About the service: Bluebird Care Northampton/Daventry is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living in their own homes in Northamptonshire. At the time of the inspection 20 people were receiving personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

¿ People received safe care and they were protected against avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination.

¿ Where the provider took on the responsibility, people’s medicines were safely managed.

¿ Staff were appropriately recruited and there were enough staff to provide care and support to people to meet their needs.

¿ People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible. We have made a recommendation about mental capacity assessments.

¿ Staff had access to the support, supervision and training they required to work effectively in their roles.

¿ Staff were friendly and caring; they treated people with respect and maintained their dignity.

¿ Staff encouraged people to maintain their independence.

¿ People had personalised plans of care in place to enable staff to provide consistent care and support in line with people’s preferences.

¿ Information could be provided to people in an accessible format to enable them to make decisions about their care and support.

¿ People knew how to raise a concern or make a complaint and the provider had implemented effective systems to manage any complaints received.

¿ The service had provided appropriate end of life care to people.

¿ The service had a positive ethos and an open culture. The registered manager was approachable, understood the needs of people, and listened to staff.

¿ There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and drive improvements.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (report published 15 September 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received we may inspect sooner.

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

Bluebird Care Northampton/Daventry provides personal care for people living at home in Northamptonshire. At the time of our inspection there were 36 people receiving personal care. This announced inspection took place on 19 August 2016.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of our inspection, however they were absent on planned leave until December 2016. The day to day management of the company was provided by the provider. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

The provider had values and a clear vision that were person centred and focussed on enabling people to live at home. All staff demonstrated a commitment to providing a service for people that met their individual needs. People had positive relationships with staff.

People were actively involved in decisions about their care and support needs. There were formal systems in place to assess people’s capacity for decision making under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Staff provided people with information to enable them to make an informed decision and encouraged people to make their own choices.

People received safe care and support. Staff understood their role in safeguarding people and they knew how to report concerns. There were enough staff with the right skills and attitudes to meet people’s needs.

Staff had a full understanding of people’s support needs and had the skills and knowledge to meet them. Training records were up to date and staff received regular supervisions and appraisals. Staff were clear about their roles and responsibilities in caring for people and received regular support from the provider.

Care records contained risk assessments and risk management plans to protect people from identified risks. They gave information for staff on the identified risk and informed staff on the measures required to minimise any risks. Staff were vigilant regarding people’s changing health needs and sought guidance from relevant healthcare professionals.

Staff were aware of the importance of managing complaints promptly and in line with the provider’s policy. Staff and people were confident that if they had any concerns they would be listened to and any concerns would be addressed.

The provider monitored the quality and safety of the service and staff regularly monitored the support people received. People and staff were encouraged to provide feedback about the service and it was used to drive continuous improvement.

During this inspection we spoke with four people and the relatives of two other people.

People told us staff explained their individual care needs to them and that staff asked for their consent before they provided any care. One person said “I am very satisfied with the service, I know what to expect because the staff always explain things properly and provide me with the support that I need”.

One relative said “the staff communicate with us really well and are always respectful when they come into our home, they check before they come in to make sure its ok”.

All of the people we spoke with told us they were well looked after and the staff knew how they needed and wished to be supported. One person commented “The staff are very kind, I am so pleased with the service, and the care is excellent”. Another person told us “the staff do a really good job they know the support that I need”.

People told us they thought the staff had the right skills to care for them safely. One person said “the staff are excellent; I have no concerns at all”. Another person commented “they seem to match the staff according to my routines and needs, they are very good and they know how I need to be cared for”.

We carried out a themed inspection that looked at the services provided by domiciliary care agencies. As part of this programme of targeted inspection we asked people to tell us what it was like to receive services from this agency.

The inspection was led by a Care Quality Commission inspector who was supported by a person who has had direct of experience of using the services of a domiciliary care agency. This person took part in telephone surveys of people using this agency and their findings were incorporated into this report.

This newly established agency provided a service to 25 people when we inspected. We were able to speak with 14 people on the telephone to ask them about their experience. We also visited four people at home to ask them about the standard of care they had received from the agency care workers.

Each person we visited at home told us they were "very happy" with the service, that the care workers were reliable, and that the help they received had been agreed with them in advance and was personalised according to their preferences. They said the care workers who supported them at home were all friendly and treated them with respect.

Comments included, from a relative, "I know good care when I see it…the carers are consistent, efficient, and very professional." Another person said that the care workers were "…very good, well trained, very courteous and extremely reliable." One person praised the care workers and said, "I can only describe them as excellent."