This inspection took place on 25 & 26 October 2016. Nottinghamshire County Council Shared Lives Scheme supports peoples with a learning disability and/or mental health support needs to live with a Shared Lives carer, in order that they can live as full and active a life as possible. On the day of our inspection 71 people were using the service.

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.

People felt safe and carers understood their responsibilities to protect people from the risk of abuse. Risks to people’s health and safety were assessed and steps put into place to reduce any known risks.

There was a sufficient number of carers available to meet people’s needs and support was provided as required to support people to safely manage their medicines.

Carers were provided with the knowledge and skills they needed to be able to care for people effectively. People received the support they required to have enough to eat and drink and were fully involved in meal planning. People were supported, where required, to arrange and attend appointments with healthcare professionals.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors the use of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). We found this legislation was being used correctly to protect people who were not able to make their own decisions about the care they received. We also found that carers were aware of the principles within the MCA and how this might affect the care they provided to people. Where people had the capacity they were asked to provide their consent to the care being provided.

People were treated with kindness by their carers and caring relationships had been developed. People were able to be fully involved in the planning and reviewing of their care and they made day to day decisions. People were treated with dignity and respect by their carers who understood the importance of this.

People were provided with care and support that was responsive to their changing needs. Carers also encouraged people to develop independent living skills and continue with any hobbies and interests they had. People felt able to make a complaint and told us they knew how to do so. Whilst there had not been any formal complaints, the registered manager responded immediately to any concerns.

People, carers and shared lives staff gave their opinions on how the service was run and suggestions were implemented where possible. There were effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service. These resulted in improvements to the service where required. The culture of the service was open and honest and the registered manager encouraged open communication.

We spoke to two people who were using the service. They told us the carers who supported them were respectful and caring. One person said, "[Name of carer] is very good. They are family to me." Another person said, "It is really good. The family are nice.” People also told us they felt safe with the support they were being provided by their carers.

We spoke to a relative of a person who was using the service and they said, "They are marvellous. At first my relative wasn’t sure about it, but they [the carers] showed us where [name of relative] would be sleeping and we have built a fantastic relationship. The service has been a huge help to me.”

We spoke to three carers who were working for the Shared Lives Scheme. They told us they felt well supported by the scheme to provide care that met people's needs. One person said, “[Name of person using the service] is a family member to me. The scheme works very well. The balance of support is just right.“

We also spoke to three Shared Lives Scheme Coordinators; their role was to provide support, identify development needs for the carers and ensure the person using the service was receiving the appropriate support. The people we spoke to said they felt well supported to meet the requirements of the role. One Shared Lives Scheme Coordinator said, “I am passionate about quality and support.”

We also found that the provider took steps to effectively assess the quality of the service being provided.