Bright Care (Edinburgh) Housing Support Service Tower Mains Studios 18C Liberton Brae Edinburgh EH16 6AE Telephone: 0131 344 4670 Type of inspection: Unannounced Inspection completed on: 18 January 2018 Service provided by: Bright Care at Home Limited Service provider number: SP2009010602 Care service number: CS2010249701
About the service Bright Care (Edinburgh) provides housing support and care at home to older people living in Edinburgh and Midlothian. They provide a range of options, from short term care to allow informal carers to have a break to 24/ 7 live in care. The minimum for care visits offered is two hours. They focus on companionship care, so this minimum visit time allows companion carers to spend time with the older person rather than simply focusing on the care tasks. At the time of our inspection around 100 people were using the service. Bright Care's mission statement says: "Bright Care is committed to helping the seniors of our community age gracefully in the comfort of their own homes, to assure them dignity, security and social connections that will enhance their lives. We are further committed to assisting the families of seniors by helping to relieve any burdens of care they have so they may enjoy more relaxed and meaningful time with their loved ones." The service's objectives include: - "To involve clients and their carers throughout the assessment, reablement,period and in the creation of the care and support package. - To work with individual clients to provide assistance which meets their personal needs. - To reduce social isolation. - To monitor the effectiveness and quality of the service. - To provide effective management and leadership of the service. - To work in partnership with clients, family carers and other health professionals." What people told us We received care standard questionnaires from 30 people the service supports and/or their family carer. They all agreed, 19 of the 30 strongly agreeing that they were happy with the quality of care and support they got from the service. They agree, most strongly agreeing, that their care plan detailed their needs and preferences and the service checked regularly that they meet their needs. They said staff treated them with respect, had enough time to carry out their care and had the skills to support them. Comments included: - "We have found the service excellent...the office staff are unfailingly understanding, courteous and friendly and communication is straightforward and simple...and reliable!" - "I would say Bright Care go that extra mile to meet our needs. I feel this is largely down to a) the calibre of the carers and b) the excellent communication within the office management team." - "We are very happy with the service provided by Bright Care." We met six people the service supports and two relatives during our inspection. They were all very happy with the service. They appreciated that the service was responsive to their needs and wishes, reliable and flexible. They all spoke highly of their companion carer and the easy contact they had with office staff. We have included more comments from people and their family members in the body of this report. Self assessment We are not asking services to submit a self-assessment for this inspection year. Instead, we asked the service for their improvement or development plan and discussed any improvements they have made or intend to make. We highlighted the new Health and Social Care Standards, "My support, my life", which we will inspect against from page 2 of 7
April 2018. We encouraged the service to use these standards to plan how they can continue to develop and improve the service. From this inspection we graded this service as: Quality of care and support Quality of staffing Quality of management and leadership 6 - Excellent 5 - Very Good not assessed What the service does well Bright Care provided detailed information about the service that helped people decide if this was the right service for them. They took time with the person and their family carers to be clear about what the person needed and wanted. They made sure they could provide the care required before starting the service. Very careful matching of carers with clients meant people were cared for by staff who could meet their needs in a way that was right for them. The service was developing short carer profiles that would help with this. They made sure carers were introduced to the person before they started caring for them. People were fully involved in planning their care. They decided the outcomes they wanted to achieve, for example "to stay in my own home", "to have companionship", "to do things I enjoy doing". Care was planned based on what they wanted to achieve. Care plans gave a real sense of the person, which helped staff get to know them. They included the detail needed by staff to be able to deliver the person's care in the way they wanted. They were well ordered so information was easy to find. This helped staff respect people's choices and support them to remain as independent as possible. The service had a reliable electronic system to make sure they reviewed people's care with them regularly. Care supervisors checked their needs were being met and that they were happy with the service. They made any changes or improvements required. People were very happy with communication with the service. They felt able to contact office staff at any time, felt listened to and confident they would get a helpful response. People were very happy with the care they or their relative got from