This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to adults and older people living in their own homes. Not everyone using Shield Care Ltd receives regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

This was the first inspection of this service since it was registered on 12 October 2017. The inspection took place between 11 September 2018 and 11 October 2018. It included visits to the provider’s office on 11 and 19 September 2018. For the first visit we gave the provider 48 hours’ notice as we needed to be sure that there would be someone in the office.

Prior to the inspection The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had received concerns that there were not enough staff to cover the care calls that the agency had arranged with people. At the time of the inspection staff were assisting three people with personal care. This was a total of 19 hours a week.

This service requires a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with CQC 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 they run the service. There was a registered manager in post. However, they had handed in their notice.

The provider did not have sufficient oversight of the service nor were there adequate systems in place to ensure that people received a high-quality service and were kept safe.

There were not enough staff for people to be sure that their needs would always be met. Staff recruitment was not good enough to ensure that new staff were suitable to work at the service. Not all risks to people had been assessed.

People felt safe and staff had undertaken training to recognise and report any avoidable harm or abuse. Staff gave people their medicines safely and as they had been prescribed. Staff followed the correct procedures to prevent the spread of infection and knew how to report any accidents and incidents.

The registered manager had assessed each person’s needs before they offered the person a service. This was to ensure the service could meet the person’s needs in the way they preferred. Staff had received training and support so that they could do their job well.

Staff supported people to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible.

People had very good relationships with the staff and were very pleased with the service the staff provided. People were involved in planning their care and support. Staff respected people’s privacy and dignity and supported people to remain as independent as possible.

Care plans gave staff detailed guidance relating to the care and support each person needed so that people received personalised care that was responsive to their individual needs. The provider had a complaints process in place but had not received any complaints. Staff cared for people at the end of their lives if the people wanted to stay at home.

Staff felt supported by the registered manager, enjoyed their job and liked working for this service.

You can see what action we told the provider to take at the end of the report.