Bluebird Care (Swindon)

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question outstanding. At this assessment the rating has changed to good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

People spoke positively about the staff supporting them. Comments included, “Staff are very caring, polite, helpful, and do everything I need them to do,” and “You really can’t complain as they are all so very kind and very caring.”

People’s care plans were written in a respectful way which protected their dignity.The manager told us, “All care professionals [staff] have signed up to be dignity champions through dignity in care.”’

The provider treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People had detailed information in their care plans about their social, cultural and religious preferences. People said staff supported them in line with their expressed preferences. People were supported to attend various activities within the community, including Christmas meals and coffee mornings.

We reviewed one case study which demonstrated how the service had worked closely with a person in an individualised way to support them to attend a day service. This improved their quality of life.

The provider promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

People had information in their care plans about what areas they required support with and where people were independent. Staff said they supported people to be independent. People felt they had choice and control over their lives.

The provider listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. People said staff came on time which ensured people’s needs were met effectively. The manager also had oversight of this through an electronic rostering system which shows when staff arrive at a visit and leave. Relatives told us office staff were responsive to their requests. We observed the manager being responsive to feedback received during the assessment.

The provider always cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Comments from staff included, “[Leaders are] really good, all fantastic,” and “Bluebird Care supports their staff so they can support their clients. Bluebird works as a team, where everyone communicates and helps each other. Bluebird gives all staff respect.”

The manager had arranged social gatherings for staff outside of work to further promote wellbeing. This included a musical event which was paid for by the company, team building exercises and Christmas meals. One staff member also told us they regularly visited the office following their care visits. The staff member commented, “You can come here and have a good laugh, they make us tea and coffee. [Nominated individual] is wonderful.”

We observed how leaders interacted with staff during our site visit, which was friendly, professional and respectful.

The manager commented, “Staff have access to GP’s, counsellors and have regular supervisions.” The manager also explained how they had supported one staff member to adjust the way they worked following a time off work, to enable the staff member to continue being paid. This demonstrated leaders were compassionate, flexible and supportive.