The inspection took place on the 17 and 18 May 2018 and was announced.

The service is registered to provide personal care to people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the service was providing personal care to 33 people.

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own apartments in the community. It provides a service to older adults, younger adults, people with dementia, physical disability or sensory impairment, mental health, learning disabilities or autistic spectrum disorder. Not everyone using Bluebird care Purbeck receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

Bluebird Care Purbeck office is situated in Wareham. It provides support to people living in Swanage, Wareham and surrounding areas.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

People were protected from the risk of harm by staff who understood the possible signs of abuse and how to recognise these and report any concerns. Staff were also aware of the risks that people faced and understood their role in managing these to ensure people received safe care.

People were supported by enough staff to provide effective, person centred support. Staff were recruited safely with appropriate pre-employment checks and received training and support to ensure that they had the necessary skills and knowledge to meet people’s needs.

People received their medicines as prescribed and staff worked with healthcare professionals to ensure that people received joined up, consistent care.

People were supported from the spread of infection by staff who understood their role in infection control and used appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

People were supported to make choices about all areas of their support and staff understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

People were supported to have enough to eat and drink. People’s preferences for meals were well known and staff offered people choices about what they ate and drank.

Where people had medical decisions in place around their end of life care, these were sometimes recorded. The registered manager told us that they would make sure that these were consistently recorded if people had decisions in place.

People and those important to them were involved in planning the support they would receive and were asked for their views about the support and any changes to people’s needs. Reviews identified where people’s needs had changed and reflected changes to the support provided in response to this.

People were supported by staff who respected their individuality and protected their privacy. Staff understood how to advocate and support people to ensure that their views were heard and told us that they would ensure that people’s religious or other beliefs were supported and protected. Staff had undertaken training in equality and diversity and understood how to use this learning in practice.

Interactions with people were kind and caring and we observed that people chatted with staff and were comfortable with them in their homes.

People were supported to access healthcare professionals when required and the service worked with external agencies to ensure that people received joined up, consistent care.

Staff were confident in their roles and felt supported by the office team. Feedback indicated that the office were approachable, listened and took actions where necessary.

Quality assurance measures w