We carried out a review of the data available to us about Grace Eyre Shared Lives Sussex on 6 July 2023. We have not found evidence that we need to carry out an inspection or reassess our rating at this stage.
This could change at any time if we receive new information. We will continue to monitor data about this service.
If you have concerns about Grace Eyre Shared Lives Sussex, you can give feedback on this service.
About the service
Grace Eyre Shared Lives is registered to provide personal care to people living in the community, many of whom have a learning disability. In shared lives, people live together in a family home with an approved shared lives carer who provides daily support. People and their carers are matched together to ensure people’s needs can be safely and suitably met. Shared lives carers were supported by staff directly employed by Grace Eyre Foundation. At the time of the inspection, Grace Eyre Shared Lives were supporting 33 people.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right Support:
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff and carers supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice. People were encouraged to maintain and at times regain independence in areas which were important to them. Personalised communication plans were used to support people understand and make their own choices and a specialist team was formed to ensure important documents were accessible to everyone.
Carers and staff found creative and innovative ways to support people to develop new skills and engage in activities which were meaningful. There was a clear focus on people’s strengths and care was planned and fulfilled according to people’s needs and wishes. People were encouraged to pursue their interests and achieve aspirations and goals.
People were supported to be active and valued members of the local community, including partaking in voluntary work which had significant impact on a person’s well-being and proactive work with organisations that shape support networks for the future. Staff and carers enabled people to access specialist health and social care support in the community and worked in partnership with them to maintain people’s health and well-being.
Right Care:
People received kind and compassionate care from carers and staff who knew them well. People’s privacy and dignity was protected, and they told us they felt safe living with those supporting them. Carers demonstrated a thorough understanding of people’s individual needs, and all staff knew how to protect people from poor care and abuse.
The service had a strong relationship with external agencies, for example, the local authorities and reported any significant events appropriately. People told us they felt able to express any concerns to carers, office staff or the registered manager. People who had individual ways of communicating, for example using Makaton (a form of sign language), could do so comfortably with staff and carers, as they had the appropriate skills to facilitate this. The service gave people opportunities to try new activities that enhanced and enriched their lives. Staff supported people to take positive risks.
Right Culture:
The ethos, values, and attitudes of management, office staff and the carers ensured people led confident, inclusive and empowered lives. Grace Eyre promotes the value of the organisation being led by those who use it. Two people who use the service were appointed ambassadors and involved in decision making and developing policies to drive improvement in the service. People received good quality care from those who were effectively trained to provide support. People were supported by staff who understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have.
The support provided was tailored to people’s needs by carers who knew and understood them well. Support was exceptionally responsive and allowed people to meet their aspirations and to live a quality life of their choosing. Carers, staff and management placed people's wishes, needs and rights at the heart of everything they did.
People told us they felt their views were valued and acted upon appropriately. This encouraged people to raise concerns immediately if they had any. The registered manager was keen to use any feedback to drive improvement and promote the organisations culture of inclusivity.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
The last rating for the service at the previous premises was good, published on 13 December 2018.
Why we inspected
This inspection was undertaken as the service had moved to a new address and had not yet been inspected at their new location. We also wanted to assess whether they were applying the principles of Right support, right care, right culture.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.