- Homecare service
Brunelcare Domiciliary Care Services Bristol & South Gloucestershire
Assessment report published 4 November 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
About the service
Brunelcare Domiciliary Care Services Bristol South Gloucestershire is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care and support to people living in their own homes.
Who the service is for
Brunelcare Domiciliary Care Services Bristol South Gloucestershire provides support to younger adults, older people, people with a physical disability and people living with sensory impairments, mental health conditions and dementia. At the time of the inspection, 80 people were being supported with the regulated activity at this service.
Our view of the service
We carried out this assessment on 29 September to the 20 October 2026. This service was previously rated as good. We carried out this assessment to confirm whether the rating of good remains accurate. This report does not provide detailed information on areas where we found practice continues to meet a good standard. Instead, our findings focus on any areas where the service needs to improve or where we found exceptional practice.
People had person centred care plans such as if they had any medical histories, personal information, risk assessments, nutrition and hydration needs and any communication needs. Although we found improvements were needed to ensure information and guidance was available within people’s individual care planning information to support them with their diabetes and catheter care support.
Staff were provided training in safeguarding adults and knew who to raise concerns with. The provider had systems to review any safeguarding adult concerns raised by the service. Incidents and accidents were raised by staff and the registered manager and provider used systems to review these for any themes and trends.
We checked and found staff and management worked within the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). People’s care plans explored if the person had capacity and the registered manager was able to provide additional information when required to clarify this although 1 person’s care plan needed updating following this.
Staff had received an induction, supervision and an annual appraisal. Staff had training and competence reviews to ensure they were provided safe and effect care and support to people. Although staff had training in diabetes and catheter care during their induction no further training was provided after their induction.
The service promoted people’s independence, choice and control. Staff were able to demonstrate how they provided people with person centred care. People felt staff provided them with care that respected and promoted their independence. Although some people raised mixed feedback that visits were not always provided at regular times and by staff they knew. People were happy with their support and felt able to raise a complaint if needed.
People and staff had their views sought through customer satisfaction surveys and various compliments had been raised about the care provided. Staff were able to demonstrate an understanding of promoting and respecting people’s individual needs through the Equality Act 2010.
The provider promoted a positive culture where staff were provided an opportunity to raise any concerns with the registered manager either during team meetings or in-between if needed. All staff felt it was a nice place to work.
The provider had quality assurance systems, however, these had not identified where improvements were needed to people’s care planning information to support them with their diabetes and catheter care.
The provider’s senior management team reviewed any learning for continuous improvement to the service. This was then shared with the registered manager and staff so there was an ongoing improvement culture within the organisation.
The provider completed quality reviews, which informed an action plan identifying areas for improvement. These included making improvements to the information within people’s care plans and ensuring staff completed identified training.
People's experience of this service
People were happy with the care and support provided to them and they described their care staff as kind and caring. People told us, “Staff are very caring” and “I find them caring and they always ask if they need to do something.”
People felt staff provided them with choice and that they were polite and enabled them to do what they could for themselves. People told us, “Staff encourage me to walk, and were very helpful. I was given (some equipment) and they encourage me to be independent” and “Staff do offer choice and support” and “You do what you can and they help you with the rest.”
People told us they felt safe. One person told us, “Yes, I do feel safe.” People were happy with their care and support and they felt able to raise a complaint. Some people did raise with us mixed feedback that visits were not always provided at regular times and by staff they knew. Where people might experience visits from staff who they might not be familiar with they told us the care provided was still of a good standard. One person told us, “(There) can be different staff but you get to know them. They are all wonderful.”
People valued the support from staff and that staff respected their privacy. They told us, “The staff give me privacy” and “Yes they respect my privacy.” People received care that was person centred and that respected their individual wishes and preferences. Care plans contained important information such as if people wished to be supported by a male or female member of staff. They also contained people’s life histories, any communication needs the person might have and how the person might wish to be addressed by staff.
People were involved in their care planning. People told us, “Yes I am involved in the care planning and the reviews.” Some people had a short term reablement support from the service. One person who received this support told us they had a regular review of their care. They said, “Went through everything about the care plan after 1 week and after the second week.” Another person told us, “Had 2 reviews of my care plan.”
People felt able to raise a complaint if needed. They told us, “I have not complained but if I had to I would ring the office and ask to speak to a manager” and “I would phone up the Brunel office if I had a complaint.”