This inspection took place on 10 and 11 November 2015, and was announced. We gave the provider short notice that we would be conducting an inspection to ensure we could meet people and their carers.
The Shared Lives Service recruits people to become paid carers to support adults with a range of complex needs or learning disabilities. People stay in the carer’s home and receive their support within a family environment. People can stay with carers on a long term or short term respite basis. At the time of the inspection the service employed 56 carers and were supporting over 100 people on a long term or short term basis. Shared Lives staff supported people and their carers to ensure people received excellent care, and carers had access to support whenever they needed it.
The service had a registered manager in post. 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 were safe using the service. Carers treated people well and staff made regular checks to ensure people were happy with the support they received. Carers went through a rigorous recruitment procedure and there were enough knowledgeable staff employed by the service to ensure people and their carers were more than adequately supported. The provider had robust policies and procedures in place to protect people from avoidable harm. Carers and staff understood their responsibilities to report any concerns of harm and they were aware of how they could do this. People were supported to maintain their freedom and were a part of their local community, and risk assessments were in place to support people to do this safely. People’s medicines were handled appropriately and people received them with support that met their needs.
People received effective care. Carers and staff had good knowledge, experience and skills to carry out their roles well. People’s needs were understood by staff who spent a great deal of time getting to know each person and ensuring they were matched with the best carer for their needs. Carers and staff completed an adequate induction to prepare them for their role and training was provided to ensure carers and staff had suitable knowledge to provide good care for people. Carers and staff felt extremely well supported in their role and there was a comprehensive understanding of people providing their own consent to the care and support they received. When necessary, staff requested professional support to comply with requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have sufficient food and drink and to maintain a balanced diet, and had their healthcare needs met well by healthcare professionals.
People received support from very kind and compassionate carers and staff. People were made to feel like a part of their carer’s family and carers showed overwhelming respect and affection for people. People were given time and opportunities to express their views and make their own choices. People were empowered and encouraged to try new experiences and carers understood what was important to the people they supported. People’s personal space was respected and people were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them. People had access to an independent advocate which offered additional support when required.
People’s needs were comprehensively assessed before they began using the service to ensure the service could meet their needs. Care plans were formulated with the involvement of the person using the service, and their relatives or previous carers if appropriate. People’s personal care needs were detailed with the support people required from their carers and support was provided in all aspects of their life where it was required. People were supported to do activities they enjoyed and enriched their lives and people were able to maintain their culture and beliefs with assistance from their carer. Staff regularly met with people and their carers to ensure the service was meeting their needs and they were providing a good service. People and their carers understood how they could make a complaint and staff maintained good links with external parties to ensure people received smooth and consistent support.
People and their carers spoke extremely positively about the service and carers were passionate about providing excellent care that supported people to be independent. Staff working at the Shared Lives Service told us they enjoyed working at the service and consistently displayed a positive attitude towards people, carers, one another and the registered manager. Carers and staff consistently went the extra mile and took action above expectations. The registered manager showed passion and commitment to providing the best service for people and their carers and provided clear leadership to support the team. People and carers were given formal and informal opportunities to provide feedback on the service and the registered manager regularly met with them to update them on the service. The registered manager had a good understanding of where improvements could be made to the service and worked with the provider to make these changes. Effective systems were in place to ensure the service provided good quality support to people and their carers and the provider made regular checks to ensure valuable quality assurance measures were in place. The registered manager accepted people into the scheme that had come from difficult backgrounds, or had previous unsuccessful placements and supported them, and their carer to successful outcomes. The registered manager was not afraid to try to help people with difficult circumstances and took an approach of doing all they could to ensure carers with the right skills were identified to support people with different needs.