13 October 2015
During a routine inspection
This inspection was carried out on the 13 October 2015. Bluebird Care (Lancaster and South Lakeland) registered as a domiciliary care agency with the Care Quality Commission in February 2015. We had not previously inspected the service.
As the agency is small we gave 24 hours’ notice of our inspection. This was because the registered provider is actively involved in the day to day running of the agency and we needed to ensure they were available.
The office is based in Lancaster with limited parking available at the rear of the building. At the time of the inspection Bluebird Care (Lancaster and South Lakeland) supported 17 people with care and support needs. An out of hours contact number is provided for use in the event of an emergency.
At the time of inspection there was no manager who was registered with the Care Quality Commission. 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.
There were systems in place to ensure people who used the service were protected from the risk of harm and abuse. Staff we spoke with were knowledgeable of the action to take if they had concerns in this area. They told us the registered provider encouraged concerns to be raised.
Staff were knowledgeable of peoples’ assessed needs and delivered care in accordance with these. Staff spoke respectfully of the people they supported. People who received care and support and their relatives told us they were happy with the care provision from Bluebird Care (Lancaster and South Lakeland).
There were arrangements in place to ensure people received their medicines safely.
Sufficient recruitment checks were carried out prior to a staff member starting to work with the agency. Staff received training to enable them to give care that met peoples’ needs. Staffing was arranged to ensure people received care and support at the time they wanted.
There was a complaints policy in place, which was understood by staff and was available to people who used the service. People were encouraged to give feedback to staff, which was acted upon. The staff spoke positively about the importance of learning from complaints.