Bridge Cross Care Ltd

Updated 28 September 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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. At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was announced. 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 registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 27 July 2021 and ended on 6 September 2022. We visited the location’s office on 27 July 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We checked the information we had about the service including notifications they had sent us. A notification is information about incidents or events that providers are required to inform us about. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met and spoke with the registered manager who is also the owner. Following the office visit we spoke with one care staff by telephone. We also spoke with two people using the service by telephone to seek their feedback on the service they receive.

We reviewed a range of records including three people's care plans and care records and three staff recruitment and training records. We also reviewed records used in managing the service for example, policies and procedures, monitoring records and audits.

Updated 28 September 2022

About the service

Bridge Cross Care Ltd is a domiciliary care agency in the London Borough of Greenwich. It provides personal care and support to people living within their own homes. At the time of our inspection there were three people using the service.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We found improvements had been made since the last inspection. There were some minor inconsistencies about responding to complaints which the provider had acted on.

People told us they were happy with the standard of care and support they received from staff. Risks to people had been identified assessed and staff had guidance on how to minimise risks. Staff understood how to protect people from the risk of abuse or neglect. There were enough staff deployed to meet people’s needs and appropriate recruitment checks were carried out before staff began working at the service. There were systems in place to ensure medicines were managed safely if required. Procedures were in place to reduce the risk of infections and staff had enough personal protective equipment.

People had a person-centred care plan which was reviewed regularly to ensure their needs were met. People told us they knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy with the service. People had access to information about the service in a format that met their needs.

There were systems in place to monitor the quality of service, regular audits and unannounced check were carried out on staff practices. People and their relatives' views about the service were sought regularly to drive improvements. Staff said they felt supported by the registered manager.

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

Rating at last inspection and update – The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 29 March 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. 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 regulations.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good based on the findings of this inspection.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection of this service on 22 February and 24 February 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve safe care and treatment and good governance.

We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe, Responsive and Well-led which contain those requirements.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Bridge Cross Care Ltd on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.