This comprehensive inspection took place on 26 June 2017 and was announced.

Shared Lives Scheme (West Sussex County Council) is registered to provide personal care and support. The service offers long term and short-term placements for adults and older people living in the West Sussex area, who have a learning disability. People who have a mental health need are also supported when there is a dual diagnosis of a learning disability. People may also have a physical and/or sensory disability. People had access to ‘day share’ facility, where they could go to a shared lives carer for the day. In Shared Lives, an adult over 18 years of age who needs support and or accommodation becomes a regular visitor to, or moves in with, a registered shared lives carer. Together, they share family and community life and in many cases the individual becomes part of a supportive family.

Shared lives carers (SLCs) and people they care for are matched for compatibility and can develop real relationships. The shared lives carer acts as 'extended family', so that someone can live at the heart of their community in a supportive family setting. Not all provided the regulated activity of personal care at the time of the inspection, but may be supporting people with developing access into their local neighbourhood and helping develop people's life skills towards improved independence.

Shared lives carers are supported and managed by staff employed at Shared Lives West Sussex County Council. The provider is responsible for ensuring SLCs are provided with the appropriate knowledge, skills and support to undertake this role. The provider employs Shared Lives Officers (SLOs) to carry out this role. The service operates throughout West Sussex and at the time of inspection provided care and or support to 144 clients from 96 households.

Following the last inspection on 26 June 2017, the service was rated as Required Improvement. At the current inspection, we found that sufficient improvements had been made in the areas of safe and well-led that the services overall rating had improved to Good.

The care service 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.

There was a registered manager in post. 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.

Shared lives staff and shared lives carers showed a genuine and in-depth understanding and compassion for the people they supported. People were treated with high standards of kindness, compassion and respect. Their independence was promoted as far as possible, whilst respecting their choices. There was a very strong emphasis on people having choices and their preferences being respected. People were actively involved in their support and in the recruitment process of other shared lives carers.

Risks to people's personal safety and wellbeing had been assessed and plans were in place to minimise these risks. People were protected against abuse and avoidable harm. People involved in accidents and incidents were supported to stay safe and action was taken to prevent further injury or harm. People’s medicines were safely managed.

Assessments were holistic and took account of people’s diverse and complex needs. People and relatives took part in the interview process for new staff and had an influence over who was recruited. The registered manager ensured there were enough qualified, skilled and knowledgeable staff to meet people's needs. Shared lives staff and carers r

This inspection took place on 26 June 2017 and was announced.

Shared Lives Scheme (West Sussex County Council) is registered to provide personal care and support. The service offers long term and short term placements for adults and older people living in the West Sussex area, who have a learning disability, are autistic or a mental health need. People may also have a physical or sensory disability. A ‘day share’ facility where people can go to a shared lives carer for the day is also available to access. In Shared Lives, an adult over 18 years of age who needs support and or accommodation becomes a regular visitor to, or moves in with, a registered shared lives carer. Together, they share family and community life and in many cases the individual becomes part of a supportive family. Shared lives carers and people they care for are matched for compatibility and can develop real relationships. The shared lives carer acts as ‘extended family’, so that someone can live at the heart of their community in a supportive family setting. Approximately 180 people were supported by 80 registered shared lives carers in the scheme. Not all provided the regulated activity of personal care at the time of the inspection, but may be supporting people with developing access into their local neighbourhood and helping develop people’s life skills towards improved independence. Shared lives carers are supported and managed by staff employed by the service.

The last inspection was on 3 August 2014 where no concerns were raised. The service was rated good overall. However, at this inspection there were some shortfalls identified. This was in relation to the completion of paperwork for example, risk assessments to ensure all risks were fully identified and managed for the continued safety of people. The auditing of the service to identify any shortfalls and to ensure feedback received was used to inform the drive for further improvements in the service. We did not find this had impacted on the safety of people but were areas in need of improvement.

There was a registered manager in post. 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. There was a clear management structure for the service with identified leadership roles. The registered manager was supported by two senior shared lives workers and seven shared lives workers.

Care and support provided was personalised and based on the identified needs of each individual. People were supported where possible to develop their life skills and increase their independence. People’s care and support plans were detailed and reviewed regularly. When asked what the service did well comments received from staff included, “The service is extremely person centred. We support the carers and the customers well. Matching the customer to the carers and the household is really important and makes the difference,” “We are a good model for person centred care. It’s about listening to people, listening to carers to change their approach and ensuring people receive the care they need,” and “We are very, very person centred. We deliver good training and get good feedback.” Individual risk assessments were in place to ensure people were safe within their own home and when they received care and support and undertook activities.

People told us they felt safe in the service. One person told us, “Safe I sure am, I trust my carers”. Another person told us, “Always someone in the house. That’s why we keep safe.” A third person said, “Safe, yeah (Shared lives carers name) looks after me very, very well it's a lovely home and it's nice to have. I was moved here for three months I've been her five I hope I can stay longer.” People were suppo

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the provider is meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and to pilot a new inspection process being introduced by CQC which looks at the overall quality of the service.

