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Bridge-it Options Ltd

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Sybil's Place, Ashford Hill, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 8BG (0118) 981 0138

Provided and run by:
Bridge-it Options Ltd

Latest inspection summary

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Background to this inspection

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.

Overall inspection

Good

Updated 24 July 2019

About the service: Bridge-It Options Limited is a domiciliary care agency (DCA). It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. It provides a service to adults, some of whom were living dementia, and younger adults.

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.

At the time of our inspection 29 people using the DCA aspect of the service who received personal care.

People’s experience of using this service:

Management processes were in place to monitor and improve the quality of the service. However, these were not always effective and did not always identify opportunities for improvement.

People told us they felt safe when being supported by care staff. There were appropriate systems in place to protect people from the risk of abuse.

There were enough staff to meet people's needs. The provider had effective systems in place to ensure safe recruitment practices.

People's needs were met in a personalised way by staff who were competent, kind and caring. Staff respected people's privacy and protected their dignity.

Individual and environmental risks were managed appropriately.

People were empowered to make their own choices and decisions. They were involved in the development of their individual care plans.

People know how to complain. When complaints were received these were investigated and responded to in line with the provider’s policy.

The home has been rated Good overall as it met the characteristics for this rating in four of the five key questions. More information is in the full report, which is on the CQC website at: www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection:

The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 19 April 2018) and there were three breaches of regulations. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of the regulations.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned inspection based on the previous inspection rating.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor the intelligence we receive about this service and plan to inspect in line with our re-inspection schedule for those services rated as good.