About the service:

Shalom Care provides support with personal care to people living in their own homes. Two people were using the service at the time of inspection.

The service stopped providing care to people in December 2017. They remained dormant until they re-commenced providing care on the 1 April 2019. Because they had only been operating for one month at the time of inspection we were not able to gather enough evidence to make a judgement about the Well-led question. This means we are unable to give this service an overall rating at this time.

People’s experience of using this service:

The service had systems in place to protect people from abuse and people told us they felt safe. Risk assessments were in place to help minimise risks people faced. Infection control measures were in operation and the service had procedures about the safe administration of medicines. There were enough staff employed to support people and checks were carried out on staff to verify they were suitable to work in the care sector.

Assessments of people’s needs were carried out prior to the provision of care to determine if the service was able to meet those needs. Staff undertook induction training on the commencement of their employment. The service worked in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Relatives told us staff were caring and respectful. Staff had a good understanding of how to support people in a way that promoted their privacy, dignity and independence. The service worked to meet people’s needs in relation to equality and diversity issues.

Care plans were in place which set out how to support people in a personalised manner. People had been involved in planning their care. People were supported to access community facilities in line with their preferences. There was a system in place for responding to complaints and people knew who they could complain to.

Relatives and staff spoke positively about the registered manager, saying they found them to be approachable and easily accessible.

Rating at last inspection:

At the last inspection of this service we were unable to give a rating due to lack of evidence. The last inspection report was published on 4 October 2016.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Follow up:

We will continue to monitor intelligence we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our reinspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.

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

We inspected Shalom Homecare on 26 and 30 August 2016. This was an announced inspection. We informed the provider 48 hours in advance of our visit that we would be inspecting. This was to ensure there was somebody at the location to facilitate our inspection. This was the first inspection of the service since it was registered with the Care Quality Commission. The service provides support with personal care to adults living in their own homes. One person was using the service at the time of our inspection.

There was a registered manager at the service at the time of our inspection. 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.

During our inspection we found that risk assessments were not robust despite care staff being aware of risk and how to mitigate them.

The service did not carry out criminal records checks for staff it recruited.

We found two breaches of Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. You can see what action we told the provider to take at the back of the full version of this report.

Staffing levels were adequate for the level of individual need and staff had experience working with people with autism.

Staff had knowledge of safeguarding adult’s and they told us what action they would take to raise an alert if they suspected abuse. Staff were not aware that they could contact the Care Quality Commission (CQC) if they wanted to whistle-blow and we have made a recommendation about this which you can see in the full version of this report.

Staff supported people using the service with their medicines and records were kept and updated daily.

Staff received an induction when they started their employment at the service by way of shadowing other staff members and the relative of the person using the service. Staff received some training upon commencement of employment at the service and the registered manager showed us planned training courses that would be taking place in September 2016.

Staff received supervision and the registered manager held team meetings, but no records were kept of these and we have made a recommendation in relation to this which you can see in the full version of this report.

Staff demonstrated their knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and how they put the principles into practice.

The person using the service was supported to eat a culturally relevant and varied diet in accordance with their preferences as detailed in their care plan. The person using the service was also supported by staff to have access to health care professionals such as the dentist when needed.

The service was caring and we saw examples of this during our inspection. The relative of the person using the service spoke highly of the carers and the service as a whole.

Staff knew the person using the service well. They were responsive to the needs of the individual and the person’s care plan was detailed in explaining their communication needs, which care staff adhered to.

Staff spoke highly of the registered manager, as did the relative of the person using the service.

The registered manager told us they carried out spot checks of the service but that they did not record or document these checks. We have made a recommendation in relation to this which you can see in the full version of this report.