Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Buckinghamshire

Unique reference number SC067757 Inspection date 30/09/2010 Inspector Rosemary Dancer Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 27/05/2010 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 children’s home is registered to take young people aged 12 up to 18 years and is owned and operated by a private organisation. The home is located on a modern housing development close to all local amenities.

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Brief description of the service

The home sets out to provide medium to long-term care for young people who need particular assistance with managing their behaviour, including offending behaviour. Where appropriate, young people are supported in returning home or staying to manage transitions to more independent settings.

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Brief description of the service

The ground floor has a kitchen, separate dining room, lounge and a large conservatory which can be used as a classroom during the day. The main office, cloakroom and an additional room are also on the ground floor. On the first floor there are four bedrooms, one of which has en-suite facilities, and a communal bathroom.

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Brief description of the service

At the rear of the property there is a small garden with an area for parking.

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Brief description of the service

Currently, there are two young people living at the home, both of whom were present during the inspection. One young person took part in the inspection.

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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 interim inspection which was carried out to assess the home's progress in meeting the requirements and recommendations set following the last key inspection and to inspect key standards under the outcome area staying safe.

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Summary

The home continues to offer young people a good standard of care and young people feel staff help to keep them safe. One requirement and one good practice recommendation have been made following this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Following the last key inspection two requirements and four good practice recommendations were made. Both requirements have been met. The first requirement related to ensuring that the record keeping in respect to the administration of medication is accurate; there is now a robust system of audit which has ensured records are accurately maintained. The other requirement was to ensure that copies of the monitoring reports made under Regulation 33 are provided to Ofsted; these are now being received in a timely way.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Progress on the four recommendations has been made. The manager was asked to ensure that the stock control for non prescribed medicines was subject to robust monitoring; there is now an audit system that ensures stocks are controlled effectively. The manager was also asked to ensure that case records made about the young people are signed and dated by the writer; a new audit system has been introduced which allows any shortfalls in this area to be rectified in a timely way.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The other two recommendations have been repeated in this report as they remain not fully met. They relate to the recording of menus which remains a recommendation and the recording of restraints and sanctions about which a requirement has been made.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people's wishes for privacy and confidentiality are respected by staff. There is a good balance achieved between meeting the wishes of the young person and his or her needs in relation to safety. Young people are provided with keys to their bedrooms; although these are sometimes lost. Staff have access to bedrooms if there is an emergency situation. Information about young people is treated confidentially and only shared with others on a need to know basis. Young people are supported in achieving good quality contact with significant others in line with their care plans.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people feel able to raise any issues they are not happy with and are confident that, where appropriate, issues are addressed effectively. The home accepts and deals with complaints from external sources in a timely and effective way. The registered person monitors complaints and if they have been about a young person's behaviour this is followed up with the young person in a key work session. This complements the work carried out in respect to behaviour management.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The arrangements for keeping young people safe are robust. Staff are guided by clear procedures in relation to any allegations or concerns that a young person may be at risk. Staff training in this area has meant staff are confident in their use. Likewise young people are confident about the abilities staff have to help them to keep themselves safe. Bullying is not tolerated in any form and any incidents are dealt with in a timely way. The young person carrying out the bullying is supported in thinking about the reasons why the incident occurred and further supported in developing strategies to ensure they modify this behaviour. When a young person is missing from the home, or has not returned home on time, their safe return home is supported by staff and police working closely together. This work is underpinned by a protocol with the police and there are good working relationships between the staff and police.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The relationships between young people and staff are good and this helps to support young people develop their social skills. Clear behaviour management strategies are developed for each young person and these are based on assessed needs. The management of behaviour is grounded in reinforcing positive behaviours and helping young people to develop a structured programme of work, pastimes and learning experiences. This keeps them occupied and allows them to do activities they enjoy and can excel at. This helps to increase self-esteem and self-worth. This work is reviewed, internally and externally in line with young people's needs and wishes. The outcomes of the behaviour management strategies and associated work are measurable and this means the progress young people have made is apparent. There is a clear system of rewards which are known and understood by staff and young people and this provides young people with a clear understanding about the

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

expectations placed on them. There are appropriate sanctions applied where behaviour has fallen short of expectations and limited use of physical intervention where there is a danger to property or people. While the practice in respect to sanctions and physical interventions are sound the recording of these events has shortfalls; this has no direct impact on young people.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The arrangements for ensuring that the environment is safe for young people staff and visitors are robust as all health and safety requirements are met to a good standard. There are a good range of risk assessments in place that include a risk reduction plan thus ensuring risks are identified and can be minimised as far as is possible. The arrangements for the recruitment of staff were not assessed on this occasion; the staff recruitment arrangements were found to be robust at the last inspection.

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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, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Std. Action Due date

22 ensure that a written record is made of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline that is in line with the regulations and national minimum standards 22.9 and 22.10. (Regulation 17) 01/11/2010

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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 the records of menus contain the detail of the food actually served at each meal. (NMS 10.4)

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