Southampton City Council Shared Lives Scheme

Updated 13 June 2019

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection was undertaken by one inspector.

Service and service type:

The service is a Shared Lives scheme. Shared Lives carers provide a family home to people who need care, support and accommodation. Some people need support with their personal care. The Care Quality Commission regulates the care provided to those who have personal care needs only.

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.

Inspection site visit activity started on 7 May 2019 and ended on 9 May 2019.

What we did:

Before the inspection we looked at information we held about the service:

We looked at the last inspection report for the service.

We require providers to send us key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We call this the Provider Information Return (PIR). This information helps support our inspections. The registered manager completed the PIR which we looked at before we visited the service.

The law requires providers to notify us of certain events that happen during the running of a service. We reviewed notifications received since the last inspection.

During the inspection:

We spoke with three people using the service.

We spoke with four shared lives carers.

We spoke with two shared lives officers and the registered manager.

We looked at the care records for three people.

We looked at other records to do with the running of the service, such as audits and recruitment records.

After the inspection:

We received written feedback from two social care professionals.

Updated 13 June 2019

About the service: Southampton City Council Shared Lives Scheme is registered to provide personal care for adults who may have learning disabilities, mental health needs, physical disabilities, and for older people. There were 25 people living in a shared lives household and receiving support with personal care at the time of the inspection.

People’s experience of using this service:

People received a service that was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

The service had the characteristics of a good service in all areas.

Systems were in place to keep people safe.

People received support with their medicines as prescribed.

People were protected from the risk of infection because carers had received relevant training.

People were treated with kindness and respect and lived as part of a family, who cared about them.

People’s privacy and dignity was respected.

People received personalised care which was responsive to their individual needs.

People enjoyed a range of activities which they had chosen. Some people shared an interest or activity with their carer.

People had care plans in place which detailed what support they needed.

People and their carers could access the complaints procedure and complaints were investigated appropriately.

People’s views, and their carer’s views, were sought and regular quality assurance reviews were completed.

Rating at last inspection:

At our last inspection, (report published 2 December 2016) we rated the service as Good.

Why we inspected:

This was a planned comprehensive inspection.

Follow up:

We did not identify any concerns at this inspection. We will therefore re-inspect this service within the published timeframe for services rated good. We will continue to monitor the service through the information we receive.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk