they liked the work they undertook.

People told us they had received a visit from senior staff before the service commenced. This was to introduce themselves and carry out an initial assessment. People told us their needs had been discussed and they had agreed with the support to be provided. One relative spoken with said, 'If we need any more information or support they are always at the end of the phone'.

We spoke with three members of staff who told us that they liked working for the service and that they felt well supported in their roles. We found that staff received appropriate training for their roles and that some training such as moving and handling was delivered 'on the job' and was individually tailored to each person who used the service.

We found that the provider had effective systems in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service that was provided.