Updated 24 July 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
The inspection team consisted of one inspector.
Service and service type
Bridge-It Options Ltd provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. Not everyone using Bridge-It Options Ltd received 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.
The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission in post. The process for registering a new manager had commenced with CQC. This means that only the provider was legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
Before the inspection, we reviewed information we had received about the service, including previous inspection reports and notifications. Notifications are information about specific important events the service is legally required to send to us. The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.
During the inspection, we gathered information from:
We visited two people in their homes and spoke with another two people over the telephone. We also spoke with one family member. We spoke with seven members of staff including the provider, the branch manager, a field care supervisor, a care co-ordinator and three personal assistants (care staff).
We reviewed a range of records. This included six people’s care records and multiple medication records. A variety of records relating to the management of the service including policies and procedures, records of accidents, incidents and complaints, audits and quality assurance reports.
After the inspection
We requested feedback from six health and social care professionals and received feedback from one of them. We also received feedback from a further three other care staff.