Tessa Baring House

St Michaels Fellowship Inspection report for Residential Family Centre

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Unique reference number SC047194 Inspection date 25/08/2010 Inspector Cheryl Carter Type of inspection Key

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Setting address 46 Herne Hill, LONDON, SE24 9QP

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Telephone number 020 7738 4242 Email forty.six@zetnet.co.uk Registered person St .Michael's Fellowship Registered manager Alison Edwards Responsible individual Susan Patricia Pettigrew Date of last inspection 14/08/2007 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 Crispins, 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.

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About this inspection

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 outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and the relevant National Minimum Standards for the service.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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Brief description of the service

This service is a Residential Family Centre run by a charity. The centre provides accommodation, assessment and support for parents and their children. The parent’s capacity to respond to their children’s needs and to safeguard their welfare is assessed and parents are given such advice and guidance as is considered necessary to enable them to do so. Parents are therefore ‘looking after’ their own children whilst their ‘parenting skills’ are assessed by the staff team. The stated aims include ‘ providing fair, objective and comprehensive assessments of families to assist local authorities and the courts in making decisions for the welfare of the child’. The staff team undertake formal 12 week assessments. Final reports aim to identify both risk and protective factors and make recommendations for after-care.

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Summary

The overall quality rating is satisfactory.

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Summary

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

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Summary

This was an unannounced inspection that looked at all of the key national minimum standards for Residential Family Centres. All outcome areas were assessed except for enjoying and achieving as there are no national minimum standards under this outcome area. Additional standards were also assessed in the economic wellbeing and organisation outcome areas.

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Summary

The service have been operating without a Registered Manager for more than a year and has failed to notify Ofsted that the Registered Manager has left and there is a new manager in post. No application has been received to register this manager who was appointed in March 2010.

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Summary

The service has satisfactory recording systems in place. Policies and procedures provide sufficient guidance to staff and families and recruitment practices are robust. Staff are well supported by the management team who have a strong commitment and focus on improvement. However, there are outstanding requirements and recommendations. At present there have been no appraisals completed, as a result training in some key areas have not been identified and staff training profiles do not meet the required standards.

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Improvements since the last inspection

One action was made at the last inspection regarding training, supervision and appraisal of staff. This has not been fully met. Two recommendations were made one regarding medication and has not been met; the other regarding securely storing confidential records has been fully implemented.

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Helping children to be healthy

There are satisfactory systems in place for meeting the health needs of families. The centre has established links with the local medical surgery and supports families to attend appointments. Families are registered with the local General Practitioner and are supported to register at local opticians and dentists. Parents are also supported to attend baby clinics to ensure that their children's developmental progress is monitored during their stay at the centre. Healthcare needs are included as part of the placement plan for each family and there is a health risk assessment in place. Families are sometimes assisted in planning and preparing meals but staff have not received any training in food safety.

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Helping children to be healthy

Each family has a lockable medication cabinet in their bedrooms in which they store medication. However the staff have not had any training in the safe storage, administration and disposal of medication nor have they had training in food handling and hygiene. Most of the staff have received first aid training and there is a member of staff qualified in first aid on each shift.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The handbook for families gives guidelines regarding visitors to the centre. Staff respect the privacy of families and there is guidance in place outlining expectations with regard to acceptable behaviour. There is a confidentiality policy in place. Records are kept in a lockable cabinet in the staff office and this door is always locked when not in use.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is a complaints procedure in place and there are details of how to make a complaint in the family handbook. Records show that complaints are recorded and investigated with actions and outcomes. There are appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place and all staff have received safeguarding training. There is satisfactory guidance in place in relation to the protection of vulnerable adults.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The manager does not always notify the relevant authorities of significant events that occur at the centre. For example, the police have had to be called to the centre to respond to an incident but this was not reported to Ofsted.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Health and safety policies and procedures are in place. Fire safety equipment is regularly tested to ensure that it is in good working order and adequate records maintained. Environmental risk assessments in place but some aspects of risk assessments have not yet been completed. For example, there are cupboards in the garden without a lock and there are no risk assessments in place. Fire safety equipment is checked on a regular basis and the outcome of these checks recorded. Weekly fire point tests are carried out and regular fire drills are undertaken, however the names of the staff and service users involved are not recorded nor do staff record the times that the fire drills were carried out. Appropriate certificates are in place for gas and electrical safety and portable appliances test. The centre has appropriate insurance in place.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Satisfactory recruitment policies and procedures are in place and the thorough recruitment checks are taking place and recorded to protect the families who use the service.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Systems are in place for when a family moves into and out of the residential centre. Placement agreement meetings take place and include a discussion regarding expectations of both the family and the centre. An individual placement plan is developed that covers all areas of need, in particular healthcare needs and supervision of parenting skills. Each family has a designated key worker and regular reviews take place. Monthly reports are written to monitor the progress of each family. Monthly reports are written to monitor the progress of each family.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The service consults with families regarding the quality of the service provided and the day-to-day activities within the centre. Questionnaires are given to families and parents are encouraged to read and sign their placement plans. There is no information about how families are supported if they have learning difficulties or if English is not their first language. Consideration is given to the cultural and religious background of families. For example, staff discuss cultural and religious needs with families and record these in their placement plans. Information about Ofsted's role is provided, however not all families are aware of it.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Families are allocated a key worker who works on an individual basis with the family and individual key work sessions take place. Regular reviews take place, however, limited information is available on case files regarding the reviews and proposed action or outcomes resulting from these. Records of residents' meetings are not maintained and therefore limited information is available on case files regarding the views and proposed action or outcomes resulting from these.

