We carried out a review of the data available to us about East Sussex Shared 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 East Sussex Shared Lives Scheme, you can give feedback on this service.
East Sussex Shared Lives Scheme is a shared lives scheme which provides people with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers (SLC) own homes. The service offered supported to people with learning disabilities, mental health support needs, as well as physical disabilities.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided. At the time of our inspection 58 people were supported by the service who received the regulated activity of personal care.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People continued to receive a level of care and support that enabled them to have independence and achieve their dreams and aspirations. This was possible due to the dedication of all those involved in the service at putting people at the heart of everything they did.
The values of the service were about providing the best possible outcomes for people and helping them to overcome hurdles that may have been prevalent their whole life. Staff training, their understanding of support networks available to people, and their ability of putting people at the centre of what was happening to them had resulted in many positive changes to people’s lives.
People who came to the service in crisis had been supported to take back control of their lives which had enabled them to re-join their local communities, return to education and achieve employment.
The ethos of continuous improvement and seeking feedback from people and staff were used by the registered manager to ensure the service was the best it could be.
The staff were proud of the work they did, and their best practice methodology was shared with other agencies to improve similar services across the country. Continual learning and development was at the forefront of how the service operated, and they sought out areas where an increase in staff knowledge and understanding could improve the lives of people.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. 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 said they felt safe, and that shared lives carers took the time to get to know them and treated them with kindness and compassion.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for this service was outstanding (published 30 March 2017).
Why we inspected
This was a planned inspection based on the previous rating.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.
East Sussex Shared Lives Scheme recruits, checks and approves paid SLCs to provide care and support to people with learning disabilities and mental health problems in the carers own home. The provider is responsible for ensuring SLCs are provided with the appropriate knowledge, skills and support to undertake this role. The provider employs Shared Lives Officers (SLOs) to carry out this role. The service operates throughout East Sussex and at the time of inspection provided care and or support to 138 clients from 79 households.
There was a registered manager in post. 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.
This comprehensive announced inspection was carried out on 20 and 24 January 2017.
People were supported by SLCs and SLOs who knew them exceptionally well. They were continually encouraged and empowered to develop confidence and skills both in meeting their personal care needs and in developing the skills to gain independence. SLCs and SLOs worked closely with health professionals to maximise people’s health and well-being.
People were always treated as individuals and their care was personalised and tailored to their specific needs and wishes. They told us they were treated extremely well and their privacy was consistently respected. People told us that they were involved in all decisions that affected them. They said that the SLOs regularly asked them if they were happy with the care and support they received.
We received numerous examples of how the ethos of the service had a particularly positive impact on people’s lives. Through family life, people had been given real self-esteem and were supported to increase independence. For some this was in relation to achievements such as learning to shower independently and for others this included travelling for the first time or having the courage and confidence to see if they could live independently.
People were fully involved in decisions about their care and support. SLOs and SLCs understood about people's capacity to consent to care and had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and associated legislation. SLOs had gone to great lengths, through the use of role play, to enable informed decision making. Where people were assessed as unable to make decisions for themselves, they had considered the person's capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and had taken appropriate action to arrange meetings to make a decision within their best interests. Where appropriate applications had been made for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and the reasons were clearly recorded.
Everyone told us they felt safe in their individual homes and they were aware of some of the measures taken by the SLCs to ensure their safety. There were systems in place that ensured medicines were well managed and people received their medicines when they needed them. There were robust procedures to ensure that risks to people’s safety were identified, assessed and managed. When incidents occurred they were reviewed promptly to ensure the risk of a reoccurrence was minimised.
There was a thorough recruitment procedure to ensure safety in the recruitment of SLOs. All SLOs had a clear understanding of what constituted abuse and told us what actions they would take if they believed someone was at risk. New SLCs underwent rigorous assessment and checks before being 'matched' with people who needed support. Care and support was then reviewed at regular intervals to ensure people were happy with the care and support they received. Periodic checks were also undertaken on the SLCs to ensure they remained able to meet people’s needs. When the need arose, support for the SLCs was increased and decreased in line with their needs.
SLOs spoke very positively of the training they received to fulfil their role. SLCs had access to all the same training and we saw evidence that when people needed support to meet complex needs, the joint training gave a shared understanding of the problems encountered and this made it easier to find solutions that met people’s needs.
We received extremely positive comments about the registered manager from people, the SLOs and SLCs. They told us they were approachable, knowledgeable and cared about their role and the people who received a service. There was a strong emphasis on developing the service and a system of continual improvement to provide the best service possible. The service shared best practice with other shared lives schemes and met regularly to collectively share ideas and issues.
Feedback from professionals who supported people was unanimously positive. This included: ‘Working with Shared Lives is always a pleasure, they are very organised and know their clients / carers well.’ Another professional wrote, ‘Reviews have always been well structured and timely and where I have had the opportunity to attend they are always carried out very professionally and made accessible to the client.’ A third professional wrote, ‘I have always found the scheme manager and team members to be very committed and conscientious in their respective roles. I also find senior workers within the scheme to be open to suggestions regarding improvement and change where necessary.’