Background to this inspection
Updated
12 September 2019
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.
Inspection team
One inspector completed this inspection.
Service and service type
This service provides care and support to people living in shared lives households, so that they can live as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for shared lives; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.
The shared lives scheme recruit, train and support self-employed shared lives carers (SLC) who offer accommodation and support arrangements for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community.
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided. The registered manager was supported by a deputy manager and six care coordinators.
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
Inspection site visit activity started on 14 August 2019 and ended on 21 August 2019. We visited the office location on 14, 15 and 21 August 2019 to see the registered manager and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures. We visited people in their homes on the 14 and 15 August 2019 with their consent.
What we did before the inspection
Before the inspection we reviewed the information, we held about the service and the service provider. The registered provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We looked at the notifications we had received for this service. Notifications are information about important events the service is required to send us by law.
We contacted six professionals who had knowledge and experience of the service by email to seek their views of which we received five responses. You can see what they told us in the main body of the report.
During the inspection
During the inspection we observed how shared lives carers interacted with people. We visited five people whilst in their homes and spoke to six shared lives carers in person. We spoke on the telephone with three relatives and a further two shared carers about their experiences of the service.
We looked at records, which included five people's care and medicines records. We checked recruitment, training and supervision records. We looked at a range of records about how the service was managed. We also spoke with the registered manager, the deputy manager and the five care co-ordinators.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the registered manager to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.
Updated
12 September 2019
About the service: North Somerset Council's Adult Placement Scheme is a service that recruits, trains and supports self-employed Shared Lives Carers (SLCs) who provide long term placements, short breaks or day care support for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community. The service supports people with learning disabilities and/or autism.
Shared Lives schemes offer an alternative to both residential and more traditional care at home services for people who need personal care and support with their day to day lives. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates the provision of personal care for people who use the service.
Not everyone using this shared life service receives a regulated activity. CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with 'personal care'. This includes help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. In these circumstances we also take into account any wider social care provided. At this inspection, there were 56 shared lives schemes in operation supporting a total of 89 people of which 35 people were receiving support with personal care.
People's experience of using this service:
People received care that was safe, effective, caring and very responsive. People were matched with a shared lives carer that had similar interests. People were very much part of their shared lives family, with good links with their local community and extended families.
People were very much involved in decisions about their care and support and treated as equals. People were at the centre of the planning of their care including choosing who they wanted to live with. People were encouraged to be independent and live the life they wanted. People spoke extremely positively about their individual living arrangements and the skills they had developed.
There were many examples of how responsive the service was from supporting families in the event of an emergency, to people learning and developing new skills. Some people had moved to more independent living in their own flat. It was evident people and their shared lives carers had developed positive and caring relationships,
The service was well led, had clear leadership with supportive networks for the staff, the people and the shared lives carers. Systems were in place to check the quality of the services, which included seeking the views of people, relatives, the shared lives carers and health and social care professionals. Staff were passionate about getting the services right for people.
Rating at last inspection: Good (report published February 2017).
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.
The Secretary of State has asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to conduct a thematic review and to make recommendations about the use of restrictive interventions in settings that provide care for people with or who might have mental health problems, learning disabilities and/or autism. Thematic reviews look in-depth at specific issues concerning quality of care across the health and social care sectors. They expand our understanding of both good and poor practice and of the potential drivers of improvement.
As part of the thematic review, we carried out a survey with the registered manager at this inspection. This considered whether the service used any restrictive intervention practices (restraint, seclusion and segregation) when supporting people.
The service used positive behaviour support principles to support people in the least restrictive way. No restrictive intervention practices were used.
Follow up: We will continue to review information we receive about the service until we return to visit as part of our re-inspection programme. If any concerning information is received, we may inspect sooner.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the website at www.cqc.org.uk