Children's Home run by Fairways Care (UK) Limited in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Unique reference number SC391708 Inspection date 09/12/2010 Inspector Debbi Flint Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 08/06/2010 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 provision is a children's home, which is owned by a private company. It is registered for up to two young people of either gender from 11 years to under 18 years of age. Young people may exhibit emotional or behavioural difficulties. The home is situated in a residential area of a local town. It is easily accessible by car and public transport. Placements will usually be for more than three months and are designed to offer young people a period of stabilisation and intensive work with the aim of them moving on to foster care, back to the family or into independence. The current service is specifically set up to meet the complex needs, including health and behavioural issues, of one young person. The intention is that the service will be able to accommodate more than one young person in the future. The home is a detached chalet bungalow with off-road parking at the front and gardens to the rear.

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Brief description of the service

The young person currently accommodated was not in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Summary

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

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Summary

This statutory inspection was undertaken as an unannounced interim inspection. This was not a key inspection and not all key standards were assessed. The purpose of this inspection was to follow up the recommendations from the last inspection. In addition to this all key standards under the Every Child Matters outcome area of staying safe were assessed.

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Summary

The home is judged to be continuing to provide a good service overall. There are good policies and procedures in place to ensure young people's safety and well-being and these are followed in practice. Staff demonstrate a very good knowledge of the needs of the young people that they accommodate. Behaviour management is very good. Staff work together as a team and provide young people with firm and consistent boundaries. Staff also encourage young people to increase their independence. A new manager has recently been appointed to this home and this manager will be applying to register with Ofsted.

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Summary

Two recommendations were made at this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection one action was raised and this was to obtain the information specified in Schedule 3 in respect of each child. This action has been met. Five recommendations were made and these were: to keep a written record of medication signed by the responsible member of staff; to ensure child protection procedures are consistent with local policies and procedures including correct information of the Local Safeguarding Children Board relevant to the geographical area where the home is situated; to record the outcome of all statutory reviews on the young person's file and clearly identify any actions arising from the reviews; to update the Statement of Purpose at least annually and to maintain a written record of all training for all staff in the home. All of these recommendations have been met.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people's privacy is respected by staff working in the home. Young people living in this home have learning disabilities and staff encourage them to be as independent as possible. If young people require assistance with personal care, staff ensure that this is offered discreetly and sensitively. A cordless digital phone is available for young people's use and staff ensure that they assist any young person who has difficulty using this phone.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are properly protected by appropriate systems that promote safety and welfare. The home ensures that complaints procedures are available in a child friendly format as well as providing complaints procedures for adults such as staff and outside agencies. Staff are well trained in safeguarding children procedures and are given good guidance on how to respond to any allegations. Staff are aware of the contact details of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The home promotes an anti-bullying ethos through ensuring that risk assessments are in place to minimise bullying and through staff talking to young people about the dangers of bullying. However, information on bullying is not yet included in the young person's guide and no other information on bullying in user-friendly format was available in the home during this inspection. There are appropriate policies available to guide staff in the

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

event of any young person being missing from the home. However, young people are unlikely to go missing due to high levels of staffing and good attention to their needs. Therefore no incidents of absence have occurred.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people benefit from a consistent approach to behaviour management which helps them to develop socially acceptable behaviour. Each young person has a very clear behaviour management plan which staff adhere to in practice. Young people know what is expected of them and they are able to achieve rewards for socially acceptable behaviour. Staff are well trained in behaviour management and they have assisted young people to improve their behaviour. Records of any behavioural management incidents are appropriately maintained by the home's staff team. Young people live in a safe environment and there is very good provision overall for the management of risk. This includes assessing risks for young people's behaviour and any activities undertaken by young people. The organisation also ensures that building risk assessments are carried out on a monthly basis by a health and safety manager. Staff ensure that all fire equipment is regularly tested and serviced;

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

however, in the last year staff have not carried out sufficient fire drills to meet the national minimum standard.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are protected by robust staff recruitment procedures that ensure staff are carefully selected and vetted prior to working at the home. Originally staff records were kept at the organisation's head office but the new manager has arranged for the home to also keep a copy of these records.

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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

 review the young person's guide to include a better summary of what the home sets out to do for children (such as information on bullying) and to contain accurate information (NMS 1).  ensure that at least four fire drills, including fire drills at night, take place in any 12 month period and are recorded (NMS 26.8).

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