Children's Home run by Crossway Services Limited in St Helens

SC063498 Unique reference number 3 September 2009 Inspection date Karen Forster Inspector Key Type of Inspection

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9 December 2008 Date of last inspection .

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children's Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Cripins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcome for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards for the establishment.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is strong Good: this aspect of the provision is sound Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inadequate: 3 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498

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Brief description of the service

This service is managed by an independent company who provide a number of small children's homes. The house is an end terraced property, situated within two miles of a shopping centre and all required leisure facilities.

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Brief description of the service

There were young people resident at the time of the visit, who were involved in the inspection.

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Summary

This visit is an unannounced key inspection, including all of the Every Child Matters outcome areas, plus an additional area of organisation. Actions and recommendations from the last inspection were reviewed with the Registered Manager during the inspection.

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Summary

This is a satisfactory service, where outcomes for young people are acceptable and demonstrate that care generally meets individual needs. Gaps in placement and health care planning; health and safety records and training programmes for staff impact on the quality of care provided. The overall quality rating is satisfactory. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The provider has taken steps to address one of the three actions raised at the last inspection. The two remaining actions regarding the quality assurance programmes by the Responsible Person and Registered Manager respectively, will be reissued following this inspection. The action regarding a risk assessment for the lone working arrangements for staff in the home, has been suitably addressed.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Young people are encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle. Sporting and exercise programmes are well promoted in the home, which means that young people play sports they enjoy and excel at. Young people can influence their menus and are involved in preparing their light meals and snacks. Fresh produce and drinking water is readily available to the group.

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Helping children to be healthy

Young people's health needs are mostly met as they have access to the appropriate level of primary health care. However in those cases where secondary health care is identified as a need for individuals, there is little evidence of services or support in these identified areas, which could include mental health services for example. Young people are encouraged to maintain good hygiene and receive health advice and education in relevant areas, which could include smoking, sexual health or substance use for example.

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Helping children to be healthy

Young people's health needs are satisfactorily safeguarded by the home's procedures for the administration of medication when required. However, not all staff are trained in first aid and work alone on shift, which means that on some shifts staff are not suitably equipped to deal with any medical emergencies. When medication is in use it can be stored in a secure cabinet which meets the standards and reduces unauthorised access. 4 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Young people's privacy and dignity is respected and information about them is confidentially managed. Young people's privacy is respected in their rooms and bathrooms. Young people understand about the need for room searches, and when staff might have to enter an occupied room without agreement in an emergency.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people feel confident about making complaints if they are unhappy about any aspect of their care and treatment. Internal complaints are addressed in a timely manner and young people are appropriately responded to. The external contact for complaints is not accurately detailed in the complaints policy, as the statement refers to the previous regulator for children's homes rather than Ofsted. This restricts the movement of complaint information between the home and Ofsted.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The welfare of young people is adequately promoted and the home responds appropriately to allegations and suspicions of abuse. However not all staff are trained in safeguarding, which reduces the staff group's awareness of referral protocols and the home authority's investigative powers. Young people know what constitutes bullying behaviour and would feel able to alert staff if they felt bullied or concerned about another's behaviour towards them.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff know what action to take if young people go missing. Young people who abscond are protected in line with the home's missing from home procedures and the local Police force's missing persons protocol. This means that suitable local searches are initiated, should a young person go missing from care.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff promote positive relationships with young people, and there is a mutual understanding within the group in relation to what constitutes acceptable behaviour. Young people receive suitable sanctions if behaviour is below these agreed standards, which meet the standards and are clearly recorded. Staff are expected to engage in de-escalation techniques rather than physically restrain young people. Whilst this positively reduces the number of restraints to nil, not all staff are trained in behaviour management techniques to ensure they can carry out this policy appropriately.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The physical safety and security of young people, staff and visitors is reasonably well promoted. Fire safety checks are regularly completed and well recorded. Whilst there is an up to date fire risk assessment which details the risk management strategies employed in the home, it does not clearly take into account the actual risks of fire that have been identified throughout the property. The home's safety certification for gas and electrical installations indicate that recent checks have been carried out, however not all of the remedial action recommended by the gas engineer has been completed by the provider.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff who work at the home have undergone suitable clearance checks, which means that young people are cared for by suitably cleared staff.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Young people are provided with individual support which meets their needs to a satisfactory level. Individuals know the identity of their key worker, and key staff appear well motivated 5 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498 and knowledgeable regarding the young people in their care. Whilst care practice in the home meets individual needs, there are some gaps in the provision in relation to specialist support, such as counselling and therapy for example. This is evident where social work assessments have outlined the need for such services, but no current arrangements are in place for the same. This means that young people are not always receiving the level of specialist support they need.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The education of young people is actively promoted and staff recognise the value of a good education. Young people attend in house education and teaching staff visit them to complete lessons from an agreed timetable. Some information to support young people's education is available to staff, such as details of previous school placements. Although this information does not include any end of year reports or educational assessments. Young people have opportunities to visit places of educational interest and they benefit from these experiences.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. The placement planning within the home is under developed, with gaps and discrepancies evident within placement plan documents. This means that the internal placement plans do not sufficiently reflect the placing social worker's care plan, which leaves gaps in the delivery of care and within the outcomes for young people. The internal recording mechanisms mean that copies of the placement plan are only maintained on the home's computer, the lack of paper copies reduces young people's access to their plan of care.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The care review arrangements in the home are suitable, and allow for young people to meet with independent individuals to discuss and review their progress and feelings towards the placement.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Contact is actively promoted and facilitated by staff. Young people have access to family members and significant others, which promotes their identity. Individuals are able to make contact with their social worker when they wish, and can privately meet with case workers.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Young people are admitted to the home in a planned manner and recent admissions have included a well planned introductory programme with tea and overnight visits. This means that newly admitted young people feel well informed and prepared for their new placement.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Young people are regularly consulted and they have a number of opportunities to express themselves about their lives and the running of the home. This makes them feel valued and listened to. Staff are vigilant in recording consultative sessions between themselves and young people. This means that important information is communicated well between staff, to inform the care of young people.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The provision is satisfactory. There are no young people who live at the home who are currently preparing for independent living, or eligible for a pathway plan. However, young people are encouraged to develop independence skills. For example, young people clean their own room, complete domestic tasks and learn to look after their clothing and laundry with staff support. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498 The premises provide a homely environment for young people to live in. The home is furnished and decorated to a satisfactory standard, with comfortable and domestic style communal areas. Young people have influenced the décor within their bedrooms, and make good use of this personal space.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The statement of purpose and young people's guide describe what the home sets out to do for young people who live at the home.

