Merton Shared Lives Scheme

Updated 3 January 2024

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

This inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a supported living service. The service provides care and support to people living in 'supported living' settings, in the community so that they can live as independently as possible. People's care and housing are provided under separate contractual agreements. CQC does not regulate premises used for supported living; this inspection looked at people's personal care and support.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

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 as we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection. Inspection activity started on 2 December 2023 and ended on 21 December 2023. The inspection visit took place on 6 December 2023.

What we did before inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke in person with the registered manager. We spoke with 1 person using the service. They did not comment directly on whether the service was safe, and well-led. We spoke with 4 relatives, 4 staff, and 4 healthcare professionals to get their experience and views about the care provided. We reviewed a range of records. They included 4 people’s care plans and risk records. We looked at 3 staff files in relation to recruitment, training, and staff supervision. We checked a variety of records relating to the management of the service, including staff rotas, training, and service level audits. We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found. We requested additional evidence to be sent to us after our inspection visit. This included staffing and training information, and provider quality assurance audits. We received the information which was used as part of our inspection.

Updated 3 January 2024

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence, and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. Right support, right care, right culture is the statutory guidance which supports the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to make assessments and judgements about services providing support to people with a learning disability and/or autistic people.

About the service

Merton Shared Lives Scheme provides a housing with support service and is registered to provide an accommodation based service for people that need some support in their everyday lives. The scheme is for adults aged 18 and over, with a learning disability, mental health issue, older people, and those with a sensory impairment. 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 the time of the inspection there were 16 people receiving personal care in different supported living settings.

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

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 in the service supported this practice.

The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of right support, right care, right culture.

Right Support

The service was safe for people to use and staff to work in. Staff supported people to have the maximum possible choice, control, independence, and were focussed on people’s strengths and promoted what they were able to do. This meant people were able to pursue their interests, with staff support. The quality of the service provided, was reviewed regularly, and changes were made to improve people’s care and support. This was in a way that suited people best. The service established working partnerships that promoted people’s participation and reduced their social isolation. People were enabled by staff, to access specialist healthcare services and followed best practice when supporting them with communication and making decisions.

Right Care

Staff who supported people, promoted their equality, diversity, and understood people's cultural needs and provided appropriate care. Relatives told us staff were kind, compassionate, caring, and promoted people's privacy and dignity. There were enough well trained and appropriately recruited staff to support people to live safely, whilst still enjoying their lives. Any risks to people using the service and staff were assessed, monitored, and reviewed. Complaints, concerns, accidents and incidents and safeguarding issues were appropriately reported, investigated, and recorded. Trained staff safely administered people’s medicines.

Right culture

The service leadership and management were identifiable, transparent, and there was an open, positive, and honest culture. The provider had a clearly defined vision and values, that staff understood and followed. Staff understood people, were responsive, and supported them in their aspirations to live a quality life of their choice. This was by placing people’s wishes, needs, and rights at the heart of everything they did. Staff were aware of their responsibilities, accountability and prepared to take responsibility and report any concerns they might have.

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 22 September 2017).

Why we inspected

We undertook this inspection to check whether the service was continuing to provide a good rated service for people.

The overall rating for the service remains Good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We did not inspect the key questions of effective, caring, and responsive.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Merton Shared Lives Scheme on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

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