Children's Home run by Ethelbert Specialist Homes Limited in Kent

SC023740 Unique reference number 9 July 2010 Inspection date Mark Blesky Inspector Key Type of 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 8 Inspection Report: SC023740

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Brief description of the service

This is a children's home for three boys or girls. The house is in a residential street in a seaside town, close to shops, recreation areas and the beach, with ample public transport nearby. This home appears as a well presented large domestic dwelling.

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Summary

At this unannounced full inspection, all key standards were inspected. This is a good service in most respects with some satisfactory features. Young people are looked after well by caring and supportive staff. Young people are encouraged to eat healthy meals and learn about healthy living. The staff work hard to engage with the young people and strive to consult with them on all matters. Sanctions are used sparingly and the staff members try instead to encourage the young people to understand how their actions may affect others. This has been effective and created a relationship between staff and young people that is respectful and beneficial. It was noted that some of the records had not been completed and the manager is addressing this. Independence planning needs further development to ensure that effective plans are provided for young people to support them towards independence. The overall quality rating is good.

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Summary

This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection in March 2010 the registered person was asked to improve the independence planning and support for young people to provide them with appropriate life skills. While a major review has begun and assessment has started, this area needs to be developed further to provide effective support. It is recognised that a substantial amount of planning, training and preparation has begun to address these matters robustly and across the whole company. The registered person has taken appropriate steps to improve the quality of the home for young people.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Young people are given healthy and nutritious meals and they are able to express their choices and preferences. All staff undertake healthy living training and support the young people to choose well balanced and healthy options. Young people are able to help prepare and cook meals under staff supervision. This is more formally planned as part of young people's planning for independency.

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Helping children to be healthy

Young people's healthcare is robustly monitored and provided for. All young people benefit from the support of core services, which include General Practitioner, dentist, and ophthalmic services. Young people are supported by dedicated healthcare files maintained by the home. All historic, current, and future health interventions are well managed. It was, however, noted that some healthcare files had become rather unwieldy and information was becoming confusing.

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Helping children to be healthy

Medication administration is well managed and all staff benefit from mandatory training in handling medication. Young people are supported by this process and all medication 4 of 8 Inspection Report: SC023740 administration is rigorously monitored. The home employs a qualified nurse who is available for consultation and providing support to all young people and staff.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Young people are treated with respect and staff ensure that their information is maintained confidentially. When young people's bedrooms are entered, staff ensure that they knock and await invitation. If rooms need to be entered in a more urgent manner, young people are informed as to the purpose of any entry and the reasons for this. A telephone is available for young people to use in private and an area is available for young people to meet with friends and family.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are supported if they wish to make a complaint or representation by comprehensive procedures. All staff undertake training and guidance regarding dealing with complaints. Unfortunately, at the time of the inspection the complaints record book was missing and its absence had not been noticed until the inspection.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All staff undertake safeguarding training and young people are protected and safeguarded by well managed procedures and practices. The home employs a dedicated safeguarding officer with many years of experience and staff are further supported by out-of-hours and on-call support. Training and refresher training in this important area is regularly reviewed to ensure the day-to-day and more diverse needs of the young people are met.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

To support young people from bullying and victimisation the home has devised proactive guidance and procedures to alert them to any suspicion of bullying. In addition, all reported or suspected cases of bullying are collated in a dedicated record. This provides information and details of the incident in order that staff can separate this behaviour from more minor day-to-day disagreements. Anti-bullying strategies are then deployed to address this behaviour swiftly and effectively.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

When young people are absent without permission and missing from the home, procedures are in place to report, search and recover the young person. Upon return. staff meet with the young person to try to ascertain why they were absent. In addition, the home employs a person independent of the home to meet with the young person and interview them in cases where concern for welfare is increased.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are encouraged to behave in a positive manner and staff will use strategies to counter this and may use approved sanctions. All young people are informed of sanctions, and warnings are given when behaviour is becoming negative. All sanctions and physical interventions are recorded, but it was noted that scant information in some records did not provide a clear description of the behaviour. It was also noted that some confusion existed regarding the sanctions and incidents due to the absence of record numbering. It is, however, clear that sanctions are typically infrequent and staff work hard to avoid formal punishments, attempting instead to discuss matters.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The home has a detailed and comprehensive heath and safety and fire safety plan. Regular assessment takes place of all areas where hazards may be present and staff keep the young people safe by being vigilant to risk. All visitors are robustly monitored and all visitors must identify themselves and sign in and out of the building. No visitor is permitted to have 5 of 8 Inspection Report: SC023740 unsupervised access to the home or young people. All staff are recruited through the company's head office and undertake rigorous recruitment and employment checks. Young people's safety is paramount and no staff member is allowed to work unsupervised until all statutory checks have been completed.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Young people receive individual support from staff both in day-to-day contact and more formally through one-to-one key working. Key working sessions with young people enable them to develop closer relationships and gain support that is more individual. Key working is generally well planned and effective. It was noted that some sessions lacked structure and focus with limited evaluation of the session.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Education is supported by all staff, and typically, the key worker for the individual young person, will liaise with the school, and attend open days and parental consultation evenings. Young people that receive homework are assisted by the staff and support is also provided for all extra-curricular school activities. Young people benefit from the close relationship between the home and the schools. It was noted that the home maintains a school diary detailing all the school and home contact and important events. This useful document further demonstrates the close support and planning for education.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Young people are encouraged to identify individual and personal hobbies and interests. Staff encourage the young people to engage with clubs and hobbies and will arrange transport and finance to develop these personal interests.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Care planning provides essential support for the young people, and staff work hard to ensure this important area is maintained. All young people have well managed and dedicated care plans identifying both their broad and long-term goals as well as their day-to-day care needs. Staff develop a placement plan which is detailed and rich in essential information about the diverse needs of the young people. Placement plans are comprehensive and very detailed supporting robust care and planning processes. Young people also have regular reviews and the staff members prepare a detailed report in support of the formal review. Young people benefit from these well written and comprehensive documents and it is clear that the staff work very hard developing and maintaining these documents.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Contact is promoted by the staff to ensure that young people are supported to meet with their friends and family. Staff discuss contact in key working sessions and more informally in day-to-day contact. Staff are aware of the importance of supporting and promoting contact and make all necessary arrangements to enable young people to enjoy this. Contact is recorded and staff provide appropriate information and records for the review of all contact arrangements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Young people meet as a group with staff at children's or house meetings. These sessions provide an opportunity for young people to express their individual and collective views about the home and the manner in which it is managed. Staff also use these sessions positively and canvass the young people's opinions and share general information. Meetings are recorded and an agenda is usually provided. It was noted that although children's meetings had taken place 6 of 8 Inspection Report: SC023740 over the previous months, recording had not been completed in all cases, which does not support an effective system.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The provision is satisfactory. Planning for independence has not been successfully achieved and there is little evidence of effective planning in this area. Assessment has begun, but this is somewhat vague and unambitious, providing little more than a tick box snapshot. The manager did confirm that this area is under review. Indeed, documents presented during the inspection demonstrated an extensive and comprehensive review of the current systems.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

