Leicester City Council Shared Lives Service

Leicester City Shared Lives Service is a shared lives scheme which provides people with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers (SLC) own homes. At the time of our inspection there were 23 long term placements and 44 carers.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found:

We saw good examples of how the service and SLCs supported people to remain safe. This was through providing staff and SLCs with bespoke safeguarding training. Staff and SLCs promoted positive risk taking, ensuring people had maximum control over their lives.

There was a robust recruitment process for both staff and SLCs. There was also a thorough matching process to ensure people were placed with SLCs who had the correct skills and lifestyle to suit the person’s needs. The registered manager promoted an open culture within the service to ensure all accidents and incidents were reported. This was seen as an opportunity to learn and improve the service.

People received person-centred care, designed around their individual needs. They were encouraged to learn new skills which increased their confidence and were supported to identify their goals and achieve them. If people wanted to be active in the local community, they were supported and encouraged to achieve this. We saw many examples where people’s lives had been transformed by living with SLCs.

People were well supported to maintain a healthy balanced diet. This had resulted for some people in improved long term health. Where people had long-term, health needs they were supported to attend healthcare appointments and maintain their independence.

People's privacy, dignity and independence was promoted. Leicester City Shared Lives staff and SLCs understood the Equality Act and supported people's diverse needs.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff and SLCs supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People told us staff and SLCs were kind and caring often reflecting on how their lives had improved since moving in with their SLC. We saw examples of how people had become part of the SLC’s life and how this had improved and enriched the person’s life.

The service had a comprehensive complaints process and were proactive in responding to people’s complaints and concerns. People told us they felt listened to and able to speak to both staff and their SLC. The service ensured people had information in a format they were able to understand and access.

The service was well-led and the registered manager understood their responsibility to keep CQC informed of any issues within the service. The registered manager promoted an open culture ensuring a person centred and high quality service was delivered. The service was a member of the national organisation for shared lives, Shared Lives Plus. This ensured staff and SLCs remained up to date with new ideas and innovations championed nationally. The registered manager encouraged staff, people and SLCs to be involved in developing the service. Staff and SLCs were very proud of the work they did and the improvements they made in people’s lives.

The last rating for this service was Good (published 7 December 2016).

Why we inspected

This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.

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

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

Leicester City Council Shared Lives Service is a domiciliary care agency which is registered for the regulated activity of personal care. The service recruits, assesses and supports paid cares to support people who are unable to live independently without support. Placements are made on a short or longer term basis and may involve day visits, respite or the person may live with their carer in their home as part of the family. At the time of our inspection there were 75 people using the service and 62 shared lives carers. Many of the people using the service lived with complex health conditions or learning disabilities and were unable to speak to us directly.

At the time of our inspection the registered manager had just de-registered and the provider was in the process of recruiting to the post of 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. The service was managed on a day-to-day basis by a care manager.

This was our first inspection of the service to provide it with a rating.

Robust processes were followed to recruit and assess people who applied to become shared lives carers, and to review the suitability of the existing shared lives carers. There were enough shared lives carers to deliver the service safely and people were provided with continuity of care.

The allocated workers were skilled and experienced in co-ordinating the service and were supported in carrying out their roles. They monitored the placements closely and had a good awareness of how to safeguard people from harm and abuse. The allocated workers and shared lives carers promoted personal safety whilst respecting people's freedom to exercise their independence and take risks. There was effective liaison between allocated workers, shared lives carers and other external professionals to help maintain placements. Care and support was safely planned to minimise the risks to people's safety and well-being.

All shared lives carers were given training and support to meet the needs of the people they cared for, including regular opportunities to meet their allocated worker.

Each person was encouraged and supported to make choices and decisions about their care and living arrangements. People's mental capacity was assessed and care records reflected that people had consented to the placement and the care and support they received.

People were supported to stay healthy, have a balanced diet and supported to manage their own medicines. Detailed care and support plans were in place which reflected the person's choices and aspirations. People were supported to develop or regain skills and abilities to maintain their independence. People were supported to take part in activities they enjoyed, including participating in local community events and facilities.

People developed positive relationships with shared lives carers who were caring and supportive. Shared lives carers were carefully matched to enable people to lead active lives, take part in enjoyable activities and develop their life skills. People and shared lives carers were provided with information in a variety of formats to enable them to make key decisions about their care and support needs.

People's care plans were person centred, detailed and written in a way that described their individual care and support needs in detail. These were reviewed regularly and changes made where required. This meant that everyone was clear about how people were to be supported and their personal objectives met. People and shared lives cares were actively involved in deciding how care and support should be provided.

The provider had a complaints policy and procedure which provided people with clear information about how to raise any concerns and how they would be managed. A person we spoke with was clear on how they could raise concerns.

The person we spoke with and shared lives carers all told us they felt the service was well-led. They told us they felt the care manager and staff were approachable and supportive and kept them informed of developments within the service. People and shared lives carers were supported to share their views about the service and the care manager used feedback to make improvements to the service. The care manager and allocated workers undertook regular audits and checks during home visits to ensure people were receiving quality care.