Background to this inspection
Updated
21 December 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
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.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave a short period notice of the inspection because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection activity started on 01 November 2021 and ended on 10 November 2021. We visited the office location on 01 November 2021.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. The provider was not asked to complete a 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. The provider did complete the PIR whilst the inspection activity was still underway. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We sought feedback from the local authority and Healthwatch. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with five members of staff including the registered manager, care manager, previous live-in care manager, a community team lead and the nominated individual. The nominated individual is responsible for supervising the management of the service on behalf of the provider. We reviewed a range of records. This included seven people’s care records and multiple medicines records. We looked at four staff files in relation to recruitment and staff supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including quality assurance records, were also reviewed.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at further records in relation to the management of the service, including policies and procedures. We received feedback from 16 people, 10 relatives and 25 members of staff. We also sought feedback from five professionals who worked with the provider.
Updated
21 December 2021
About the service
Bluebird Care (Winchester, Eastleigh & Romsey) is a domiciliary care service providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service is registered to support children, people who may be under or over 65 and who may have a learning disability or be living with dementia, physical disabilities or sensory impairments.
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 the inspection, the provider was providing personal care to 127 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The service had robust systems and processes in place to safeguard people from abuse. Staff were highly trained and passionate, proactively taking responsibility to keep people safe. Risks to people were creatively assessed and safely managed in partnership with them, their relatives and health and social care professionals. There were enough skilled and safely recruited staff available to meet people’s needs in a person-centred way. People’s medicines were managed safely. The provider had robust infection prevention and control measures in place.
The service was exceptionally well-led. People, relatives and staff told us they felt valued by the management team, who were approachable, listened and took prompt, responsive actions when required. The provider maximised the use of electronic systems and processes to monitor people’s experiences of care and the quality of the service. We saw and heard of numerous examples of the provider showing a forward-thinking, innovative and creative approach to continuously reviewing and improving the service. The service worked closely with other organisations and professionals.
We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right Support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports CQC to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
Based on our review of the key questions safe and well-led, the service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Right support:
• Model of care and setting maximises people’s choice, control and
independence
Right care:
• Care is person-centred and promotes people’s dignity, privacy and human
rights
Right culture:
• Ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensure people
using services lead confident, inclusive and empowered lives
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 outstanding (published 12 January 2018).
Why we inspected
We received concerns in relation to how the service responded to safeguarding incidents and worked with agency live-in care staff. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.
The overall rating for the service remains outstanding. This is based on the findings at this inspection. We found no evidence during this inspection that people were at risk of harm from this concern. Please see the Safe and Well-led sections of this report.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bluebird Care (Winchester, Eastleigh & Romsey) on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
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.