Kirklees Shared Lives

Updated 21 March 2018

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

This inspection took place on 17 January 2018 and was announced. We contacted the shared lives carers on 19 and 22 January 2018. The provider was given notice to ensure there was somebody at the service as staff support people in their home environment. The membership of the inspection team consisted of one adult social care inspector.

Before the inspection we gathered and reviewed information from statutory notifications. The provider had not completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). This is information we require providers to send us at least once annually to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make.

We contacted the local authority commissioning and monitoring team and reviewed all the statutory notifications regarding the service. We also contacted Healthwatch to see if they had received any information about the provider. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England.

We spoke with the registered manager, and two supported living staff. We spoke with three relatives of people using the service. We also spoke with six shared lives carers. We reviewed four care plans, the recruitment records of two recent shared lives carers and a recent office staff. We looked at records in relation to the management of the service.

Updated 21 March 2018

This inspection took place on 17 January 2018 and was announced. We contacted the shared lives carers on 19 and 22 January 2018. The service had previously been inspected on 9 August 2016 under its former name Highfields. At the time of our last inspection the service had moved locations to this address and was in the process of registering the new location. The service changed its name at the same time from Highfields to Kirklees Shared Lives. At the last inspection the service had been rated good and there were no breaches in the legal requirements.

Kirklees Shared Lives is a shared lives placement service, which recruits and supports paid carers to provide family based placements for adults with learning disabilities within the carer's home. Placements can be long-term with the adult living with the carer as part of their family, or as respite care which can range from a few hours a week, overnight or longer stays. On some occasions the service can provide an emergency service offering placements to people who find themselves in a crisis situation. At the time of our inspection there were 95 people referred to the scheme and there were 39 shared lives carers providing long term support and 40 providing short term breaks. Office based staff consisted of the registered manager, two and a half social work posts, two senior shared lives officers and two shared lives officer posts.

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.

Staff and shared lives carers had received training in how to keep people safe. They understood how to ensure people were safeguarded against abuse and they knew the procedure to follow to report any incidents.

Risks had been assessed and reduced to the lowest level possible. Where appropriate positive risk assessments were in place to support people to develop new skills.

There had been very few accidents and incidents. The registered manager had analysed these to ensure the likelihood of future incidents were reduced.

People are supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff support them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service support this practice. The service met the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act and ensured people's mental capacity to consent was assessed in line with best practice. Decisions were made in people’s best interests as required.

Staff received regular training to ensure they developed skills and knowledge to perform their role and received regular on-going supervision and an appraisal to support their development. New staff and shared lives carers completed the Care Certificate which included observations in their role.

The relatives of people using the service all told us the service was excellent and were happy with the care and support provided to their relative. The shared lives carers we spoke with during our inspection all spoke passionately about the value of the service supporting people in a family environment which ensured they had this human right preserved. They spoke to us with warmth and affection about the people they cared for and considered them as part of their family.

The service had a complaints policy in place although there had not been any complaints. Shared lives carers knew how to complain but they told us they had not needed to use the policy.

Staff told us they were supported in their role. They spoke of a positive culture, where they were supported with training and development. They influenced the delivery of the service by contributing to the team plan.

Regular meetings were held at the service for staff and the team held engagement events with shared lives carers to keep them involved with developments.

The service was undergoing a review at the time of the inspection in line with national shared lives guidance and a report was due in relation to shaping the service going forwards.