CareOLine Carers Service was newly registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in August 2017. This is the first inspection of the service since registration.

CareOLine Carers Service provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats in the community. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’, that is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do this, we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service had a registered manager in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was not able to be present for this inspection. However, records maintained by them indicated they had a good understanding of their legal responsibilities.

At the time of this inspection, one person had recently started using the service. The person received the support that had been planned and agreed with them. The person’s choices for how this was provided were respected and staff delivered support in line with the person’s wishes. Staff had access to current information about the level of support the person required along with guidance on how to keep the person safe from identified risks. Staff encouraged the person to carry out tasks to help them develop independent living skills and to eat and drink enough to meet their needs.

Staff worked closely with external health professionals involved in the person’s care and shared information about the person in a timely way. They reported any concerns about the person so that appropriate support could be obtained from the relevant healthcare services. The person had capacity to consent to specific decisions about their care and support needs. Staff were due to receive formal training in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 so that they would have a clear understanding of their responsibilities under this Act.

Staff received training to safeguard people from abuse. They also received training specific to their role to help them to meet people’s needs. Staff followed good practice to ensure risks were minimised from poor hygiene and cleanliness when providing personal care and when preparing and handling food.

The provider had clearly stated values and aims for the service, focussed on people experiencing good quality care and support. They had put systems in place that would enable them to monitor and review the quality of service and to deal with any complaints made by people. The provider worked in partnership with other agencies to develop and improve the delivery of care to people. Records relating to the person, staff and to the management of the service were accurate and up to date.

As the service had only recently begun supporting one person, we were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to rate the service at this time.