The inspection took place on 5, 20 and 21 July 2016. The inspection was announced. Medway Shared Lives is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people living within a family environment in the community. Shared Lives is a scheme which provides respite, short and long term care with accommodation, for adults with learning disabilities and autistic spectrum disorder. The scheme enables people to live in the community within a family environment. Carers are recruited, assessed, trained and supported by the scheme to provide the necessary support for people who come to live with them.
There was a registered manager based at the service. 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.
People said they liked living in Shared Lives and felt safe with their Shared Lives carer and the Shared Lives staff who also supported them. Staff and carers understood the safeguarding adults procedure and their responsibilities to report any concerns or suspicions they had.
Risks to the individual had been assessed and steps put in place to keep people safe without compromising people’s independence and choice. Risk assessments had been written in an easy to understand format where necessary, so people were able to refer to it when they needed to. Environmental risk assessments had been carried out in the Shared Lives carers home to make sure the accommodation was safe for people to live in.
Shared Lives carers went through a comprehensive application and assessment process to ensure their suitability to support people within their family home. The final decision for approval as a Shared Lives carer was made by a panel of experienced health and social care professionals. The provider had robust recruitment procedures in place when employing new staff into the Shared Lives service.
Shared Lives carers were supported through induction and training to gain the skills necessary to support people well. Regular one to one support and monitoring meetings were valued by the carers as a supportive measure with the opportunity to discuss issues and receive guidance if necessary. Annual reviews ensured the on going suitability of the matched carers and people they supported.
Mental capacity assessments had been undertaken to ensure people’s ability to make their own decisions and to highlight the support they may require. There were lots of good examples of people being supported to make informed choices and decisions. The registered manager understood the requirements of the MCA 2005 and had made applications to the court of protection when appropriate.
People felt they were well supported and that Shared Lives suited them well. The matching process to ensure people and Shared Lives carers would get on well together and had similar interests worked well. People were very happy living within the family home of their Shared Lives carers and were involved in many family occasions and celebrations as well as family holidays.
Care plans were person centred and people were fully involved in writing them. Care plans could be changed by people whenever they wished and were reviewed regularly as a matter of course. People were involved in all sorts of different activities and occupation, depending on their individual wishes and goals. People were encouraged and supported to stay in close contact with family and friends. Increasing independence was a key factor in most people’s care plans and many people used public transport so were able to visit family and friends independently.
The registered manager asked people and Shared Lives carers for their views of the service on a regular basis, responding to suggestions for improvement when they were made. People were given easy to understand information about how to complain within the service user guide although few complaints had been made.
Shared Lives staff and carers felt they were supported well by the manager and provider. Staff meetings were held every month for the staff team and Shared Lives carers had the opportunity to get together at regular support meetings.
The quality and safety of the Shared Lives service was monitored through regular auditing processes. Actions were put in place where issues were identified.