Young people are encouraged to choose their own clothes and personal possessions. Staff encourage young people to express their individuality and diversity through making choices and developing their own styles. Staff will support young people with purchasing and budgeting and more formal support is provided through independence training.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The home is very well decorated and furnished and each young person has expressed their personal choices in decorating and furnishing their bedrooms. Common areas of the home are very pleasant and homely and it is clear that the staff and young people are respectful of the home. The home is maintained appropriately to meet the aims of the Statement of Purpose, and furnishing and decoration are of a high standard. This is a very pleasant home and it is generally maintained well and has the appearance of a typical large domestic dwelling. Some minor tidying up and cleaning was outstanding; however, this was appropriately being addressed at the time of inspection and did not impact on the young people.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The promotion of equality and diversity is good. The home has a written Statement of Purpose and a children’s guide, which accurately describe what the home sets out to do for children accommodated. The Statement of Purpose is regularly reviewed to reflect the young people's needs and the last review was conducted in May 2010. It was brought to the attention of the manager that the Statement of Purpose contained an error relating to the children's age range. This error was amended during the inspection and a new copy was provided by the home's head office. This was acknowledged as an oversight.

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Organisation

All staff in the home receive regular supervision in accordance with the duration and frequency stated in the national minimum standards. Staff are supported by regular support, and supervision provides oversight of the staff performance and development. Appraisal is carried out for all staff members and training is provided to support staff through their career. It was noted that some supervision documents had not been completed and records of the supervision sessions were outstanding.

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Organisation

Staff meetings take place at regular intervals and this provides staff with an opportunity to discuss and express views collectively. Although staff meetings are taking place, it was noted that some staff meeting minutes were absent at the time of the inspection. All staff members undertake their National Vocational Qualification at level 3 in Caring for Children and Young People as soon as they are appointed. There are three staff members from the four staff in the home that are currently qualified. The home maintains adequate numbers of experienced staff 7 of 8 Inspection Report: SC023740 to provide care for the young people and the home also has an out-of-hours and on-call service in times of urgency.

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Organisation

Regulation 33 visits are conducted by an independent visitor and these provide comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the home. Regulation 34 monitoring is conducted by the manager who regularly considers the home's effective operation. The manager takes action to address any shortfall or undesirable trend or pattern in the home. All young people are provided with well managed personal files that contain all essential information. Files are stored securely and provide an effective record of each young person's care.

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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.

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Due date Action Standard

31 August 2010 ensure each young person has an appropriate independence plan to demonstrate proper provision for the care, education and supervision of children accommodated (Regulation 11) 31 August 2010 ensure that the registered person compiles, in relation to the children’s home, an accurate written statement of purpose which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 4)

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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): • ensure that each young person has a clear and accurate record of their medical history and healthcare interventions (National Minimum Standards 12.2) • ensure that a written record is made of complaints and details kept of the person making the complaint, date of the complaint, nature of the complaint, action taken and outcome of the complaint (National Minimum Standards 16.3) • ensure that a clear, detailed and accurate record is maintained of all sanctions (National Minimum Standards 22.9, 22.10) • ensure young people's meetings, discussions and expressed opinions are recorded promptly (National Minimum Standards 8.30 • ensure that a written record is kept in the home detailing the time and date and length of each supervision held for each member of staff, including the registered person (National

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Recommendations

Minimum Standards 28.3) • ensure that staff meetings occur at least monthly and meetings have an agenda and are minuted. (National Minimum Standards 28.10) 8 of 8 Inspection Report: SC023740

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