About the service:

Bluebird Care (Solihull) is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses in the community. Not everyone using the service 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. At the time of the inspection, it was providing a service to 55 people.

People's experience of using this service:

• Although staff recruitment was safe, there were issues with availability of evidence of pre-recruitment checks. This was resolved during the inspection.

• Consideration into a person's mental capacity had not been dealt with appropriately. This meant that the service was involved in unauthorised restrictions. We have made a recommendation about this that can be seen in the 'Effective' section of this report.

• The provider had arrangements to check and audit systems.

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

• People's likes, preferences and dislikes were assessed and care packages met people's desired expectations.

• People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

• People's care was person-centred. Care was designed to ensure people's independence was encouraged and maintained.

• People and their relatives were involved in the care planning and review of their care.

• The service had a stable management structure. The registered manager and provider had implemented systems to ensure they continuously measured the safety of people's care and quality of the service.

• People had an active say in how the service was operated and managed through individual meetings, surveys and reviews.

• More information is contained in the full report.

Rating at last inspection: Good (08 July 2016).

Why we inspected: This inspection was part of our scheduled plan of visiting services to check the safety and quality of care people received.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that people receive safe, high quality care and re-inspect based on the overall rating. We may inspect sooner if we receive information of concern.

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

Bluebird Care (Solihull) is a domiciliary care agency which provides personal care support to people in their own homes. At the time of our visit the agency supported 60 people with personal care and employed 27 care staff.

We visited the offices of Bluebird Care (Solihull) 14 June 2016. We told the provider before the visit we were coming so they could arrange to be available to talk with us about the service.

The service was last inspected in September 2013 when we found the provider was compliant with the essential standards described in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010.

The service did not have a registered manager. 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 registered manager had left the service in November 2015. The provider had appointed another manager who confirmed they would be applying to register with us.

People felt safe using the service and staff understood how to protect people from abuse and keep people safe. There were procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care and for managing people’s medicines safely. Checks were carried out prior to care staff starting work to ensure their suitability to work with people who used the service.

The provider and manager understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA), and staff respected people’s decisions and gained people’s consent before they provided personal care.

There were enough staff to deliver the care and support people required. People told us staff were friendly and caring and had the right skills to provide the care and support they required. Staff received an induction when they started working for the service and completed training to support them in meeting people’s needs effectively.

Care plans contained relevant information for staff to help them provide the personalised care people required. People knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available to them. Staff said they could raise any concerns or issues with the management team, knowing they would be listened to and acted on.

The management team provided good leadership and people who used the service found them approachable and responsive. Staff said they received excellent support from the management team. There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and understand the experiences of people who used the service. This was through regular communication with people and staff, returned surveys and regular checks on care staff. There was a programme of other checks and audits which the provider used to monitor and improve the service.

Prior to this inspection a relative had raised some concerns with us about the service provided by Bluebird. As part of this inspection we used an expert by experience to carry out sixteen telephone interviews and we sent out questionnaires to get the broadest possible range of views.

We found that people were involved in their assessments and care plans. One person we spoke with said "They came and spent time with me and my daughter and we negotiated the arrangements". People were happy with the care that was provided. They told us “They are very, very good.” “I have the same person every time and she knows my ways so I am really happy with her.”

We found that the service protected people and care was delivered safely. One person using the service told us "I feel safe when they are here; I look forward to them coming". One relative we spoke with told us "I feel mum is safe when they are here and I am not worried about going out".

People were supported by experienced and skilled staff. Staff were supported to deliver good care. One staff member said "you never feel like you're alone, if I'm ever stuck I can always call someone for advice".

People were aware of the complaints procedure. People we spoke with had no complaints. One person told us "I have absolutely no complaints but if I did I would call the manager". A relative told us I have never had to complain, if I have a comment to make I ring the manager up and they deal with it ".

People using the service were very happy with the care they received from the service

They told us the carer's were excellent, very friendly and helpful. They said they had no complaints at all and were satisfied with the service. Comments included: ' I am very happy with my carers and feel very comfortable with them' 'Excellent carers, very professional' 'They deserve a big thank you for all they do for me'.

The management team reviewed each person's care documentation on a monthly basis. They spoke to the person and their family to make sure the service provided was of a good standard, and was meeting the needs of the individual.

Comments from relatives included: ' Very, very happy with the service' ' They are very good at what they do for my mum; it gives me peace of mind'.

People who used the service told us that they felt well supported by friendly, professional staff.

People who used the service told us they felt comfortable with talking to the manager or any member of staff if they felt things could be improved. They all said they were very satisfied with the service provided.