Archived: Bluebird Care Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft

Updated 12 January 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service and seven relatives. We spoke with nine staff members including the registered manager and care staff. We reviewed six care records and three recruitment files. Multiple records relating to the quality, safety and monitoring of the service were reviewed.

Updated 12 January 2023

About the service

Bluebird Care Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. 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. At the time of our inspection there were 54 people receiving personal care from the service.

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

People told us they felt safe when carers visited them and felt they could rely on the service to keep them safe. The service carried out risk assessments and put in place measures to reduce the risk of people coming to harm.

People told us they benefitted from having regular carers they knew well, and that the carers always arrived to support them. People told us staff were kind, caring and thoughtful.

Staff were recruited safely and had appropriate training for the role.

Medicines were administered, managed and monitored safely.

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 told us they knew how to make complaints and felt confident that the service would act on these. There was a suitable complaints policy in place and a system for investigating and responding to these.

Since our last inspection, the new management of the service had implemented a number of new systems to monitor, assess and identify shortfalls in the quality of the care provided. They had taken action to address previous shortfalls identified and this had resulted in positive changes being made in the service. This was reflected in improvements in people’s feedback about the service the received.

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

Rating at last inspection and update –

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 23 September 2021).

The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.

Why we inspected

We carried out an unannounced comprehensive inspection of this service on 8 July 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found and we issued a warning notice telling the provider what they needed to do and by when. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements.