This inspection took place on 20 and 25 January 2017 and was announced. We gave the registered provider 48 hours’ notice of the inspection because it is a community based service and we needed to be sure the office would be staffed and sufficient information would be provided to allow us to contact people in their homes.

This is the first time the service has been inspected since it was registered on 11 December 2014.

Bluebird Care (Sunderland) is registered to provide personal care to people in the community, living in their own homes. At the time of the inspection there were 36 people receiving a service.

At the time of our inspection the service did not have a registered manager. However, the person managing the service had applied for registration. 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 and their relatives told us they felt safe receiving support from care workers and were happy with the service.

Staff had a good understanding of safeguarding and had received up to date training. Staff were confident in their role to safeguard people and told us they felt confident to raise any concerns. All safeguarding concerns were reported to the local authority, were investigated and appropriate action was taken.

People had appropriate risk assessments in place which were clearly linked to associated care plans. The service also had general risk assessments in place covering environmental factors and work tasks.

Medicines were managed and administered in a safe way. Medicines Administration Records (MARs) were fully completed. Staff received regular competency checks as well as appropriate training to enable them to administer medicines safely.

People and relatives told us there were enough staff to meet their needs. People received support from a consistent cohort of carers where possible. The care co-ordinator explained how they tried to ensure people were supported by the same staff members. Staff were recruited in a safe way with appropriate checks carried out prior to them providing care and support to people.

Staff received regular training and all essential training was up to date. Staff told us and records confirmed they received regular supervisions. Staff also received annual appraisals which were recorded and included training and development opportunities.

People were supported by staff to meet their nutritional needs where appropriate. Specific care plans were in inform and guide staff about how to provide effective support to people. People told us staff members asked what they would like to eat and made whatever they wanted.

People and relatives spoke highly of care staff and felt they were friendly, kind and very nice. People felt comfortable and at ease receiving support from staff.

Care plans were personalised, detailed and updated regularly. People and their relatives felt involved in care planning and were confident communicating any changes they wanted to management.

People knew how to make a complaint and felt confident to do so. They informed us they had no issues or problems with the service. The manager investigated all complaints received and took appropriate action.

The manager operated an open door policy and staff were happy that they could approach management with any issues or concerns and felt supported in their roles because of this.

The service regularly received compliments in the form of thank you cards, emails and letters from people who received a service and relatives.

The registered provider had quality audits in place to monitor service provision and identify any potential improvements to develop the service further.