Blue Tree Care Limited

Updated 27 April 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

This inspection was carried out by one adult social care inspector.

Service and service type:

Blue Tree Care Limited is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes. Four people were using the service at the time of our inspection.

The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are 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 visit because we needed to be sure that staff would be in the office to support the inspection.

We visited the office location on 12 April 2019 to see the registered manager and deputy manager; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We also made calls to relatives on this date.

What we did:

Prior to the inspection, we reviewed all the information we held about the service including notifications received by CQC. A notification is information about important events which the service is required to tell us by law.

During our inspection people using the service were not available to speak with, however we spoke with three of their relatives and four members of care staff. We also spoke with the registered manager and the deputy manager. We also spoke with one health and social care professional who had worked with the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included care records, information relating to staff recruitment and supervision and the training records for all staff. We also reviewed records relating to the management of the service and a variety of policies and procedures developed and implemented by the provider.

Updated 27 April 2019

About the service:

Blue Tree Care Limited provides personal care within people’s homes and when they access the community.

People’s experience of using this service:

At the last inspection we found that Blue Tree Care Limited required improvement and we identified breaches of three of the regulations of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. These were in relation to the safe management of medicines, lack of detail in care plans and lack of an auditing system to monitor the quality of the service.

At this inspection we found that the service had improved and was meeting all the required regulations.

Medicines were managed safely in line with recent and best practice.

Care plans were person-centred and contained pertinent information.

A number of quality audits were in place to ensure and improve the quality of care.

Relatives and staff were complimentary of the service. People, relatives and staff were asked for feedback on their experience of the service through surveys and telephone calls.

Staff were professional and competent. Staff felt supported, listened to and able to contribute to the running of the service.

Relatives said the service was safe. Staff demonstrated a good awareness of each person's safety and how to minimise risks for them.

Staffing levels were good. Relatives told us that people received consistent support from the same carers.

Staff were recruited safely and the appropriate pre-employment checks were in place.

Staff were given an induction and training suitable to their job role. Staff were assessed for their competency which helped to ensure they were safe to work with people.

Staff told us they were given time to get to know people as part of their induction. Relatives felt this was good practice as staff got to know the people they were supporting on a personal level.

People’s calls were on time or staff called if they were going to be late.

The service worked in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and staff had a clear understanding of how to support people with fluctuating capacity and giving support with decision making.

Feedback from relatives and staff was that the service was well-led. They told us the management team was always available to speak with.

People told us they would feel confident to raise any complaints they might have.

Rating at last inspection: The service was last rated as requires improvement (12 April 2018)

Why we inspected:

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

Follow up:

Going forward we will continue to monitor this service and plan to inspect in line with our reinspection schedule for services rated good.

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