More than 40 jobs are being created by a new business offering home care for the elderly.

Bluebird Care based in Wallingford provides a range of services — from short visits to help prepare meals and medication, to live-in care for those needing more support.

Now Canadian-born director Rob Mezo (pictured) is in the process of building a network of workers covering south Oxfordshire.

He said: “My goal is to provide a care service to every town and village without compromising on quality of care.

“Ideally, we will be recruiting 40-plus care staff within the next 12 months which should be good news for the local economy.”

Father-of-two Mr Mezo, 36, took on the franchise after nine years of living and working in London.

He added: “I have always liked the idea of owning my own business but I wanted to make sure it would be something I would be be passionate about.

“When my grandmother, Jean Davidson, started to need support, quality home care was not available and she was entirely against going into a home.

“Her safety started to become an issue when she began to suffer from mild dementia and so my family visited several times each day to help her to wash and dress, drop off her shopping or cook meals. But it was a real struggle to do that while managing full-time jobs and although my grandmother got her wish to stay at home, it was at the expense of an exhausted family.”

Mr Mezo has taken on care manager Becky Stevenson from Grove and is currently recruiting care workers and supervisors to work across the district.

Duties will include washing and dressing, household chores, night care, respite for family carers and support for those with dementia.

Mr Mezo added: “We are looking for people who are truly caring because our customers place a huge amount of trust in us. Staff are the backbone of this business and must be passionate about their work.”