Coastline Care Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coastline Housing Ltd, a registered charity. Coastline Care Ltd delivers a number of services that include domiciliary care and independent living service in peoples own homes and 24 hour care and support at Miners Court extra care facility.We spoke to four people who lived at Miners Court and telephoned seven people who received care and support in their own homes and spoke to the people themselves or their relatives.
Ten people told us that staff treated them with privacy and dignity.
Comments from people at Miners Court included, 'staff come quickly when I press my buzzer', 'they involve us which is good', 'the manager (of Miners Court) is marvellous', 'very very happy' 'they are lovely', 'if you need them, they are there' and 'cant do enough for you'.
Comments from people we spoke to over the telephone included, 'the carers are all very good indeed', 'delighted with the service ' all the girls are good'. Relatives commented that ' I feel confident to leave X in the hands of the carers' another said 'X gets on with the carers and co-operates with them'.
One person told us 'staff are not too bad, everyone has got their own character'.
Another person told us that her relative did not want to see two care workers as she' hadn't taken to them' but they still continued to visit and as a result her relative decided not to have a shower on those days.
One person told us, before they started to receive services from Coastline Care they were asked about staff gender preferences. She told us' they know I don't like a man, unless it's an emergency'.
People told us that they did not know who would be arriving to assist them; one person commented 'I don't know who is arriving, but it doesn't matter. I know all the girls and boys'. Another person said that 'I know all the carers and don't mind who comes'. One relative commented that they were supposed to have the rota sent by email so they knew who to expect. She said that this happens sometimes and other times it is late so you still do not know who to expect.
One person told us that 'the staff come to see me, to see if I'm alright, if I am not here, they come in to make sure nothing has happened'. We saw that people were provided with a call card that explained that staff had called and entered their property, and the reason for this.
Overall the atmosphere at Miners Court during our visit was relaxed and we saw that there was a positive rapport between the people who lived there and the staff who provided domiciliary care. Of those we spoke to three people told us that they felt treated with respect and that the staff were kind and caring, one person told us that 'some of the staff are respectful, some are not'.
Everybody we spoke with over the telephone said that they would be happy to ring the office and speak to somebody if they had any concerns or worries.
During our inspection we asked three staff members if they knew what to do should they witness an incident, or suspect, that a person was being mistreated, abused or neglected. All staff told us that they would speak to their line manager, or speak to the police or social services.
One member of staff told us that she had previously reported concerns about another member of staff to her line manager. We were told that the member of staff in question was suspended and later dismissed.
People who lived at Miners Court told us 'the staff are lovely', 'staff are very good', 'staff don't gossip', 'very caring', 'look after us', and 'all of the staff are fantastic'.
One person told us 'they have had problems, because it is all new'. Another person told us 'there are new staff at the moment ' but it is settling down now'. Other people said that 'they come on time' and ' they always stay for the right amount of time' and 'they do what you expect ' new ones (care workers) need to get into the routine, but do always shadow others before starting on their own'.
One staff member told us the organisation is 'caring in general',' they're all committed', 'it's a nice place to work'.
Staff told us they had received appropriate training specific to their job.
Other staff comments included 'very good for training', 'I am really enjoying the job, enjoying the support I get' and 'management, always available', 'get enough support', 'everyone helps everyone else', and 'we have had a difficult time everybody has pulled together'.
One person who lived at Miners Court told us that she was offered training from Coastline care. We observed a number of different certificates on this person's wall, one of these certificates was assertiveness.
One member of staff told us that she had raised concerns with her manager in the past; we were told by this person, 'I was pleased with the outcome'.
When we asked people if they would feel confortable about complaining, people told us that they would. Comments included, 'I would go to the top, I did complain once here'.
One person told us that she was part of Coastline's action team. This team was a group of people who used Coastline services, and contributed and fedback on behalf of its customers.
One person told us that the carers used a 'new system to log when they arrived and left'