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Archived: Shared Lives Service

Overall: Outstanding read more about inspection ratings

Eleanor Lodge, 25 Camborne Close, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN4 8PH (01604) 366662

Provided and run by:
Olympus Care Services Limited

Important: The provider of this service changed. See new profile

All Inspections

2 January 2018

During a routine inspection

The Shared Lives Service recruits people to become paid carers to support adults with a range of complex needs or learning disabilities. People stay in the carer’s home and receive their support within a family environment. People can stay with carers on a long term or short term respite basis. The Shared Lives Service is run by a Registered Manager and a team of staff who provide support to people and their carers.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Outstanding. At this inspection we found the service remained Outstanding.

Overwhelmingly, and without exception, the service put the people that use the service at the heart of everything they did. People had their own carers and staff that frequently and significantly went above expectations in order to enable people to have a fulfilled life, that was the way they wished it to be. People were given every opportunity to make their own decisions and were encouraged, empowered and supported to do so. The registered manager and staffing team constantly strived to be the best that they could be, and was innovative in its approach to care. The Shared Lives Service went to great efforts to share their ideas and approach with other services to help encourage them to improve and provide better care for people.

People were protected from harm and were supported to take positive risks in the least restrictive way. People were empowered to understand how they should receive safe care and people understood that they could report any concerns if they felt this was in jeopardy.

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

Staff were committed to ensuring that people were matched with a carer that was completely right for them. This allowed the formation of strong caring relationships between each person and their carer and this was supervised appropriately by staff. People’s healthcare needs were prioritised and these were met with a unique approach to facilitate people’s personal backgrounds and preferences.

Carers had great respect and admiration for the people they supported and this was reflected back from the people that received care and support. People were fully empowered and involved in decisions about their care and were supported to do so when other agencies or services had given up.

People received personalised care which had input from the other care services each person used however the format of people’s care plans made this confusing and we have made a recommendation about the review of care plans.

The management of the service was extremely well led with strong leadership from the registered manager who empowered staff and carers to challenge boundaries and support people to have the freedom and choices within their own lives. The management team were open and keen to receive feedback and reflected on this to improve the service wherever this was possible.

Further information is in the detailed findings below.

10 & 11/11/2015

During a routine inspection

This inspection took place on 10 and 11 November 2015, and was announced. We gave the provider short notice that we would be conducting an inspection to ensure we could meet people and their carers.

The Shared Lives Service recruits people to become paid carers to support adults with a range of complex needs or learning disabilities. People stay in the carer’s home and receive their support within a family environment. People can stay with carers on a long term or short term respite basis. At the time of the inspection the service employed 56 carers and were supporting over 100 people on a long term or short term basis. Shared Lives staff supported people and their carers to ensure people received excellent care, and carers had access to support whenever they needed it.

The service had 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.

People were safe using the service. Carers treated people well and staff made regular checks to ensure people were happy with the support they received. Carers went through a rigorous recruitment procedure and there were enough knowledgeable staff employed by the service to ensure people and their carers were more than adequately supported. The provider had robust policies and procedures in place to protect people from avoidable harm. Carers and staff understood their responsibilities to report any concerns of harm and they were aware of how they could do this. People were supported to maintain their freedom and were a part of their local community, and risk assessments were in place to support people to do this safely. People’s medicines were handled appropriately and people received them with support that met their needs.

People received effective care. Carers and staff had good knowledge, experience and skills to carry out their roles well. People’s needs were understood by staff who spent a great deal of time getting to know each person and ensuring they were matched with the best carer for their needs. Carers and staff completed an adequate induction to prepare them for their role and training was provided to ensure carers and staff had suitable knowledge to provide good care for people. Carers and staff felt extremely well supported in their role and there was a comprehensive understanding of people providing their own consent to the care and support they received. When necessary, staff requested professional support to comply with requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. People were supported to have sufficient food and drink and to maintain a balanced diet, and had their healthcare needs met well by healthcare professionals.

People received support from very kind and compassionate carers and staff. People were made to feel like a part of their carer’s family and carers showed overwhelming respect and affection for people. People were given time and opportunities to express their views and make their own choices. People were empowered and encouraged to try new experiences and carers understood what was important to the people they supported. People’s personal space was respected and people were supported to maintain relationships that were important to them. People had access to an independent advocate which offered additional support when required.

People’s needs were comprehensively assessed before they began using the service to ensure the service could meet their needs. Care plans were formulated with the involvement of the person using the service, and their relatives or previous carers if appropriate. People’s personal care needs were detailed with the support people required from their carers and support was provided in all aspects of their life where it was required. People were supported to do activities they enjoyed and enriched their lives and people were able to maintain their culture and beliefs with assistance from their carer. Staff regularly met with people and their carers to ensure the service was meeting their needs and they were providing a good service. People and their carers understood how they could make a complaint and staff maintained good links with external parties to ensure people received smooth and consistent support.

People and their carers spoke extremely positively about the service and carers were passionate about providing excellent care that supported people to be independent. Staff working at the Shared Lives Service told us they enjoyed working at the service and consistently displayed a positive attitude towards people, carers, one another and the registered manager. Carers and staff consistently went the extra mile and took action above expectations. The registered manager showed passion and commitment to providing the best service for people and their carers and provided clear leadership to support the team. People and carers were given formal and informal opportunities to provide feedback on the service and the registered manager regularly met with them to update them on the service. The registered manager had a good understanding of where improvements could be made to the service and worked with the provider to make these changes. Effective systems were in place to ensure the service provided good quality support to people and their carers and the provider made regular checks to ensure valuable quality assurance measures were in place. The registered manager accepted people into the scheme that had come from difficult backgrounds, or had previous unsuccessful placements and supported them, and their carer to successful outcomes. The registered manager was not afraid to try to help people with difficult circumstances and took an approach of doing all they could to ensure carers with the right skills were identified to support people with different needs.

31 January 2014

During a routine inspection

We reviewed the care plans and associated risk assessment documentation for four people using the service and we spoke with two carers about the support they received from the service.

We found that people were fully involved in making decisions about the level of support they received. Where people lacked capacity to make complex decisions, we saw that Mental Capacity Assessments (MCA) had been carried out and 'best interest' decisions had been made on the person's behalf. For example, carers taking on the responsibility of managing people's medicines and finances.

The 'Shared Lives Scheme' employed support workers who were responsible for the oversight of the scheme and they recruited, assessed and matched Shared Lives carers with people who needed support.

We saw that systems were in place to regularly monitor the quality of the service. The carers told us they received good support from the service. They confirmed the support workers at the Shared Lives Service kept in regular contact and visited them on a regular basis. Carers told us they received good support from the service, one carer commented that the level of training had improved over the years since they first took on the role of a carer.