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Organisation

The promotion of equality and diversity is good. Individuals are treated with respect and first and foremost as young people. This means that personal histories are suitably acknowledged by staff, but their approach to individuals is not biased by the backgrounds of the young people within their care. This enables young people to maintain their identity as an individual, and helps them to recognise and value their heritage.

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Organisation

New staff complete shadow shifts during their initial work programmes, which does allow for guidance and instruction to be passed on between staff members. However, there are limited records of the formal one to one supervision forums between new and established staff, with the home's manager. This makes it unclear for staff what decisions were made and which areas of their practice need development.

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Organisation

Young people are looked after by a small staff team, who are highly consistent in their care of the young people and remain committed to the company's ethos and their residential task. However, there are gaps in their induction and National Vocational Qualification training programmes, where their competence is not sufficiently tested or independently assessed. This means that staff complete a policy based local induction, and that the level of qualified staff is below the standards.

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Organisation

The performance of the home is monitored by the Responsible Person or their representative, however this quality assurance programme does not meet the standards in relation to the frequency of the monitoring visits. The internal monitoring of care quality in the home, does not consistently cover all of the elements of schedule six of the regulations as required. This means there are gaps in senior personnel's overview of care within the home, and reduced opportunities for young people and stakeholders to contribute towards the quality assurance programme.

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Organisation

Young people's files contain most of their personal information that reflects their development and progress, and satisfactorily informs their care within the home. Whilst placement histories and legal status are well reflected within the home's records, there is a lack of data regarding young people's immunisation histories and missing reports of medical examinations.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, The Childrens Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider must comply with the given timescales. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498

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Due date Action Standard

30 November 2009 ensure that young people's health plans fully reflect their assessed health needs and that strategies are identified to meet the same (Regulation 20) 30 November 2009 provide First Aid qualified staff on each shift (Regulation 23) 13 30 November 2009 arrange training for all staff in safeguarding children (Regulation 16) 30 November 2009 provide training for all staff in the positive management of challenging behaviour (Regulation 25) 30 November 2009 complete the remedial work recommended by the Gas engineer's report, regarding the safety of gas appliances within the home (Regulation 23) 30 November 2009 ensure that the Fire Safety risk assessment includes details of the assessed areas of risk, in addition to the current risk management data (Regulation 32) 30 November 2009 provide a placement plan for each young person that includes all identified care needs, and strategies to address those needs

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Due date Action Standard

(Regulation 12) 30 November 2009 ensure that the care package provided to young people meets their identified needs, especially in relation to any therapeutic or counselling needs (Regulation 12) 30 November 2009 ensure that supervision programmes for all new and established staff are completed and recorded in line with the standards (Regulation 27) 30 November 2009 provide a quality assurance programme that is completed by the responsible person or their representative, that meets the requirements of the regulations in relation to frequency and content of the monitoring visits (Regulation 33) 30 November 2009 provide an internal quality assurance programme that is completed by the registered manager, that meets the requirements of regulation 34. (Regulation 34)

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • include Ofsted as the contact for complainants in the home's complaints policy (NMS 16) • ensure that hard copies of young people's placement plans are provided, to promote easy access to the content (NMS 2) • ensure that 80% of the staff group are qualified to NVQ level three in the care of children and young people (NMS 29) 8 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498 • provide an induction programme that meets the standards, and includes a competence element such as the induction competencies provided by the Children's Workforce Development Council (NMS 31) • ensure that young people's data relating to their immunisation history; any health examination reports and school reports, are included within their records in the home. (NMS 35) 9 of 9 Inspection Report: SC063498

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