Shared Lives

Updated 8 June 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by 2 inspectors and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Shared Lives is a shared lives scheme, they recruit, train and support self-employed shared lives carers (SLC) who offer accommodation and support arrangements for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 20 March 2023 and ended on 11 April 2023. We visited the office location on 20 March 2023 and 28 March 2023. We visited people and shared lives carers on 22 and 23 March 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service from external agencies. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We met with 3 people and 5 carers who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with 3 shared lives carers and 7 members of staff including the registered manager, shared lives managers, referrals manager and recruitment manager. We reviewed a range of records. This included 7 people's care planning records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including policies and procedures were reviewed.

Updated 8 June 2023

About the service

Shared Lives is a shared lives scheme which provides people with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers (SLC) own homes. The service supported autistic people and people with a learning disability. At the time of our inspection 146 people were using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it. We considered this guidance as there were people using the service who have a learning disability and or who are autistic.

Right Support: People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were supported to have fulfilled and meaningful lives and to take part in activities and pursue their interests in their local area.

Right Care: People were supported to make meaningful choices. There was an ethos of person-centred care and people's human rights were supported to be upheld. People were supported to lead inclusive and empowered lives. People had care plans in place which were person-centred. People received kind and compassionate individualised care.

Right Culture: The service was well led. People led inclusive and empowered lives and the ethos, values and approaches of the shared lives staff and carers supported this. There were effective quality assurance systems to assess and monitor the service to ensure it was being managed safely and quality maintained. The provider was passionate about providing person-centred care and supporting people to achieve positive outcomes. They worked in partnership with other professionals to achieve this. Shared lives carers and staff felt supported and listened to.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us on 18 January 2021 and this is the first inspection.

The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good, published on 5 August 2019.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.