Bluebird Care (East Hertfordshire)

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Effective – this means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment, and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence. At the previous inspection, the service was rated good. At this assessment, the rating has remained good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People had a full needs assessment to discuss their individual care needs, and help inform the care plan in relation to what support they required. People told us they were fully involved in the process and were able to say how and when they wanted to be supported. This helped people maintain their independence as much as possible and achieve a good quality of life. People’s care was kept under regular review to ensure the care met their needs. For example, if there were any changes to a person’s ability or if they went to hospital, this would prompt a reassessment of their care needs.

Staff worked in line with evidence-based good practice and standards. For example, if staff were aware of any risks, they reported any concerns to the office staff who elevated to relevant professionals and worked in partnership to maintain people’s safety. Care was monitored to help ensure it was the best for the person they were supporting.

Staff worked with a range of health and social care professionals to ensure people received seamless care. This included GP’s, district nurses and social workers. Staff demonstrated they worked well as a team to deliver safe and effective care. When people were receiving support from other professionals, for example, occupational therapists or physiotherapists, there was clear guidance in place to ensure staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities. Staff had well developed communication skills which meant they communicated effectively with other services. This was the same for family members who were kept informed of any changes or developments.

People were supported to live healthy lives as far as possible. This meant that staff cared for the ‘whole’ person’s care needs. For example, people were supported to make healthy eating choices and maintain healthy lifestyles keeping as active as they were able to. People were encouraged and supported to participate in hobbies or things they enjoyed doing. Staff were able to identify if people were not feeling very well and interacted with them appropriately.

People and family members told us the registered manager contacted them to check the care they received was still relevant, and or if there had been any changes to their care needs. People were supported to work towards short-, medium- and longer-term goals. For example, if people required support with some aspects of their personal care initially 1 of the medium-term goals was to eventually be able to do more of their personal care themselves. The assessment records held information related to people’s health conditions and the provider shared these with health and social care professionals when required.

People were involved in all aspects of their care and support planning. They were asked to sign their care plan to give consent to their care. Consent was kept under regular review. Staff were aware that people may refuse to sign consent and respected peoples wishes. Staff were aware that people had the right to refuse care or part of their care. Staff told us they always checked with people before supporting them with their care. For example, they would ask “Are you ready to have your wash.” The person could either agree or perhaps want a cup of tea first. Staff respected people’s wishes in this regard.