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Achieving economic wellbeing

The family centre is located in a residential area of a large city. It is close to local shopping areas and there is a doctor's surgery very close to the centre. There are also good transport links in the area. The communal lounge and dining area are adequately furnished. The lighting, heating and ventilation in the centre are satisfactory and water temperatures are monitored. The kitchen and bathrooms are poorly maintained and managed. Although the standard of the furnishings is satisfactory, the centre is not in a good state of repair or décor. The curtains in the kitchen have fallen down and the kitchen was not clean. The manager says that the cleaning of the communal areas is the responsibility of the families in placement. All of the bedrooms and the bathroom are fitted with appropriate locks.

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Organisation

The Statement of Purpose describes the work undertaken by the project. Parents are clear about the services available and how their needs and those of their children will be met in placement.

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Organisation

The promotion of equality and diversity is good. The centre has an experienced, and culturally diverse staff team and placement plans include health and safety issues and how their family needs will be met in relation to ethnicity, culture, language, religion, gender and disability.

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Organisation

The manager of the family centre is a qualified social worker, however the manager is not registered with Ofsted no application has been made to rectify this. The centre has been operating without a registered manager for more than a year and the service failed to inform Ofsted when the previous Registered Manager left.

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Organisation

There are systems in place for managing the centre and these are well known to all staff. Appropriate disciplinary and grievance procedures are in place. These are available in the staff handbook. Managers are available to talk to families and there are systems in place for families to feedback their experiences or concerns to staff and to the management team.

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Organisation

Staff receive monthly supervision, however appraisals are not up to date. As a result the training programme for staff is not linked to the appraisal system and this has an impact on staff training needs. None of the staff files seen had any individual training programme. All the support staff have or are working towards a relevant qualification and are experienced with a range of relevant child care skills.

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Organisation

Families have access to staff at all times throughout the day and night. Information given to families ensures that each family understands their own role and responsibilities, the roles of the staff team and the possible outcomes of their placement. Placement plans are reviewed regularly to ensure that family needs are being met. Plans are adapted, where necessary, to include specialist input. The project maintains satisfactory records for staff, parents and children using the project.

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Organisation

There is no system in place to show how the manager of the home reviews the quality of care provided at the residential family centre. Parents are consulted about the service provided during the regulation 25 visits. Recordings on family files are kept up to date and these are securely stored. The project has an open access to files policy which is known to all families resident.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Residential Family Centres Regulations 2002 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Std. Action Due date

13 notify the relevant authorities when any of the events listed in Schedule 5 occur (Regulation 26(1)) 24/09/2010

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Std. Action Due date

20 ensure the premises are kept in a good state of repair externally and internally and all parts of the centre are kept clean and reasonably decorated (Regulation (21) (b) and (c)) 24/09/2010

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Std. Action Due date

14 ensure that notice is given in writing to Ofsted when the person other than the Registered Manager carries on or manages the centre, and a person ceases to carry on or manage the residential family centre.(Regulation 28 (a) and (b)) 24/09/2010

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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):

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Recommendations

 ensure that staff receive training in paediatric first aid, food safety and the safe storage and the safe handling of medication (NMS 4)  ensure that there is a record of the names of staff and residents present, and the time of day, when fire drills have been conducted (NMS 22)  complete environmental risk assessments for the cupboards outside of the building in the play area(NMS 22)

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