Bluebird Care (Southampton)

Bluebird Care (Southampton) is a home care service providing personal care to people in their own home. The service provides support to people with a range of personal care needs. At the time of our inspection there were 40 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People’s feedback about the service was very positive and they reported good outcomes from the support received. A typical comment was, “The quality of the care is excellent.”

The provider had processes in place to keep people safe and manage risks, including risks around infection prevention and control. There were sufficient suitably skilled staff to support people safely. There were processes to manage people's medicines, and to protect people from the risk of abuse or poor care.

The service people received was well led. The service focused on person-centred care and good outcomes for people. There were effective systems in place to manage the service, improve the quality of care people received, and support staff to deliver high quality care. The provider had a clear vision for a “culture of excellence” working as “one family”.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 19 May 2020).

Why we inspected

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

A recent monitoring activity did not gather all the information we needed about systems to keep people’s care records current and up to date. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

Follow up

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

Bluebird Care (Southampton) is a home care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. At the time of this inspection there were 66 people receiving personal care. Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

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

People’s care and support was exceptionally caring. There was a strong focus on people’s rights, and respecting them as individuals. The provider supported staff to meet and exceed people’s expectations, and to respond to emergencies in a caring way. Everybody we spoke with said they would recommend the service.

The service was well led with focus on continuing improvement and establishing a “one team” approach to delivering care. This meant the provider put equal emphasis on caring for people who used the service and staff who supported them with a number of initiatives which promoted high-quality, person-centred care. People spoke highly of the registered manager. One person said, “The manager is very good. She says if there is anything else we can do, let me know.”

People received care and support that was safe. People were protected from avoidable harm and abuse by staff who were aware of their responsibilities to report any concerns. People felt safe and were protected against other risks to their health and welfare, including risks associated with infectious disease.

People received care and support that was effective and based on detailed assessments and care plans which reflected published guidance and standards. 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’s care and support, including care to people at the end of life, met their needs and reflected their preferences. Care plans were detailed and individual to the person. Care planning took into account people’s communication needs. People knew about the provider’s complaints process and how to use it if they had concerns.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 30 September 2017).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.

Bluebird Care (Southampton) provides domiciliary support services and 24 hour care to people in their own homes. The agency provides care and support to a wide range of people including older people, people diagnosed with dementia and people with learning disabilities. At the time of our inspection there were 62 people receiving personal care from the service. There was a central office base in Southampton.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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 and staff told us that the service was safe. Staff were able to tell us how they would report and recognise signs of abuse and had received training in safeguarding adults.

Care plans were in place which detailed the care and support people needed to remain safe whilst having control and making choices about how they lived their life. The service used an online system which held care files and also included guidelines to make sure staff supported people in a way they preferred. Risk assessments were completed, regularly reviewed and up to date.

Medicines were managed safely, securely stored in people’s homes, correctly recorded and only administered by staff that were trained to give medicines.

Staff had a good knowledge of people’s support needs and received regular training as well as training specific to their roles for example, nutrition and dementia.

Staff received regular supervisions and annual appraisals which were carried out by the registered manager, care manager and senior supervisors.

Staff were aware of the Mental Capacity Act and training records showed that they had received training in this. Consent to care was sought and people’s capacity was assessed when necessary and best interest decisions made as appropriate.

People were supported to eat and drink enough whilst maintaining a healthy diet. Food and fluid intake was recorded for those who were under monitoring for this.

People were supported to access healthcare services. We were told that health professionals visit people in their homes.

People told us that staff were caring. During home visits we observed positive interactions between the registered manager and people. People said they felt comfortable with staff supporting them. People said that staff treated them in a dignified manner. Staff had a good understanding of people’s likes, dislikes, interests and communication needs. This meant that people were supported by staff who knew them well.

We were given examples of how staff had gone above and beyond their roles to deliver good care. These demonstrated a true commitment to people and the passion staff had to deliver care and support which was responsive and effective to meeting people’s needs.

Bluebird Care Southampton were committed to community engagement and were able to show us how they had taken part in local fundraising and raising awareness events.

A ‘Sparkle of the month’ scheme had been put in place. People were nominated by staff to receive a free activity covered by the organisation. This benefitted people who may otherwise be isolated whilst also building and maintaining positive working relationships.

People had their care and support needs assessed before using the service and care packages reflected people’s needs in these. We saw that these were regularly reviewed by the care manager and senior supervisors with people, families and other health and social care professionals.

The service had systems in place to capture and respond to people’s feedback. People were asked if they were happy with the support they are receiving and if they would like any changes made during people’s regular review meetings. General feedback from the 2016 survey was positive and actions had been completed.

There was a system in place for recording complaints which captured the detail and evidenced steps taken to address them. We saw that there were no outstanding complaints in place. Compliments were also recorded by the service.

Staff, people and families told us that they thought the management was good at Bluebird Care Southampton. We found that the management team promoted an open working environment and was flexible.

The directors aspired to be the best local care provider. People, relatives and staff rated the service highly. Staff were acknowledged by the registered manager and directors for their hard work and commitment in their jobs. Staff told us this made them feel valued.

We saw that quality monitoring across the services took place regularly by the registered manager, care manager and senior supervisors. These captured comments and actions were appropriate.