Certitude London Shared Lives

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Caring – this means we looked for evidence that the provider involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment, the rating has remained good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The scheme always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

People told us the carers they shared their lives with always treated them with kindness and respect. One person said, “My [name of carer] is so kind to me. I am really happy living with her.” Another added, “I like having my own bedroom in the house.” Carers showed genuine interest in people’s wellbeing and quality of their life. Carers spoke about people they shared their lives with in a respectful and positive manner. For example, they often spoke about people as being part of their family. A carer told us, “[Name of service user] is very much part of the family and is always involved in all our family events and holidays. It’s hard to imagine them not living with us.”

The scheme treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

People received care and support from their carers according to their individually assessed needs and wishes. People told us their carers treated them as individuals and understood what their specific personal care needs, preferences and daily routines were. Support plans were personalised and contained detailed information about a person’s family history, the names of people who were important to them, their strengths, likes and dislikes, and how they preferred their carer to meet their personal care and support needs.

The scheme promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing.

The scheme actively encouraged and supported people to be as independent as they were willing and able to. People had opportunities to try new experiences and maintain and develop their independent living skills. For example, carers supported people who were willing and able to help prepare home cooked meals and work in a local café, charity shop or hospital. The registered manager told us, “The main purpose of the shared lives scheme is to support people with additional needs to live their live as independently as possible in a family environment. People are supported by their carers and the scheme to learn independent living skills including, using public transport, managing their own money, medicines and cooking.” Support plans gave carers a good overview of people’s differing dependency levels, so they knew exactly what people were willing and capable of doing safely for themselves, and what tasks they would need additional support with.

People felt involved in planning and choosing the care and support they received from the scheme. They felt they were asked their opinion and their carers and coordinators listened to and respected their choices. A person told us, “I like to go shopping with my carer so I can choose the food I like to eat.”

The scheme listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

The scheme supported people to access external health and medical care services as and when required. The scheme was aware of people’s health care needs and how to respond to any immediate health care emergencies to minimise the risk of people becoming distressed or unwell, emotionally and/or physically.

The scheme cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

Carers spoke positively about the support they received from their allocated coordinators. The coordinators were equally positive about the support they received from the schemes managers who they said promoted their wellbeing. A coordinator told us, “The managers know us all by name and often ask how we are doing.” The scheme had also introduced Wellbeing Champions and had a Health and Wellbeing Strategy to promote the health and wellbeing of their workforce.