About the service:

Shared Lives enables people to live with a Shared Lives carer within their home in the local area. Carers are recruited, assessed, trained and supported by the scheme to provide the necessary support for people who come to live with them. Although Shared Lives supported approximately 30 people, approximately only seven people who lived within the scheme received support with their personal care needs at the time of inspection.

What life is like for people using this service:

We found the Shared Lives service met the characteristics of a Good service in all areas.

People received a person-centred service that met their needs and helped them to achieve their goals and ambitions. Whether that was to live a quiet comfortable life, or to gain the confidence and skills to try new things and move on to live more independently.

People were supported and encouraged to be involved in decisions about their own life and care, including who they chose to live with and how they spent their time. Shared Lives carers went through a comprehensive assessment period before they were approved to welcome someone to live with them in their own home.

Shared Lives carers fully involved people in their home and their family life. Some carers lived alone, or with partners, and others lived with their own children. Others had grandchildren and other extended family members visiting regularly. Many carers had pets, such as dogs. People had all this information before they decided to go further and meet a potential carer. People told us about the family gatherings they were involved in and the holidays they enjoyed with their Shared Lives carers, sometimes with their carer’s family or friends.

People enjoyed a range of activities and interests that met their social needs and preferences. They had the opportunity to go out with day opportunity Shared Lives carers to support a wider circle of interests and friendships. This also gave their main carers the chance to catch up on their own chores or interests.

Shared Lives staff, employed by the provider, supported both the people using the service and the Shared Lives carers, who were self-employed. This offered an added network of support to offer advice and guidance and act on any issues raised. The provider had a range of training opportunities for staff and carers to make sure they had the skills and competence to support people well.

The provider made sure they monitored the service in various ways to ensure they continued to provide a good quality service that maintained people’s safety.

More information is in the detailed findings below.

Rating at last inspection:

Good (Report published 21 September 2016)

Why we inspected: This was a planned inspection based on the rating at the last inspection. We found the service continued to meet the characteristics of Good.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive. We will carry out another scheduled inspection to make sure the service continues to maintain Good.

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