We inspected Croydon Shared Lives on 21 and 26 November 2018. This was an announced inspection. The provider was given 48 hours’ notice because this is a Shared Lives service for people. The registered manager and staff are often out in the community during the day; we needed to be sure that someone would be in. The service provides personal care for people with learning disabilities and mental health. People who use the service can access short and long-term care within the family home of self-employed Shared Lives carers whose work is managed by the staff of the scheme. At the time of the inspection, there were 63 people using the service.

At the last inspection which took place on 10, 11, 14 and 17 December 2015 the service was rated Outstanding. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of outstanding and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and ongoing monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection.

There was a registered manager 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.

An experienced registered manager had been leading the service for several years and she demonstrated her knowledge and enthusiasm for the role and the service.

Feedback from people was overwhelmingly positive with regards to all aspects of their care. They spoke in glowing terms about their carers and the service in general. They said all their needs were met and that carers treated them with the utmost respect and promoted their independence. They said they felt like equal family members in their homes and led active lives in their communities.

The service was committed to delivering a service that was responsive to the diverse needs of people across the borough and had embedded the ethos of promoting equality, diversity and human rights across all areas of the service, from recruitment of carers, the matching process between people and their carers and the care records which underpinned the support that carers gave to people.

Carers demonstrated a deep understanding of people’s needs and preferences and treated them as individuals. There was a through matching process in place which helped to ensure that placements were appropriate, people and their carers were given opportunities to meet and get to know each other before placements were finalised. Arrangement agreements helped to ensure that everyone was aware of their responsibilities and the support that people would be given.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were only deprived of their liberty to receive care and treatment when this was in their best interests, the provider sought legal authorisation to do so under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

Staff were offered training which helped them to meet the needs of people using the service. they received regular supervision and appraisal. They spoke positively about the leadership of the service and felt it was an excellent organisation to work for.

The service was exceptional at helping people to express their views so that staff understood their views, preferences, wishes and choices. Have your say meetings were facilitated by an independent person and people were invited and encouraged to speak up in a safe space.

Feedback from health professionals was extremely complimentary. The service worked closely with health and social care professionals and other associ

Croydon Shared Lives scheme supports adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems, or other support needs. The scheme matches an adult who has care needswith an approved shared lives carer. Shared Lives carers accept people into their own homes and provide care, support and mentorship to people. Croydon Shared Lives carers are self-employed and have a contract to work with Croydon Shared Lives (CSL). This was the first inspection of the service.

This inspection took place over 10,11,14,17 December 2015. The inspection was announced because we wanted to make sure the registered manager and coordinating staff were available. The service had an experienced registered manager. 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.

The CSL service provided an exceptional model of personalised care. People who may otherwise be isolated or with needs that make it harder for them to live on their own were enabled to lead a meaningful life. People were not excluded from the service unnecessarily. For example, those with a history of challenging backgrounds or placement breakdowns were accepted in the scheme and staff worked tirelessly with them and their carers to achieve successful outcomes. People were supported and empowered to be as independent as possible in all aspects of their lives. Carers focused on the person and helped them achieve their goals and promoted their wellbeing; positive outcomes including minor steps in progress personal to each person were celebrated.

People, those who matter to them, health and social care professionals all described this service as an excellent model of care, providing a safe and caring home environment. People were able to lead the lives they wanted, and encouraged and supported to develop and build confidence, this opened the doors to new opportunities. Carers and staff were interested in people they cared for; they spoke positively of their roles and were highly motivated. Carers showed a real commitment to welcoming the person into the family home and individual’s success and achievements were acknowledged and celebrated.

People valued their relationships with carers and felt very well cared for. The relationships developed between carers and people using the service were excellent and based on trust and reliability; carers were fully committed in their roles. This resulted in people experiencing excellent outcomes, it helped people put down strong roots in their local community and develop the necessary supportive networks before moving into a place of their own.

The scheme demonstrated it was fully committed to delivering a service that was responsive to the diverse needs of people in the borough. Equality and diversity was embedded in the recruitment processes, carers reflected the values required for the role and responded appropriately to meet needs of the diverse community. The management team monitored provision closely and made sure the service was meeting their equality and diversity objectives. The service operated thorough vetting and approval processes to make sure people were suitable for this work and people received safe care.

There was a progressive approach to developing the service. The management were innovative and worked creatively to develop various models of care according to the person’s need. The progress in service development was reflected in how they cared successfully for people with highly complex needs. Carers worked closely with local health professionals to enable them achieve the desired health outcomes.

The service embraced positive risk taking, with people informed of risks in a way they understood. Health and social care professionals reported the positive risk taking as one of the many key strengths of this scheme. Health professionals reported the service was of a consistently high standard, carers supported people through periods of instability or poor health by joint working with the community team. Mental health professionals shared some of the many examples of excellent achievements, a reduction in individuals relapsing and hospital admissions, and a marked improvement generally in the abilities of people using this service. This success they attributed to “the exemplary support from individual carers.” Staff and carers used support networks to engage proactively with other agencies, they worked together with housing and the homeless unit for planning moving on arrangements.

The service had an experienced manager in charge of the scheme who provided outstanding leadership. The registered manager showed passion and commitment to providing the best possible service for people, there was an open and empowering ethos evident throughout CSL. A “We can achieve” attitude was promoted and people felt positively inspired by this approach. People’s views were important and these included “Have your say” regular group meetings for those using the service. There was a robust quality assurance system in place, the registered manager understood the service’s strengths, where improvements were needed, plans were in place to achieve these with timescales in place.