Bluebird Care St. Albans provides personal care and support services to adults and younger people living in their own homes. At the time of our inspection the provider was supporting up to 58 people.

The service had a registered manager in place. 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 service took safeguarding concerns seriously and followed the local authority policy and guidance when dealing with safeguarding people from harm and the staff we spoke with demonstrated a good understanding of safeguarding issues.

Where appropriate the service had attended and contributed to safeguarding discussions and meetings. They had used these opportunities to further improve their way of working.

There was a robust recruitment procedure to help ensure the staff recruited were suitable to work with the people using the service.

Staffing levels were sufficient to provide the level of care required.

Risk assessments were in place and were regularly reviewed and updated.

Staff were trained to administer medicines safely and had undertaken further training to ensure they could deal with a number of health issues. Regular checks were undertaken to help ensure on-going competence in this area.

There was a robust induction programme, which included mandatory training, shadowing and buddying with an experienced worker. Staff demonstrated a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

The service demonstrated a commitment to staff training, which was on-going and regular refreshers were undertaken. Staff were given positive encouragement to undertake further, more specialised training appropriate to the work.

Supervisions were undertaken regularly and considered important in offering an opportunity for discussion between staff and management about on-going work issues. Professional Development Reviews (PDR) were held annually to ensure learning was reviewed and training needs were met.

Care files were clear and comprehensive and contained relevant health and personal information. They were person-centred and included individuals’ goals, wishes and achievements. The service was flexible and responsive to changing needs, desires and circumstances.

Confidentiality was respected and independence was promoted. Communication with relatives was on-going throughout the duration of their relative’s involvement in the service.

Comments were encouraged formally and informally and there was a complaints policy in place. Literature given out to families gave the information and opportunity for people to raise concerns or make suggestions.

Best practice guidelines were followed and the service was innovative and creative in its approach to support and training.

Feedback was regularly sought from families and users of the service. The service listened and took action to address any concerns and suggestions put forward by people who used the service and their families.

Team meetings were regularly undertaken, giving staff the opportunity to discuss any issues and to share good practice examples. The meetings were used as a forum to share current best practice guidance and keep staff up to date with new methods and innovation.

A number of audits were undertaken, results analysed and lessons learned from these to drive continual improvement in service delivery.