Adult Placement Scheme/Shared Lives Scheme

Updated 25 October 2019

The inspection

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

Inspection team

The inspection team comprised of an inspector and an assistant inspector.

Service and service type

Derby City Shared Lives Scheme is a shared lives scheme, that recruits, trains and supports self-employed carers who offer accommodation and support arrangements for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community.

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.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We sought feedback from the local authority and professionals who work with the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections.

We contacted Healthwatch, this an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We held a focus group and spoke with nine people who were helped by the service. We spoke with four relatives about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with three members of staff who were shared lives co-coordinators. We held a focus group and spoke with six carers. Shared lives co-coordinators are responsible for assessing and supervising the carers. Carers are self-employed and provide the care and support to people using the service.

We reviewed a range of records. This included two people’s care support plans and medication records. We looked at two carer files in relation to recruitment and supervision. A variety of records relating to the management of the service, including feedback from surveys were reviewed. We spoke to two health and social care professionals. After the inspection we spoke to the registered manager responsible for the daily running of the scheme, who was unavailable during the inspection.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We looked at training data and quality assurance records.

Updated 25 October 2019

About the service

Derby City Shared Lives Scheme, is a shared lives scheme which provides people with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers (referred to as carers in the report) own homes.

At the time of the inspection there were around 160 people being supported by the service and 80 carers. 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. There were 15 people receiving regulated activity at the time of the inspection.

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

Carers had received safeguarding training and understood their responsibilities to provide safe care. There were sufficient numbers of carers to support people’s needs, some people had more than one carer supporting them.

People received medicines safely from carers who had received training and regular competency checks.

We saw people were treated with dignity and respect by carers. Carers told us how they supported people to make choices and decisions and maintain their independence. Carers supported people to maintain relationships with friends and families.

Peoples health care needs were managed, and support plans were tailored to people’s individual needs. People received support to manage their dietary needs.

People and carers knew how to complain. People were involved in planning their support. There were systems in place to monitor the quality of the service.

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 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.

People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent. Feedback from healthcare professionals about the service was very positive.

The service was well led and there were quality monitoring systems in place to drive improvements.

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

The last rating for this service was Good (published 1 December 2016)

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.