Independent Options welcomes the announcement today that Shared Lives (Adult Placement) services are providing England’s best-rated form of care, support and accommodation for people with disabilities and older people. The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the government’s social care inspectors for England, have released their last ever annual report showing that 97% of Shared Lives schemes met or exceeded National Minimum Standards for “living an ordinary life” in 2010.Independent Options’ Shared Lives (Adult Placement) services maintained their Excellent CQC rating following a key inspection this year, contributing to the success noted in the CQC annual report. Audrey Wilson (Registered Manager for Adult Placement) said,”We are proud of our Excellent rated service and we owe so much to the Carers who share their homes and their lives with people who have disabilities. The CQC report highlights that services like ours are only being offered to a fraction of the number of older and disabled people receiving more expensive forms of care in England, such as residential and domiciliary care. We hope that this will encourage local authorities across the country to view Shared Lives as an option for more people who could really thrive by living with a family on a long-term basis or having short breaks with families when they need them”.Read a recent article from the Guardian newspaper describing a shared lives scheme in Cornwall that shares the ethos of the Independent Options Adult Placement (Shared Lives) scheme
