Shared Lives

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Safe – this means we looked for evidence that people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm. This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated Good. This meant people were safe and protected from avoidable harm.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Staff listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice. The service demonstrated a positive learning culture. Incidents, concerns and safeguarding matters were reviewed promptly and lessons learned were shared across the scheme. Shared lives carers received regular updates and reflective supervision to improve practice. The registered manager put on networking and informal ‘coffee morning’ meetings alongside regular reviews for shared lives carers to create a supportive community.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored. They made sure there was continuity of care, including when people were moved between different services. Effective assessments were undertaken prior to the onset of a person receiving services from Shared Lives Nottingham. Social workers employed by Shared Lives Nottingham would liaise with the social workers from external agencies looking to find care provision for people. Where Shared Lives Nottingham felt they were able to meet a person’s needs, a phased start in their placement would then take place, starting with day visits and overnight stays before fully supporting a person to transition into their new home.

The provider worked with people and healthcare partners to understand what being safe meant to them and the best way to achieve that. Staff concentrated on improving people’s lives while protecting their right to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect. The provider shared concerns quickly and appropriately. Safeguarding incidents were documented, investigated and actioned appropriately in all cases. All required notifications were made to other professional agencies and lesson’s learned were completed and shared with staff to promote safety culture moving forward and support the reduction of reoccurrence.

The provider worked with people to understand and manage risks by thinking holistically. Shared lives carers provided care to meet people’s needs that was safe, supportive and enabled people to do the things that mattered to them. During our inspection people fed back to us that they felt continually involved in managing their own risks and were supported to share their goals and any risks they wished to take to achieve them. One person told us, “ Me and my carer speak to my shared lives social worker regularly, and we are always asked for any updates, anything we want changing or don’t feel is going well with the dynamic so I can achieve the things I want to.”

The provider had measures in place to detect and control potential risks to shared lives carers and others in their home environment. Safety checks were in place to identify any areas within the home environment which presented a risk to health and safety. The service ensured it linked people and carers with the relevant organisations to service and maintain any equipment they required, and in the case of those who needed it, liaised with these agencies to organise the maintenance. Shared Lives workers provided guidance and followed up any concerns identified during visits or reviews.

The provider made sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced shared lives carers, who received effective support, reviews and development. They worked together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs. The service maintained adequate staffing levels and trained staff to meet people's needs, which people using the service and staff confirmed. One Shared Lives carer said, “If a person wants to become a shared lives carer they go through a very rigorous process to become one, however receives a lot of support throughout the entire process. The provider had recruitment processes in place to ensure that suitable staff were employed to work within the service. Staff records demonstrated that appropriate pre-employment checks had been completed.

The provider assessed and managed the risk of infection. They detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies. Safety checks were in place to identify any areas within the home environment which presented a risk to peoples health and safety.

Shared Lives workers provided information and guidance to carers where risks were identified, including around hygiene, cleanliness, use of PPE where required, and seeking advice from health professionals where appropriate.The provider had systems to monitor training completion and follow up where carers had not completed the required learning.
Staff were provided with personal protective equipment if required when going to visit people in their homes.

Nottingham City local authority had a Hygiene and Infection Control Procedure and Health and Safety procedure in place that shared lives carers were expected to adhere to. These areas were checked on a quarterly or yearly basis when the reviews took place.

The provider made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. Shared lives carers involved people in planning, including when changes happened. Support plans contained guidance for staff on how people’s medicines should be administered, including the level of support they required to take their medicines, the time of administration and the route. Shared lives carers confirmed they were appropriately trained, supported and had undergone competency checks to ensure medicines were administered safely. Medicines administration records we reviewed showed no errors in the administration and management of medicines. These records were audited quarterly by the service to ensure opportunity to spot errors should they occur and drive continuous improvement.