About the service: Carons Care Line is a domiciliary care agency, providing personal care to 32 people in their own homes, at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

Without exception, each person or their relative that we spoke with provided positive feedback about the care they received. There were examples shared of care staff going above and beyond providing care to meet people’s assessed needs. Staff had built friendships with people and their relatives. They got to know people’s personalities and recognised if a person was feeling unwell or upset.

Healthcare professionals were contacted when people became unwell. People’s healthcare needs were monitored, and any changes recognised, recorded, and reported to the care office for a manager’s advice.

Medicine records were audited to ensure that any gaps in administration were followed up. Where gaps in medicines administration related to staff competencies, further training was provided.

Staff were trained to support people with their mental health, such as anxiety. They told us how they had brought people flowers or gone to see people to check how they were, if they had been feeling upset or low.

People were supported by staff that had received training to meet their needs. Staff also received individual and group supervision meetings with the care manager or registered manager. This gave them the opportunity to provide their feedback and discuss their development. People trusted the care staff and felt they were trained to a high standard. Their feedback included, “The carers are all exceptionally well trained”, “They are just brilliant” and “We trust them completely.”

People told us the staff helped them to feel safe. Carers entered people’s homes in the way the person had requested, for example, using the key safe. People and their relatives told us staff were respectful of people’s homes.

Health and social care professionals thought highly of the service. One professional had written to the registered manager to feedback that they felt the care staff set a high standard, were professional and “had big hearts”.

The registered manager spoke passionately about wanting to ensure people had the best possible end of life experience. They had liaised with a funeral director to create support bundles of information that could be provided to people and relatives; to guide them about what happens next for the person.

The registered manager had a personal ethos of striving for continual improvement. They had a structured way of working and welcomed feedback about any areas where a higher standard of good could be achieved. They spoke passionately about their reasons for working in care and were emotionally invested in wanting the service put people at the forefront of everything they did. They were proud of their staff team delivering their vision of the service and said, “they are worth their weight in gold.”

Rating at last inspection: This was the first inspection since the service had changed ownership.

Why we inspected: The service was registered with CQC in May 2018. We inspect newly registered services in the first year of registration. This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service and use information received to inform our next inspection.

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