Shared Lives North Tyneside recruits, trains and supports Shared Lives North Tyneside carers. We refer to Shared Lives North Tyneside carers as ‘carers’ throughout this report. A carer is an individual who provides personal care together with accommodation in their own home. This enables people to live as independently as possible. Carers are self-employed and, dependant on an assessment up to three people live with them at any one time. The scheme supports people aged over 18 and supports people who have a learning disability and/or autism.

North Tyneside Shared Lives provides three main services: long term accommodation, short breaks and emergency accommodation, care and support which is provided at short notice and usually in the event of an illness or family crisis.

Shared Lives North Tyneside has been developed and designed in line with the values that underpin the Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These values include choice, promotion of independence and inclusion. People with learning disabilities and autism using the service can live as ordinary a life as any citizen.

The service moved address following our last inspection in December 2015 when we rated it good overall. This inspection is our first inspection of the location at the new registered address.

This inspection took place on 14 June 2018 and was announced. We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection visit because we needed someone to be at the office. We completed two further announced days of inspection on 19 and 21 June 2018 which included visits to peoples’ homes.

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.

The culture was extremely person centred. Staff focused on ensuring people were supported to be the key decision maker in their lives. Their views were encouraged and respected and they were supported to be in control of their lives. People were treated as one of the family by their carers and were encouraged to have open and honest relationships with the staff, their carers and their families.

Staff worked with people and shared lives carers to get to know their personalities, histories, needs and preferences. This information was used to match people and carers which meant there was a high degree of success in placements.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. Where appropriate, and relevant, capacity assessments had been completed and best interest decisions documented.

Medicines were managed safely and people were supported with any health and dietary needs.

The registered manager demonstrated a clear passion for ensuring people received support that was person-centred. This vision was shared by the staff and carers alike. People knew they had a voice in their life and we observed people to be confident in sharing their thoughts and feelings.

Technology was used to support people to develop their independence and take positive risks, such as spending time at home on their own. Risk assessments were in place which people, and their carers, had been involved in.

Enablement plans were developed with the person and their carers. People made changes to the plans as they wished to and these were then discussed during monitoring visits with the paid staff. Monitoring visits were used to support the person and their carer and to assess the quality of the service provided.

Feedback was sought regularly as a way to improve the service, and for short breaks people completed surveys about their stay after each visit.

Safe