Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives Scheme

Updated 22 January 2020

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

Two inspectors, one assistant inspector and an Expert by Experience carried out this inspection. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.

Service and service type

Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives Scheme offers accommodation and support arrangements for adults within their own family homes in the community.

CQC does not regulate premises used for shared lives; this inspection looked at people’s personal care and support.

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 the inspection visit because it is a shared lives scheme. We needed to be sure someone would be available to speak with and show us records.

Inspection site visit activity started 05 December 2019 and ended on 06 December 2019. We visited the office location on 06 December 2019 to speak with the manager, people using the service and office staff; and to review care records and policies and procedures.

What we did before the inspection

The provider was not asked to complete a provider information return prior to this inspection. This is information we require providers to send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report.

We asked Healthwatch for any information they had which would aid our inspection. Healthwatch is an independent consumer champion that gathers and represents the views of the public about health and social care services in England. We used this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service and six relatives. We spoke with eight members of staff including the registered manager and shared lives care workers. In addition, we spoke with a health and social care professional.

We reviewed a range of records. These included four people’s care records. We also looked at the records of medicines administration. We had sight of three staff member’s files in relation to recruitment and supervision. In addition, we looked at a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including any quality monitoring checks and incident and accident records.

Updated 22 January 2020

About the service

Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives Scheme provides personal care for people as part of a shared lives and domiciliary care scheme. A shared lives scheme supports a variety of different arrangements where families and individuals in local communities can offer accommodation and/or support for people. 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. At this inspection, they were providing a regulated activity for 30 people.

Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives care staff supported people with a physical disability, those with a learning disability, older people with dementia, people with mental health problems and care leavers.

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

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

People truly felt involved in the care and support they received which was personal and individual to them. The provider had developed a culture where all staff encouraged people to explore their care and support options and supported them to explore sources of additional help and advice with particular care and sensitivity. People were supported by staff members who were aware of their individual protected characteristics like age, gender and disability.

The provider had embedded the equality, diversity and human rights approach to supporting people’s privacy and dignity. People had very positive outcomes as a result. The provider fully understood people’s individual needs and delivered care and support in a way that meets these.

Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives Scheme made arrangements for people to engage in social activities, education and work, which were innovative, met people’s individual needs, and followed best practice guidance so people could lead as full a life as possible.

The service knew what people have done in the past and what they wanted to achieve in the future. They evaluated whether they could accommodate people’s desired activities and strived to make them happen.

The service had a very flexible approach to any restrictions imposed on people; keeping them under constant review, making them in a time-limited way, and only when absolutely necessary.

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 at Telford and Wrekin Shared Lives Scheme supported this practice.

Staff members were confident about using the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and made sure people were involved in decisions about their care so that their human and legal rights were respected. Best interest decisions were always made in accordance with legislation and people’s wishes.

The provider promoted a strong organisational commitment to achieving positive outcomes for people. This was evidenced through robust quality monitoring processes. The provider, and management team, had good links with the local communities within which people lived. The management team and provider had systems in place to identify improvements and drive good care.

The service consistently applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This helped people who use the service to live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. People's support focused on them having as many opportunities as possible for them to gain new skills and become more independent.

People received safe care and support as the staff team had been trained to recognise potential signs of abuse and understood what to do to safely support people. The provider had assessed the risks to people associated with their care and support. Staff members were knowledgeable about these risks and knew what to do to minimise the potential for harm to people. When it was needed, people received safe support with their medicines by trained and competent staff members

People had access to additional healthcare services when required. Staff members knew people’s individual health outcomes and supported them appropriately. When required, people were supported to maintain a healthy diet by a staff team which knew their individual preferences.

People received help and support from a kind and compassionate staff team with whom they had developed positive relationships. People were provided with information in a way they could understand. The provider had systems in place to encourage and respond to any complaints or compliments from people or those close to them.

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

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was ‘Good’ (published 06 June 2017).

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.