London Borough of Camden Shared Lives

Updated 8 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 Care Act 2014.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by one inspector.

Service and service type

London Borough of Camden 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.

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

This inspection was announced.

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.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since it was registered with the CQC. The provider completed a Provider Information Return (PIR). The PIR is a form that asks the provider to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. The PIR also provides data about the organisation and service. We took this into account when we inspected the service and made the judgements in this report. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with one person who used the service, although we did not ask specific questions as it was not appropriate to do so. The person told us about things they liked to do. We also met people using the service and their shared lives carers and spoke with spoke with two link workers and the registered manager.

We reviewed the two care records of people using the service, obtained information about safe recruitment practices, audits and other records about the management of the service, including policies and procedures.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found and met people at an event organised by the Shared Lives Service.

Updated 8 July 2022

Summary

We expect¿health and social care providers to guarantee people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices and independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted. ‘Right¿support, right care, right culture’ is the guidance CQC¿follows to make assessments and judgements about services supporting¿people with a learning disability and autistic people and providers must have regard to it.

About the service

London Borough of Camden Shared Lives is a shared lives scheme which provides people with long-term placements, short breaks and respite care, within shared lives carers (SLC) own homes.

London Borough of Camden Shared Lives is registered to provide personal care. At the time of this inspection, the service was providing personal care for two people living with carers who had been caring for them since childhood and knew them very well. People who used the service lived with autism and / or a learning disability.

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 The service demonstrated how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Right support:

People had maximum choice and control of their lives. There was evidence of positive support, including choice, participation, and inclusion. Their care plans set out individualised goals that had been agreed with them.

Right care:

Care was person-centred and promoted people’s dignity, privacy and human rights. Care plans described how people should be supported so their privacy, dignity and rights were upheld. Staff and shared lives carers spoke knowledgeably about how they ensured people received care that met their diverse needs, including spiritual and cultural differences.

Right culture:

The ethos, values, attitudes and behaviours of leaders and care staff ensured people using services led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. There was an open and inclusive approach to the running of the service.

People lived safely because the service assessed, monitored and managed their safety well. Risks to people had been identified, assessed and reviewed. The assessments provided information about how to support people to ensure risks were reduced but did not limit people’s right to take reasonable risks.

The service had enough staff. The numbers of staff were suitable to support shared lives carers in continuing to care for the people they cared for.

Pre-employment checks had been carried out for staff and shared lives carers before they had originally begun supporting people and checks were renewed. These checks helped to ensure only suitable applicants were offered work with the service or provided shared lives care.

People received their medicines safely, one person received support taking their medicines. They were supported by a shared lives carer who followed systems and processes to administer, record and store medicines safely.

People were protected from the risks associated with poor infection control because the service used effective infection, prevention and control measures to keep people safe, and shared lives carers supported people to follow them.

The service completed a comprehensive assessment of each person’s needs and aspirations. People’s care plans included guidance about meeting these needs.

There was a process in place to report, monitor and learn from accidents and incidents.

There was an effective training system in place. People were supported by shared lives carers and service staff who had received relevant and good quality training in evidence-based practice.

People’s nutritional needs were met. People received support to eat and drink enough to maintain a balanced diet. Shared lives carers supported people to make sure people’s nutrition and hydration needs were met.

People’s health needs were met. Staff from different disciplines worked together to make sure people had co-ordinated care.

People’s choices, including those relevant to protected characteristics due to cultural or religious preferences, were met.

Governance processes were effective and helped to assess, monitor and check the quality of the service provided to people. Audits had been carried out on a range of areas critical to the delivery of care.

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

Why we inspected

This service was registered with us on 2020 and this is the first inspection.

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.