Bluebird Care (Alton & Alresford) in Cross and Pillory Lane, Alton, Hampshire has been rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection in May.
Inspectors rated the service Outstanding for being safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. The overall rating was Outstanding
Bluebird Care (Alton & Alresford) is a domiciliary care agency that provides personal care to people living in their own homes. There were 72 people receiving care at the time of the inspection.
Deborah Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care, said;
“Bluebird Care (Alton & Alresford) is a service where the staff and management operate with a real sense of team spirit and provide care that people described to us as exceptionally caring. Comments about the standard of care were overwhelmingly positive and included "If I ask for anything, it is no trouble and they are very kind and willing". We found numerous examples of the high quality care provided, including one person being helped to regain their independence after staff assisted the person to re-apply for their driving licence after an illness.
“The service was rated Outstanding overall during our previous inspection in January 2016 and I am delighted that the quality of care provided has continued to improve so that the service has not only achieved a second Outstanding overall rating but is also now rated Outstanding in all areas.
“The staff and management of Bluebird Care should be very proud of the kind, caring, supportive, person-centred service they are providing”
Some of the key findings from the inspection include;
- Staff were able to provide a particularly responsive service based on people's needs but managed to be flexible enough to adapt to changes. All care plans and service delivery arrangements were reviewed regularly and any amendments were made as required. The provider used any feedback about the service, both positive and negative, to make improvements. It was evident from care plans that the service was fully focused on meeting people's needs and they were completely satisfied.
- There was a robust contingency plan in place to ensure when outside events occurred these did not impact upon service delivery. This plan, coupled with the total commitment of the care and management team ensured that no care calls were missed during the snowy weather in March 2018.
- The systems in place for the management of medicines were exceptional. Records of administration were made electronically and care assistants could not log out of a care call until this had been completed. This meant those people who needed support with their medicines were able to take their tablets as prescribed. Any changes to people's medicines could be updated immediately in the care records and acted upon.
- The provider had a programme of regular audits in place to ensure they continued to exceed CQC requirements. These included care record audits, staff record audits and an analysis of any accidents and incidents, complaints or safeguarding alerts raised.
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I am delighted that the quality of care provided has continued to improve
Deborah Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector, Adult Social Care