This inspection took place on 20 June 2017 and was announced.

Coventry Shared Lives is a shared lives placement service, which recruits and supports paid carers to provide family based placements for adults with a range of learning disabilities, mental health, older people, physical and sensory impairments within the carer’s home. Placements can be long-term with the adult living with the carer as part of their family, or as respite care. There were 46 shared lives carers employed at the time of the inspection and 66 people placed.

There was a manager in post who was in the process of registering with us to become the 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 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

People told us that they felt safe in living in their shared lives home. Shared lives carers told us about how they kept people safe and looked out for any potential concerns. People had spoken to their shared lives carers and plans showed the steps needed to take to ensure people were at low risk of harm or injury. People who had support with their medicines had them administered when needed, with staff who were trained and competent to do so.

The shared lived carers received training to ensure their skills and knowledge reflected the needs of the people they cared for. The shared lives officers received the same training to enable them to supervise and support them. Where people needed support with their meals they told us they were happy that they had a choice or joined the family meal.

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 told us they attended healthcare appointments as required and were pleased that their shared lives carer would help arrange and attend with them.

People enjoyed living with their supported living family and were pleased that they had personalised care and support from shared lives carers they knew and trusted. People were involved in their shared lives family and spent time with them both at home and out and about. People’s privacy and dignity were maintained and shared lives carers offered support and guidance when needed to the people they cared for.

People had been involved in developing and maintaining their views and decisions about their care and support, which had been recorded and updated regularly. People knew how to make a complaint and information was provided to people who used the service should they wish to raise a complaint.

People and their shared lives carers felt the office team and manager were accessible and could speak with them to provide feedback about the service or obtain support about people in their care. There were regular checks completed to monitor the quality of the care that people received and to action where improvements were needed.

The Shared Lives Scheme is responsible for approving, training and monitoring ‘shared lives carers’ who provide personal care and support to people (on placements), living with them in their family home. At the time of this inspection the Scheme employed three shared lives officers, had 33 approved ‘shared lives carers’ who supported 58 people in placements. Placements can be long-term with the person living with the carer as part of their family, or as respite care which can range from a few days to longer stays.

We inspected Coventry Shared Lives Scheme on 12 May 2015. The provider was told we were coming so they could arrange for scheme staff to be available to talk with us about the service.

The service has a 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.

People in placements with shared lives carers, told us they felt safe where they lived. Scheme staff and shared lives carers were trained in safeguarding and understood how to protect people from abuse. There were processes to minimise risks to people’s safety; these included procedures to manage identified risks with people’s care, safe recruitment of scheme staff and approval of shared lives carers.

The registered manager, scheme staff and shared lives carers understood the principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA), and supported people in line with these principles. There were enough scheme staff to monitor and support shared lives carers and people in placements. Scheme staff and shared lives carers were suitably trained to deliver effective care to people. People told us their shared lives carers were kind and caring. Shared lives carers provided personalised care to people and had the right skills and experience to provide the care and support they required.

People in placements and shared lives carers, were asked for their views and opinions about the service they received. Scheme staff and shared lives carers were confident they could raise any concerns with the registered manager knowing they would be listened to and acted on. Shared lives carers and people in placements knew how to complain and information about making a complaint was available for people in formats they could understand.

The registered manager and scheme staff were dedicated to providing quality care to people. Shared lives carers said scheme staff were, open, approachable, and responsive. There were processes to monitor the quality of the service provided and to understand the experiences of people who used the scheme. This was through regular communication with shared lives carers, people in placements and scheme staff, regular monitoring visits, returned surveys and a programme of checks and audits.

During our inspection we visited two shared lives carers and spoke with three people placed with them. We also spoke with four shared lives carers on the phone. All of the people we spoke with were enthusiastic about the service and the opportunities it provided for people.

We spoke with the manager, two shared lives workers and the administrator during our visit to the office. We were told the carers’ role was to support people to live in a family environment and encourage people to maintain as much independence as possible. One person told us since moving to their shared lives placement they had regained skills they thought had been lost and their confidence had increased. “Six months ago I couldn’t do that, now I am able to do much more for myself.”

We saw the support provided by shared lives carers was personalised to meet people’s individual needs. We observed people moved around freely within the home and saw they were comfortable with the carers they lived with. One person we spoke with told us, "She (the shared lives carer) is a wonderful person. I’m treated like one of the family".

During our office visit we looked at the files for the carers we visited and the people placed with them. We found the placement agreements clearly set out what the individual and the scheme expected from the carer and what the carer could expect from the scheme in return.

Records showed shared lives carers and the people placed with them had regular monitoring visits from the scheme workers. People spoke very highly of the support they received from the scheme workers. We were told, “X has been very supportive to me and the people here. She has a lovely manner and nothing is ever too much trouble.” And “X is brilliant I only have to pick up the phone. He goes out of his way to make sure I have all the information I need to support the people who live here.”

We found people were asked for their views and opinions of the scheme. Comments made by people about how the scheme could improve had been taken into consideration by the manager and scheme workers. We found that there was an effective procedure in place for people to make a complaint.

The function of the Shared Lives Scheme is to recruit, train and monitor shared lives carers. This includes matching people referred to the service with suitable shared lives carers and providing ongoing support to shared lives placements.

The shared lives scheme had a procedure in place to ensure that the correct people are selected and approved as shared lives carers.

The scheme carers we spoke with said they had been fully involved in the introduction process when people were being considered for a placement in their home. We were told that meetings were arranged so that the person could decide if the scheme carer was right for them. These meetings also allowed the person and the scheme carer to become familiar with each other before the placement was confirmed.

Scheme carers said that their skills and experience were taken into account during the referral and matching process. One person told us that their scheme worker was very good at matching people to live in their home. We spoke with all the scheme care workers and found that they were very knowledgeable about the scheme carers’ skills and abilities. Scheme workers also demonstrated a good understanding of the needs of people who were placed with the carers.

The scheme carers we spoke with said they had support plans for each person placed with them. We were told that care plans were assessed regularly and updated when needed to reflect any changing needs or risks. Carers' said that they had an identified scheme worker who did regular monitoring visits to the home to make sure the placement was working well.

We asked scheme workers and scheme carers what they would do if they were concerned about anything, or situations of abuse arouse. Both the workers and carers were able to give us a clear account of the actions they would take to keep people safe.

We found that systems and processes were in place to monitor the quality and safety of the service being provided.