The inspection took place on 15 August 2014 and was an announced inspection. 48 hours’ notice of the inspection was given because we needed to be sure that the office was open and staff were available to speak with us.

In Shared Lives, an adult aged over 18 years who needs support and/or accommodation becomes a regular visitor to, or moves in with, a registered Shared Lives carer. Together, they share family and community life. In many cases the individual becomes a settled part of a supportive family, although Shared Lives is also used as day support, as breaks for unpaid family carers, as home from hospital care and as a stepping stone for someone to get their own place. Shared Lives carers and people they care for are matched for compatibility and then develop real relationships, with the carer acting as ‘extended family’, so that someone can live at the heart of their community in a supportive family setting. In excess of 130 people were supported by registered carers in the scheme. Shared Lives carers are supported and managed by staff employed by the Scheme. There was a registered manager for the Scheme . A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service and has the legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the law; as does the provider.

People were able to make day-to-day decisions, with support if they needed. They were protected from the risk of abuse because staff and carers were appropriately trained and knew what action to take. Risks were managed in a way that promoted people’s independence. The staff undertook appropriate checks on carers and staff before they were recruited. Carers, who have adults to live with them in their family homes, were supported by staff through regular monitoring visits and reviews. Medicines were ordered, administered, stored and disposed of safely. There were appropriate checks in place to ensure that medicines were handled in line with legal requirements. One carer told us, “We administer their medication as they can’t read or write, so would struggle and there has to be accountability”.

People had annual health checks from health care professionals and had health action plans and hospital passports were in place. Food and nutrition was managed in a way that took account of people’s food choices, likes and dislikes. Staff received essential training and were also encouraged to study for additional qualifications or training that was specific to people’s needs, for example, autism or epilepsy training. Carers also received regular training and said that support and training was readily available. New carers underwent rigorous assessment and checks before being ‘matched’ with people who needed support.

People told us how they enjoyed their lives and loved the carers who looked after them. Their cultural needs were taken account when they were matched with potential carers. They felt able to express their views and were involved in decisions affecting them. One person said that they enjoyed shopping, buying clothes and cooking with their carers. Some people were looked after by their carers as they came to the end of their lives and were supported to receive treatment and be cared for in their carer’s home.

When people had complaints, these were dealt with in a sensitive way. They had the right to change their agreement with shared lives and move on to become more independent. Carers were carefully vetted before providing support to people and the referral process was managed sympathetically and at a pace that people felt comfortable with. People had contact with their relatives and were supported to stay in touch.

People were involved in the development of the Scheme and their views were sought. They were able to feed back their views on their carers and were supported to do this by shared lives staff. Carers were encouraged to meet together informally to share their views and formal meetings were also organised that included shared lives’ staff. Staff felt supported by management and were positive and enthusiastic about their roles. The registered manager linked with other shared lives managers across the south east region and worked in partnership with statutory agencies. The Scheme had received a runner’s up award in the Council’s ‘Making a Difference’ award. A carer said, “I can always get hold of someone, there’s always someone on duty and, if needs be, they’ll get a message to your keyworker. I can’t fault them”.

During our visit we spoke with two people who used the service and three staff members, these were the manager, one Shared Lives Worker and one 3rd year Student Social Worker on placement. We also took information from other sources to help us understand the views of people who used the service, which included a satisfaction survey and meeting minutes.

The people we spoke with told us they were happy with the care that they had received and with the staff team. A person who used the service told us “Yeah all fine, no problems at all, I’m happy”. Another person who used the service we spoke with told us “I’m thrilled with it all, yes I’m very happy”. Staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the support needs of the people who used the service. One member of staff told us “We help to promote choice for people and provide them with good support”.

During our visit, staff we spoke with confirmed that they had felt supported and had received relevant training, which had included the safeguarding of vulnerable adults. We saw that the service had ensured that Shared Lives Carers were able to deliver care and treatment safely through regular training and assessments. The service had quality assurance systems in place to monitor the quality of the service provided and to gain the views of the people who used the service.

Staff told us "they provide a service delivering needs assessed support and promoting peoples independence within a family home". The Scheme used the information available to it to match people to Shared Lives carers. For example we saw one of the people who had an interest in animals matched with a Shared lives carer who had horses and two dogs. People who used the service told us "I really love where I live, I go on holiday and I do lots of nice things with the family". Responses from recent surveys showed that the respondents were happy with the service provided by West Sussex Shared Lives.

People said that they found the Shared Lives carers to be “lovely, very kind, caring and professional". Shared Lives carers had a good awareness of the importance of keeping people safe and they understood their responsibilities for reporting any concerns regarding abuse. West Sussex Shared Lives enabled people who used the service to live as part of a family; people who used the service were supported to make informed decisions where the person was unable to do this by themselves.