Background to this inspection
Updated
8 September 2021
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 Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection was completed 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. The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
This inspection was announced. We gave the service 48 hours notice of the inspection. We visited the registered office location on 27 July 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service. The provider was asked to complete and returned to us their Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the intelligence we held and notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.
During the inspection
During the site office visit we met the registered manager and reviewed a range of records. This included three staff files in relation to recruitment and training. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including audits and alerts logs were also viewed. We reviewed three people’s electronic care records and samples of medicine records. We telephoned one person and four relatives to seek their views.
After the inspection
We received feedback from eleven staff members. We contacted four external professionals and received feedback from two. We received additional feedback from two people’s relatives. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
8 September 2021
About the service:
BelleVie Abingdon, Oxford, Witney, Wantage, Henley-on-Thames, referred to as BelleVie in this report, are a new service registered to provide support to people living in their own homes in Oxfordshire and surrounding areas. The people the service supported include younger adults and older people including those living with dementia. Not everyone using BelleVie receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'. Where they do, we also take into account any wider social care provided. On the day of our inspection BelleVie were supporting 20 people with the regulated activity of ‘personal care’.
People’s experience of using this service
People benefitted from the team that wholeheartedly demonstrated the provider’s aim “To reinvent the future of care work.” The provider operated a model built on self-managing, local teams of wellbeing support workers, as they referred to their staff, who put people first. As the results the entire team worked to create a ‘world where people who give and receive care and support are valued and thrive together’.
The very initial contact with a person looking to arrange the support always started with asking the person, “What makes it a good day for you?” This way people were a driving force behind any decisions about how they wished to have their care delivered and spend their day. This was demonstrated in feedback we had from people and their relatives who described the service as exceptional and told us staff went an extra mile to meet their needs. People’s privacy, dignity and confidentiality was respected at all times.
The provider believed in care being delivered ‘per person not per hour’ therefore they invented a unique approach that allowed staff to focus on people, and not on the clock. This also meant the flexibility was being maintained - whether this meant some days people needed staff to stay a little longer or needed someone to pick up their shopping.
The real strength of the team was to ensure the provider’s values that aimed to “Encourage ambition and creativity” were being achieved. Staff excelled in their creativity to ensure people were empowered to pursue their interests and hobbies and worked with partners organisations to encourage people to reduce any social isolation. We saw numerous examples where the staff supported people to fulfil their wishes.
People were supported to meet their healthcare and nutritional needs. People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. People benefitted from suitably trained, competent and skilled staff whose competencies had been regularly assessed.
People were supported to take their medicines as prescribed and where needed they had risk assessments in place surrounding their mobility or other individual conditions. The provider had good system to record and review accidents and to ensure good infection control.
The provider had various quality assurance systems and worked on a new project where the aim was to create a whole "Wellbeing Operating System" with the framework and tools necessary for a model of self-managing teams to support people to live their best lives. There was a registered manager who acted as a coach to provide guidance to the team of wellbeing workers. There was an open, transparent and a very positive culture demonstrated by the entire team.
The provider’s innovative approach to care was recognised and the provider won in the ‘Best start-up home care service or new franchise’ category at the national Home Care Awards 2021. The judges commented on BelleVie’s goals to make support work a sought-after, professional career and congratulated the team on the outstanding feedback they received from the people they supported.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 28 April 2020 and this is their first inspection.
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the date of registration of the service.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme.