Background to this inspection
Updated
6 September 2018
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
We conducted an announced comprehensive inspection on 25 June 2018. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because the location provides a homecare service and we needed to be sure we could meet staff.
The inspection was undertaken by two inspectors. Before our inspection we reviewed the information we held about the service including two previous inspection reports. We looked at notifications which had been submitted to inform our inspection. A notification is information about important events which the provider is required to tell us about by law. We looked at the Provider Information Return. This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give us some key information about the service, what the service did well and improvements they planned to make. We looked at questionnaires completed by people, relatives, staff and community professionals which were mapped to our five key questions. We received feedback from one commissioner. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection we spoke to two care staff, one care supervisor, the care manager, the operations manager and the director. We displayed a poster in the registered office inviting feedback from people, relatives and staff. Following this inspection, we spoke with two people and three relatives.
We reviewed five people’s care records. We looked at medicines records on the provider’s electronic system. We viewed four staff recruitment files, staff induction, training and supervision records and a variety of records relating to the management of the service including staff rotas and quality audits.
Updated
6 September 2018
Bluebird Care (Tonbridge & Tonbridge Wells) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats and live in care for adults and older adults. At the time of this inspection there were 130 people receiving personal care and five people receiving live in care.
Our last inspection on 17 March 2017 was a focused inspection to check the service was meeting the legal requirements following a breach from the previous comprehensive inspection on 15 June 2016. The breach was in relation to medicines not being managed safely. At the focused inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider had met the legal requirements with regards to the management of medicines, however it remained as requires improvement in safe as we needed to see consistent good practice over time.
At this inspection we found that good practice with the management of medicines had been sustained. The service continued to support the rating of good overall and was rated good in each of the five questions we ask. There was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.
At this inspection we found the service remained good. Why the service is rated good:
There were policies and systems in place to safeguard people, assess risks and manage them, and to manage people’s medicines safely. There were enough suitably recruited and trained staff to meet people’s needs. Whilst there was some feedback from people around concerns with staff being on time for their visits, the provider had acted to manage and improve this and had implemented effective electronic records systems, which monitored any missed or late calls.
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. Staff supported people to be as independent as possible and remain living in their own homes. People’s needs were met, including support with eating and drinking and accessing healthcare. The provider ensured there were systems in place to ensure staff had the right training, qualifications, support and supervision to do their job.
The management team consisted of the director (owner), the operations manager, the care manager and the supervisors. This team promoted a caring and positive culture and were passionate about their roles which could be seen in practice. Staff protected people’s privacy and dignity and people were consulted, informed and involved with their care. The provider offered complimentary outings for people and showed how they valued their staff through complimentary events, recognition of milestones and awards. For example, they celebrated when staff completed their probationary period, work anniversaries and promotions; and held care assistant of the month and year awards.
People, relatives and staff were engaged in the service. People could raise concerns and the provider managed complaints and feedback received from people and their relatives. The provider had systems in place to promote continuous learning. The provider had good oversight of the quality and safety of the service and risks. Regulatory requirements were understood and managed.
Further information is in the detailed findings below.