We carried out a review of the data available to us about North Somerset Connecting Lives Scheme on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about North Somerset Connecting Lives Scheme, you can give feedback on this service.
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
'Shared lives' describes the arrangement whereby people either live with or are given daily care by self-employed care providers who support them according to their assessed needs. The homes care providers shared with people were located across North Somerset.
The North Somerset Shared Lives office team consisted of the registered manager, deputy manager and three Shared Lives staff. They supported the Shared Lives carers, assessed prospective care providers and matched people to care providers who had a vacancy in their home. The service had 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 we spoke with told us they felt safe in their placement homes. The Shared Lives carers and Shared Lives staff could describe the forms of abuse people using the service might be vulnerable to and said they would report any concerns appropriately.The recruitment process for new shared lives carers and staff was effective; all the required checks had been made.
Risk assessments in other people's homes and at the office were appropriate and people were supported by care providers to take positive risks if the benefit of the activity outweighed any potential risk identified. Peoples’ medicines were managed properly by the Shared Lives carers. The homes where people were placed were assessed for continual suitability at regular intervals.
The service complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005; Shared lives carers and shared lives staff had a good working knowledge of the principals and how they applied to the people using the service. People were given choices and supported to make their own decisions.
Shared lives staff and Shared Lives carers received the training they needed to support people safely. They also received regular supervision and an annual appraisal, all of which was documented properly. Shared Lives Carers said they felt supported by the Shared Lives staff.
People told us they enjoyed the meals they had in their placement homes. People and their relatives said that people were supported to access a range of healthcare professionals and Shared Lives carers showed us how they arranged and documented this for the people. People told us that the Shared Lives carers were caring. Shared Lives carers described people as members of their families and the interactions we observed were warm and friendly.
Shared Lives carers gave us examples of how they promoted the independence of the people they supported. We saw that Shared Lives staff made referrals to advocacy services if people needed independent help or support to make decisions.
People's support plans were individualised and person-centred and produced in a format that made them accessible to the people they related to.
We saw that people who could sign their plans had done so. People had access to a range of activities, voluntary placements and employment opportunities. All of the people we spoke with said they had lots to do and their relatives agreed.
People regularly went on holidays with the Shared Lives carers and their families. No one we spoke with had ever made a complaint but all of the people and relatives we spoke with said they knew who to complain to and would do so if they had a problem.
People, their relatives and other professionals involved with the people gave us positive feedback about the management of the service. We observed that there was an open culture at the service and staff seemed happy.
There was a comprehensive system of audit and quality assurance at the service.Incidents and accidents were recorded and there was a risk register in place, which was reviewed on a monthly basis. Shared lives staff worked according to the vision and values of the service to support the people and the service was an active participant of the UK Shared Lives Plus network.