Shared Lives Scheme (West Sussex County Council)

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

We assessed 5 quality statements within the caring key question. Independence, choice and control had areas which would benefit from review to allow for some people to have more opportunities for personal development. However, many people had good levels of choice. People were treated with dignity and respect and people told us their shared lives carers and shared lives workers were kind and caring.

This service scored 70 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

People told us they were treated with kindness and compassion. People said their shared lives carers know and understand them, including their preferences, wishes, personal histories, backgrounds and potential. Comments from people included, “We do scrapbook together, I love it.” And “We cook together, I like to cook noodles.” Shared lives workers and shared lives carers spoke about people in a positive and respectful way. This was reflected in the language used to record information and, in the guidance, contained in people’s support plans. One external professional told us, “The scheme always seems to act in the best interests of the people it supports, putting the people receiving care at the centre.” Processes were in place to ensure people were treated with kindness, compassion and dignity in all aspects of their lives.

People were treated as individuals, the way the scheme is set up supports this culture as people live with their shared lives carers, alone or with 1 or 2 other people. People told us they were able to meet up with friends and family. They said their shared lives carers supported them to develop their interests and hobbies. One shared lives carer explained how a person had grown to develop a passion for swimming over the years and how this was encouraged. Support plans record people’s strengths goals and aspirations. The registered manager and shared lives workers are working with people and their shared lives carers to develop this further and continue to identify opportunities with people.

Some people were not always supported to be as independent as possible. Whilst it was the aim of the scheme to promote independence and they could demonstrate most people were maintaining or developing their skills to be as independent as possible, some people were not getting as many opportunities. For example, some people told us they did not have their own front door keys, there were varied reasons given about why this was the case, however this had not been fully explored. One person said, “[name of shared lives carer] won’t let me have a key.” The person did not know why. We spoke with the registered manager about the positive value a person can take from having their own key and they assured us they would be looking at this when working with the shared lives carers. People told us they liked to have their shared lives carers do things for them, such as making beds and cooking meals and snacks. The registered manager was aware some people could do more for themselves with the right support and encouragement and did demonstrate this was an area they were working on. A large number of people are supported in the West Sussex Shared Lives scheme and most people were supported to have choice and control in their care. Staff ensured people could voice changes they wanted to make, for example a person wanted to change the daytime setting they went to. They suggested a different setting offering different activities. Shared lives carers and scheme workers worked with the person and other professionals to make the change happen.

People’s needs, views, wishes and comfort were recognised and shared lives carers knew people well and could respond quickly to avoid any preventable discomfort, concern or distress. Support plans had clear direction to guide shared lives carers and others about people’s health needs and communication needs. Shared lives carers, shared lives workers and the registered manager prioritised an understanding of people and knowing them well as the key to identifying changes of need in a timely way. There were many documents created in an easy-to-read format by the scheme to support people to have as much understandable information as possible covering a number of topics including health conditions.

People received safe, effective and person-centred care as the provider recognised and generally met the well-being needs of the shared lives carers and the shared lives workers. People benefited from staff who had regular opportunities to provide feedback, raise concerns and suggest ways to improve the service or carers experiences. We saw evidence of shared lives carers and workers being surveyed, receiving one to one supervision and having a variety of opportunities to talk and raise ideas or concerns. There were formal pathways to manage concerns and complaints as well as formally monitor practice. People were supported by shared lives carers and workers who generally felt valued by their leaders and their colleagues. Comments from workers included, “Supervisions, I look forward to them, I make a list if time sensitive, will contact [name of manager] to discuss issues, they are always there positive and reassuring. We have team meetings twice weekly; we are very blunt and open.” A shared lives carer told us, “We have supervision and meetings in place to monitor us and support us.”