30 March 2016
During a routine inspection
South Tyneside Adult Placement Service (Shared Lives) aims to recruit carers to offer care, support and accommodation to vulnerable adults. Once recruited the service provides carers with training and support in order for them to meet the needs of the people whom they accommodate. Shared Lives supports carers by providing link workers, contact with social workers and 24 hour advice and support. At the time of our inspection the service was supporting 47 carers with an additional 21 who support with short breaks.
The service had a registered manager. 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 and carers made positive comments about the service. They described the service as being safe. One person told us, “I am safe with [carer], it’s just lovely to feel it’s my home.”
Staff had a clear understanding of safeguarding and whistleblowing. They were confident any concerns would be listened to and investigated to make sure people were protected. Staff understood the process of raising a safeguarding alert. Carers were also aware of how to raise concerns and felt that the registered manager would act.
Systems were in place for recording and managing safeguarding concerns, complaints, accidents and incidents. People and carers we spoke to knew how to make a complaint. Information was available in pictorial form on how to make a complaint. At the time of the inspection the service had not received any formal complaints.
The registered manager confirmed the staff team were already employed by South Tyneside Council prior to taking up their current role. The Council’s recruitment procedures had been followed which included relevant checks. For example, checks had been carried out with the disclosing and barring service, (DBS) before they were employed to confirm whether applicants had a criminal record and were barred from working with vulnerable people.
The service had a rigorous process in place to recruit carers, which included general health checks, character checks, references, DBS checks and discussions with family members. Carers were interviewed by link workers. From the collection of information a report was developed as to the suitability of the prospective carer and presented at an independent Shared Lives panel to make a decision to recruit the person as a carer.
Staff had received regular supervisions. The registered provider had an Employee Performance Management (EPM) process in place for staff development which had taken the place of the annual appraisal. Carers received support on a monthly basis from the service, with meetings held on a regular basis to provide support and to share information from the service to the carers.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) was understood by staff and carers. They also understood the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) to make sure people were not restricted unnecessarily.
People’s choices were acknowledged. Each person had a range of social and leisure activities in their individual plans. One person spent time volunteering and told us, “I enjoy doing this, [carers] are going to help me do more.” People were supported to be as independent as possible, and took part in family activities such as shopping, meal preparations and keeping their rooms clean.
People’s healthcare needs were monitored and contact was made with other health care professionals when necessary. Carers helped people to lead a healthy lifestyle and supported them to health care appointments.
Individual plans and risk assessment were in place which showed people were involved in their care and set out how they wanted their support to be delivered. The service also followed the social workers plans for the person by way of support and plans for independence.
The service had systems in place to ensure medicines were managed in a safe way. Medication Administration Records (MAR) were up to date with no gaps or inaccuracies. MARs were sent in to the service every month to enable auditing.
We observed staff and carers with people and saw support was given in a respectful way. People were very comfortable in the presence of their carers and the staff. Genuine relationships were observed.
People, carers and staff told us the service was well run and well managed. They felt the registered manager was open, honest and approachable and the service promoted a positive culture for staff and for the people they supported. One person told us, “I have never needed to complain but if I did I would go to [registered manager].”
The registered provider had a business continuity plan in case of emergency. The plan contained contact details of respite carers who could support people in case of an emergency. Where an emergency affected the service’s office, the team would relocate to another office in the building. The registered manager also had a laptop to enable remote working.