This inspection took place on the 13 and 14 March 2018 and was announced.

The Shared Lives Scheme is run by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. The purpose of the Shared Lives Scheme is to provide a service that extends the range and quality of support available to vulnerable adults who may have a learning disability or mental health problem, disability and older people. The scheme currently has a portfolio of approved households which provide a range of long-term, respite and day support and currently have 20 people who use the service. There are four staff who manage the shared lives carers. Shared lives carers look after people in their own homes and are responsible for their day to day care.

Not everyone using the Shared Lives Scheme receives a regulated activity; CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also take into account any wider social care provided.

The service was managed by 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.

At the last inspection, the service was rated Good. At this inspection we found the evidence continued to support the rating of good and there was no evidence or information from our inspection and on-going monitoring that demonstrated serious risks or concerns. This inspection report is written in a shorter format because our overall rating of the service has not changed since our last inspection .

People who used the service told us they felt safe. We saw safeguarding and whistleblowing (reporting of poor practice) policies and procedures were in place to guide staff and carers. All the staff and carers we spoke with told us they understood their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding.

Robust recruitment and selection processes were in place for both staff and carers. We saw the service had undertaken all the necessary checks when recruiting new staff and carers.

Risk assessments had been completed associated with people’s health and well-being such as mobility, medicines and personal care. These were designed to keep people safe and not restrict them. Operational risk assessments were also in place to keep staff safe in the office environment. Risk assessments were reviewed on a regular basis.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and carers supported them in the least restrictive way possible. The service had made an application to the court of protection for one person.

Prior to commencing employment staff and carers completed an induction. This gave them an overview of the service and an opportunity to undertake mandatory courses (courses the provider had deemed necessary for their roles). Training such as equality and diversity was not a mandatory course, although all the staff we spoke with were aware of the diverse needs of people they were supporting. The registered manager informed us they were addressing training during our inspection and were adding further courses to the mandatory ones..

All the people we spoke with told us they enjoyed living with their carer. People and their carer were comfortable around each other and they were laughing and joking with each other. All the carers were aware of the diverse needs and wishes of people they were supporting. We saw cultural, spiritual and religious needs were discussed and planned for if there was a need.

Support plans in place were person centred. These were very detailed and gave carers and staff a clear picture of the person, their needs and how best to support them. We saw support plans were reviewed on a regular basis with the person.

We saw evidence

The shared lives scheme is run by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council The purpose of the Shared Lives Scheme is to provide a service that extends the range and quality of support available to vulnerable adults who may have a learning disability or mental health problem. The scheme currently has a portfolio of approved households which provide a range of long-term, respite and day support and currently have 24 people who use the service. There are staff (5) who manage the shared lives carers. Shared lives carers looked after people in their own homes and were responsible for their day to day care.

We last inspected this service in September 2014 when the service met all the standards we inspected. This unannounced inspection took place on the 16 and 17 June 2015. We went to the office and inspected all the paperwork on the first day of the inspection and met with people who used the service and their carers who kindly came to see us on the second day

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 a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We saw that staff and shared lives carers were trained in safeguarding issues to help protect people who used the service.

Staff were recruited robustly and shared lives carers went through a screening and then matching process to provide people who used the service with safe care.

Staff and shared lives carers received training appropriate to their needs which may also include specific training to each individual’s needs. This may be for communication, health or personal care needs.

The matching process ensured people were satisfied with where they lived. This was because people who used the service and their carer’s were given time to get to know one another.

People were able to engage in activities of their choice, attend educational facilities or supported to attend work and given the opportunity to practice their faith in the way they wanted to.

Although people lived as a family healthy eating was supported and had produced positive results for both a person who used the service and a shared lives carer.

The service asked for the views of stakeholders and shared lives carers to help improve the service. Staff met with people who used the service to make sure they were happy or had any concerns. Staff and shared lives carers had meetings called group workshops. This was to give the carers more opportunity to tailor the service to meet everyone’s needs.

People who used the service told us they were happy living with their carer and did lots of things they liked to do.

The registered manager audited the scheme such as monitoring visits, complaints, incidents, training and security of records to spot any obvious flaws or recommend ways to do it better.

There were policies and procedures for all aspects of the service which staff and shared lives carers read to support good practice in their work.

We observed a good interaction between shared lives carers and people who used the service. We saw that people were a valued member of the family.

There were systems in place for people who used the service or carers to contact staff if they needed to.

There were safe systems to administer and monitor medicines administration.