Bellcare domicilliary service in Workington has managed to continue delivering excellent service to it’s customers, despite being in the frontline against the coronairus pandemic.

The company celebrated being accredited with the Living Wage Foundation in July and in August the Bellcare team were thanked for going above and beyond to ensure that their clients remained hydrated through the warm summer days.

They have had possibly the most testing year ever with having to work through the pandemic, but they have managed to keep staff and clients safe and continue to do so.

Carol Wilson, from Bellcare, said from the start of the coronavirus outbreak they have made sure that all their staff had full PPE. She said: “All the staff were given full PPE and wore masks we did it to make sure everyone stayed safe. Staff were also given hand gel, aprons - though we normally use aprons anyway, arm sleeves, to protect carers’ arms in short sleeves and if they were going to have anyone else in the car we supplied seat covers.

“To avoid using towels staff took their own paper towels to clients’ houses and they also had little wipes that they could use underwater so they could wash their hands and faces.”

The company sent letters to all staff and clients at the start of the pandemic putting them at ease and telling them what to expect.

Carol said: “We sent letters saying don’t be alarmed and why we were doing what we were doing and the PPE is to protect workers and their families. Clients were pre-warned what we would look like in full PPE, so that they weren’t scared.”

Carol said that staff were protected as much as they could and even had their own refuse bags which they took with them to clients’ homes so that they could dispose of their PPE and take it away with them.

Recently Carol has ordered plastic moulds which fit into face masks to stop the mask from rubbing on their faces. This is proving to be particularly effective if staff have to do a three or four hour shift.

Carol said the latest purchase has been on new push pads. They are fitted on the office doors, so that anyone coming in gets a squirt of antibacterial gel as they press the door to enter the building.

Debbie Ellwood, who also works at Bellcare Workington, said: “We’ve gone right through the company giving training on infection control to everyone. We have regular meetings with staff and share with them the latest government guidelines.”

She said that all local managers have regular meetings, where the information is cascaded down to staff.

Debbie added that there has been lots of close contact with the families of their clients to reassure them and keep them up to date on guidelines.

At the beginning of lockdown Debbie said they were their clients’ lifeline, doing shopping and getting anything that they wanted. She said they are still getting thank you cards from family and clients. She described their staff as ‘absolute angels’ and said she couldn’t be prouder of them all.