Archived: Sharing Care - Community Short Breaks Scheme

Sharing Care - Community Short Breaks Scheme provides a flexible support service to families who have a disabled child or young person. It provides a break for families from their caring roles as well as social opportunities for children and young people. The aim of the service is to provide support when families need it, at weekends, evenings and in the school holidays.

Children and young people are linked with a sessional worker who can provide the support that families agree will work best for them. For example, this could include supporting the child or young person within their own home, supporting the child or young person’s involvement in social activities or supporting children and young people alongside their families, as an “extra pair of hands” so that the child or young person can be involved in family leisure and social activities.

Prospective families are referred to the service by a health or social care professional who knows the child and their family well. The service was providing support to eight children or young people and their families at the time of the inspection.

The registered provider was required to have a registered manager in post. On the day of the inspection there was a manager that had been registered and in post for the last three years. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (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 the service is run.

Children and young people were protected from the risk of harm because the registered provider had systems in place to detect, monitor and report potential or actual safeguarding children concerns. Community short breaks workers, placement workers and occupational therapists were appropriately trained in safeguarding children and young people from abuse and understood their responsibilities in respect of managing potential and actual safeguarding concerns. Risks were also managed and reduced for children and young people so that they avoided injury or harm whenever possible.

The agency premises were safely maintained, as they were part of the City of York Council’s West Offices maintenance programme. Worker numbers were sufficient to meet children and young people’s needs as they were allocated using a ‘matching’ system. Parents of children and young people said that once a match was found for their child the arrangements worked well to meet their needs. However, parents told us it was sometimes difficult to keep workers as they often worked for the agency in parallel to their university studies, which meant they left once they had completed their courses.

Recruitment policies, procedures and practices were carefully followed to ensure workers were suitable to work with children and young people who may be vulnerable due to age and disability. The management of medication was safely carried out whenever it was necessary for workers to do so.

Children and young people were supported by trained and competent staff that were regularly supervised and had their personal performance appraised on a yearly basis. Children and young people were supported with their nutrition and health care needs where necessary and where parents gave consent for this to happen.

Children and young people received support from kind and caring workers that understood their needs and respected their preferences. Parents, children and young people were asked for their consent before workers undertook care and support tasks.

Children and young people’s privacy, dignity and independence were monitored and respected and workers ensured they maintained these wherever possible. This ensured children and young people were respected and enabled to take control of their lives.

Children and young people were supported according to the instructions in their person-centred support plans, which reflected their needs and were regularly reviewed. Children and young people were supported to engage in pastimes and activities of their choosing and workers ensured regular outings were facilitated after carefully planning events and ensuring venues were suitable to meet the needs of someone with a disability.

There was an effective complaint procedure in place and parents, children and young people were able to have their complaints investigated without bias.

The service was well-led and parents, children and young people had the benefit of a culture and management style that were positive and inclusive. There was an effective system in place for checking the quality of the service using audits, satisfaction surveys and meetings.

Parent, children and young people’s views were obtained through formal surveying about the quality of the service and from observations carried out by senior workers on support workers. Views were also aired by using the formal complaint system. Parents, children and young people were assured that recording systems used in the service protected their privacy and confidentiality as records were well maintained and held securely.

Below is a summary of what we found. The summary is based on our observations during the inspection, speaking with people who used the service, the staff who supported them and from looking at records.

If you want to see the evidence supporting our summary please read the full report.

Is the service safe?

Parents told us they felt their child was being kept safe, whilst receiving this support. Safeguarding procedures were robust and staff understood their responsibilities around safeguarding the child they were supporting and also how to respond should they have concerns about the child's safety or well-being.

We found risk was identified before any support was provided. Healthcare professionals employed by the service completed risk assessments and when necessary, provided an individualised training programme for the link worker. This training was delivered in advance of any care being delivered to that family.

Records about the service were securely stored so that only authorised people could access them. Families we spoke with told us overall that care and support records kept at their home were accurate and up to date.

Is the service effective?

Families told us the service had a robust assessment process, where their support needs, preferences and choices were explored with them. They had regular face to face or telephoned meetings with care managers and link worker supervisors, to check whether the service was meeting their needs. Families spoke positively about their link worker and all trusted their worker to support and care for their child safely and appropriately.

Is the service caring?

We spoke with three families being supported by the service. We asked them for their opinions about the staff that supported them. Feedback from those families was positive. Their comments included 'Our link worker is fantastic.' And 'My child absolutely loves her (the link worker). I feel totally confident in her ability and skills.'

When speaking with two link workers it was clear that they genuinely cared for, and enjoyed supporting 'their' family.

The parents and child's preferences and choices had been explored with them, before they started using the service. The service made arrangements for the family and link worker to meet on a number of occasions, in advance of any support being provided, so that trusting and caring relationships could become established.

Is the service responsive?

The service worked well with other agencies and services to make sure families received care in a coherent way. Families and link workers knew who to contact, should they want to discuss the service with a more senior person.

Both families and link workers knew how to raise a concern about the service, and said they were confident any concerns would be taken seriously.

Is the service well led?

The registered manager has a management role overseeing a number of the provider's children's services. Many of the families using the service also access other children's services so are well known to those social care professionals working in that area.

The service had good systems in place to monitor individual families and the service they received. However, this information was not being collected more centrally, to determine whether any changes to the whole service needed to be considered.

Two families we spoke with thought that there could be better communication between the service, family and link worker.

Link workers told us they were clear about their roles and responsibilities. They told us they felt very well supported and able to comment freely to their managers about their work and training needs. This helped to ensure that families received a good quality service.