This inspection took place between 27 June 2017 and 21 July 2017 and was announced. This was the first inspection of the service at this location.

Leeds Shared Lives provides personal care and support to adults and older people. Most people who use the service have a learning disability or are living with dementia. There are two aspects of the service. The outreach team provides a service which supports people in their own home or out in the community. The short breaks service provides a break for people in another family setting. The aim of the service is to support people to lead independent lives and provide respite for relatives and carers. The service currently provides support to 303 people. Only a small proportion of these people required support with personal care.

A registered manager was in post. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) 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. The registered manager has been referred to as 'manager' throughout the report.

Although a new manager had recently started at the service, there had been a number of changes in management over the last year. The manager had a good oversight of the service and was aware of areas of practice that needed to be improved. There were systems in place to look at the quality of the service provided, although these required review to make sure they were sufficiently robust.

People told us they felt safe at the service. Staff were confident about how to protect people from harm and what they would do if they had any safeguarding concerns. Medicines were managed safely and in line with procedures.

Risks to people had been assessed and plans put in place to keep risks to a minimum. An ‘out of hours’ service was in place so that people could contact a member of staff in an emergency.

There were enough staff in the team to make sure people’s needs were met. The provider had robust recruitment procedures to make sure staff had the required skills and were of suitable character and background.

Care staff were supported through training, supervisions and meetings to help them carry out their roles effectively. Staff were supported by an open and accessible management team.

The manager and staff were aware of the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA).

People told us that staff were caring and that their privacy and dignity were respected. Care plans were person centred and showed that individual preferences were taken into account. Care plans gave clear directions to staff about the support people required to have their needs met. People were supported to maintain their health and to access health services if needed.

People’s needs were regularly reviewed and appropriate changes were made to the support people received. People had opportunities to make comments about the service and how it could be improved.