the service. One person said, "We feel reassured that people will come at the time they say they will, that we are kept informed of any changes and, if there is to be a change, the alternative that has been put in place". The service was responsive to people's changing needs. One person told us the service had been excellent at providing additional care as their relative's needs had changed. Another said, "My wife...does not like going away for respite, preferring to stay at home and let me go away for a short break. We use Bright Care to provide a live in carer for the time I am away, and this works very well". Everyone spoke very highly of their carers. People were treated with respect and were confident staff had the skills to care for them. They said: - "The last few months I had an excellent carer. She has gone out of her way to help and is very understanding of the situation." - "We trust the individual carers and also the care supervisor who takes a personal interest in how things are proceeding." - "My main live in carer goes above and beyond to care for me and keep me safe and happy. I am also very pleased with my other carers from Bright Care and they all help to make me happy." page 3 of 7
The service was careful to employ staff who were safe to work with vulnerable people, who would treat people with dignity, respect and compassion and who really wanted to care for older people. New staff's induction to their role was thorough, with excellent "on board" training to prepare them for their role. They completed shadow visits with experienced carers, who gave feedback on their practice to make sure they were confident and competent to deliver care on their own. Care supervisors made sure staff were well supported during the first few months, both informally and through regular 1:1 meetings. The service provided a mix of e-learning and face to face training, including promoting excellence in dementia care and refreshers on mandatory topics. Staff commented; "The quality of training is excellent". Staff could contact senior staff at any time for advice. They felt well supported as a result. Care supervisors regularly observed staff's practice and met them 1:1. The introduction of written reflective accounts, use of feedback from clients and discussion between supervisors and carers supported staff's professional development. Staff said: - "Bright Care is a very supportive and nurturing employer. It can be isolating working in clients' homes without the contact of other care workers. You always know that support can be provided by either calling or emailing Bright Care. They respond very quickly and in a very helpful manner." - "Regular training, e-learning and supervision. Staff always helpful with any questions or queries. Very supportive." Staff felt valued. They said, "Whenever I see my manager she always enquiries how I and the client are." Carer of the month/year was rewarded well, recognising the above and beyond efforts they had made. More than one carer said, "I love my work". What the service could do better The service could consider how people they care for and/or their family carers could be involved in selecting new staff. Some staff said they would benefit from more opportunities to meet up with other carers, "There are opportunities but I don't feel there are many". We suggested the service could ask staff for ideas on what would work for them. The manager agreed that an opportunity for staff to have an annual discussion with their supervisor about their practice development could improve the service. This could include staff developing areas of interest they could use to support best practice in the service, for example in dementia care, end of life care, falls prevention etc. This could improve staff retention and help "grow" future senior staff. Requirements Number of requirements: 0 Recommendations Number of recommendations: 0 page 4 of 7
Complaints There have been no complaints upheld since the last inspection. Details of any older upheld complaints are published at www.careinspectorate.com. Inspection and grading history Date Type Gradings 10 Feb 2017 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good 5 - Very good 19 Nov 2015 Unannounced Care and support 3 Nov 2014 Unannounced Care and support 14 May 2014 Re-grade Care and support 2 - Weak 26 Mar 2014 Unannounced Care and support 3 - Adequate 3 - Adequate 3 - Adequate 23 Oct 2013 Unannounced Care and support 2 - Weak 2 - Weak 2 - Weak 21 Jan 2013 Unannounced Care and support 5 - Very good page 5 of 7
Date Type Gradings 9 Feb 2012 Announced (short notice) Care and support 3 - Adequate page 6 of 7
To find out more This inspection report is published by the Care Inspectorate. You can download this report and others from our website. Care services in Scotland cannot operate unless they are registered with the Care Inspectorate. We inspect, award grades and help services to improve. We also investigate complaints about care services and can take action when things aren't good enough. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information or have any concerns about a care service. You can also read more about our work online at www.careinspectorate.com Contact us Care Inspectorate Compass House 11 Riverside Drive Dundee DD1 4NY enquiries@careinspectorate.com 0345 600 9527 Find us on Facebook Twitter: @careinspect Other languages and formats This report is available in other languages and formats on request. Tha am foillseachadh seo ri fhaighinn ann an cruthannan is cànain eile ma nithear iarrtas. page 7 of 7