Essex Shared Lives

Updated 15 July 2022

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 Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was completed by one inspector.

Service and service type

Essex Shared Lives is a shared lives scheme, they recruit, train and support self-employed shared lives carers [SLC] who offer accommodation and support arrangements for vulnerable adults within their own family homes in the community.

Registered Manager

This service is required to have a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. 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.

At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in post.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 10 June 2022 and ended on 17 June 2022. We visited the location’s office on 10 June 2022.

What we did before the inspection

We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return [PIR]. This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with two shared live hosts and two people who use the service about their experience of the care provided. We watched two films [included two shared live hosts and two people who used the service] about their experiences. We spoke with the registered manager and three members of the Essex Shared Lives team. Following the visit to the office we received information from four shared lives officers relating to their role and employment.

We reviewed a range of records. This included three people's care records, the provider’s recruitment processes and procedures, information relating to prospective shared live hosts, audits and action plans.

Updated 15 July 2022

About the service

The Essex Shared Lives scheme is Essex County Council’s ‘in-house’ service for Shared Lives. Although the scheme has been operational since 2007, it is only since June 2021 that the scheme was integrated within Essex County Council.

The shared lives scheme provides people aged 18 years and over with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers [SLC] own homes. At the time of our inspection the Essex Shared Lives scheme was supporting 45 adults. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. When we inspected, 24 out of 45 people were receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

Since January 2022, the term 'shared lives carers' was no longer being used by the Essex Shared Live scheme. Throughout this report we have used the term shared live hosts.

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

The provider had suitable arrangements in place to assess, monitor and manage the quality of the service and to identify where improvements were needed. Following the service being transferred to Essex County Council in June 2021 from another provider, the above arrangements identified there were significant gaps in record keeping relating to people using the service and existing shared live hosts.

The above related to people’s support plans, risk management strategies, Medication Administration Records [MAR] and included training shortfalls for shared live hosts. However, there was no evidence to demonstrate this impacted on the support being provided for people using the service. Steps were being taken by Essex Shared Lives to address these shortfalls.

People told us they were safe and very happy with the care and support received. People told us they were encouraged to take positive risks to support their independence. Where prospective shared live hosts were being recruited, this process was robust. Safe recruitment practices were in place to employ staff to the Essex Shared Lives scheme. Staff employed by the provider were provided with training opportunities and received regular supervision. Where MAR forms were readily available, these were completed to a good standard.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and were supported to make their own decisions. People told us their shared live hosts were kind and caring. Positive relationships were developed and included extended family members. People were supported to have their nutritional needs met. Shared live hosts supported individuals to access healthcare services as needed.

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

Rating at last inspection

This service was registered with us in May 2021 and this is the service’s first inspection.

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.