Wakefield MDC Shared Lives Service

Updated 7 June 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. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act, to look at the overall quality of the service, and to provide a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

Inspection team:

The inspection team consisted of one inspector and an expert-by-experience. An expert by experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service. They had experience of caring for people.

Service and service type:

This service provides care and support to people living in a number of supported living settings so that they can live as independently as possible.The number of settings varies depending on recruitment and demand.

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 48 hours’ notice of our inspection. This was to enable them to contact people providing and using the respite service and gaining their consent for us to speak with them. Inspection activity began on 23 April 2019, when the expert-by-experience spoke with people by phone. They also spoke to some people on 24 April 2019. We visited the office location on 30 April 2019. Our visit was delayed to enable the registered manager to be present. When we were there we spoke with the registered manager and office staff, and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did:

Before the inspection we reviewed all the information we held about the service, including the last inspection report, information the service is required to send to us about any accidents or other incidents, and information requested from other health and social care professionals.

During the inspection we looked at five people’s care records, other records relating to the running of the service including accident reports, recruitment information for two staff and three people who provided placements, and evidence relating to the quality and management of the service.

We spoke by phone with four people who provided placements, and four people using the service. During the office visit we spoke with the registered manager, a social worker, a student social worker, the area manager, and other members of support staff.

Updated 7 June 2019

About the service: Wakefield MDC Shared Lives is a service which provides both short term respite and longer term placements in the homes of people recruited, trained and supported by the organisation. At the time of our inspection there were 139 people using the service in 53 locations.

People’s experience of using this service: The service had a very good approach which put sharing lives at the heart of what they did, and enabled people who used the service to increase their independence and sense of security. There was a focus on helping people who used the service express their views and have new experiences. People were partners in defining and reviewing their care needs, and gave positive feedback about their homes and respite placements. There were consistent examples of people being supported to achieve goals which were important to them, including moving into their own homes. The service ensured people had maximum choice and control of their lives, evident in systems to ensure people were included in decisions, were asked for consent and were supported to take positive risks.

People providing respite placements received good support to provide long and short term placements for people, who described them as ‘homes-from-home.’ Recruitment to the role was thorough, and a high standard of on-going training and support was in place. Staff who worked in the service were also recruited safely and had a good level of on-going support.

We received consistent feedback about strong leadership and a caring, inclusive culture in the service. The registered manager made good use of consultation, empowerment of staff and formal monitoring activity to ensure quality in the service was maintained and continued to develop. The service worked well with other partners in people’s care and in the wider social care environment, and ensured people providing placements had opportunities to learn about specialised areas of interest from professionals in these fields.

There were good systems and practices in place to ensure people who used the service were protected. People received an appropriate level of support with medicines and were supported to manage these themselves when it was appropriate. When any accidents or incidents occurred, they were reported diligently and investigated as necessary. When things did go wrong, the service worked to ensure the risk of any repeat occurrences was as low as possible. Everyone involved in the service understood how they could raise complaints or concerns, and the service had a proactive approach in investigating these to ensure they were resolved.

Rating at last inspection: Good. (Published in November 2016). At this inspection we have again rated the service as Good, however they had improved to Outstanding in one key question.

Why we inspected: This was a scheduled inspection based on the previous rating.

Follow up: We will continue to monitor the service and plan to return to re-inspect it in line with our normal timescale for this rating. We may return sooner if we become aware of increased risks to people.

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