Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children‟s Services (2) Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC398481 Inspection date 03/03/2011 Inspector Natalie Burton Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 03/08/2010 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

The home is a four bedded unit offering care and accommodation to young people with a range of differing needs. This includes services for young people that experience emotional and behavioural difficulties. The accommodation is within a semi rural area, and consists of a detached house, with individual bedrooms for all of the young people and sufficient bathrooms. Communal areas include two large lounges, a dining room, kitchen and conservatory. There is office space for the staff team and manager. Externally the house has a garden.

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Summary

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

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Summary

This is an unannounced interim inspection. The findings from this interim inspection are supported by the full inspection completed in August 2010. The overall rating is good.

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Summary

This inspection considers the progress the home has made in implementing the recommendations made during the key inspection and revisits the key standards under the staying safe outcome area. One young person participated in this inspection.

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Summary

Staff make good efforts to keep young people safe during the placement. They maintain appropriate relationships with the young people and are committed to supporting them.

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Summary

One action and four recommendations have been made as a result of this inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection three actions and two recommendations were made. Improvements have been made and all the identified shortfalls have been addressed.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Action has been taken to ensure that everyone is aware of the fire procedure. The Registered Manager has refreshed fire procedure training for all staff. All staff present on the fire drills are named.

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Improvements since the last inspection

All young people have placements plans which set out how they will be cared for on a day-to-day basis. The placement plans have good cross referencing to supporting documents.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The manager now ensures that a Schedule 6 Children's Homes Regulations 2002 check is completed monthly ensuring effective monitoring of all areas within Schedule 6. This is completed by a senior member of staff and signed by the Registered Manager.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The Registered Manager has now ensured that young people's placement plans contain information around contact arrangements and that health plans are also up to date within the placement plan.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Information held on behalf of young people is correctly stored in lockable facilities. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to promote privacy and confidentiality and their practice is consistent with the organisation's policies and procedures. Staff respect young people’s privacy through measures such as knocking prior to entering their rooms. Currently, all young people’s calls are monitored, for the purpose of safeguarding the welfare of children. The placing authority provides the home with a written agreement in relation to monitoring calls to ensure young people's privacy is supported, as well as ensuring their safety. Young people's privacy is respected.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The welfare of young people is promoted by a clear complaints policy. Information regarding how to make a complaint is within the young people's handbook. There is an appropriate system in place to record any concerns made by the young people and they receive a written response once the complaint has been investigated. The responses are not appropriately written. If complaints are allegations about staff, the manager follows the child protection procedures and appropriately refers to the local safeguarding team for advice and discussion. Staff are trained in the area of safeguarding and there is further training arranged to ensure the safety of the young people. The procedures in the home fully comply with the local safeguarding Children Board procedures. As a result young people live in a stable and safe environment where their welfare is paramount.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The home has appropriate policy, procedures and guidance for staff to follow in the event of bullying behaviour. Any issues are discussed openly within the home to ensure everyone is protected. There are systems in place for protecting young people who are absent from the home without permission and for notifying and reporting significant events to relevant bodies. Incidents of this behaviour within the home are rare.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people are assisted to develop appropriate behaviour through encouragement of acceptable behaviour and constructive staff response to inappropriate behaviour. Behaviour management strategies are based around creating a safe and supportive environment, and consist of differing de-escalation techniques that are used with individuals. However recordings of behaviour management are not consistently completed, and monitoring of these systems is lacking on occasion. The organisation ensures that staff complete the required training to ensure if physical intervention is necessary it is consistent with guidance. Measures of control are based on promoting positive behaviour and records show they usually relate to the behaviour of the young person.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Positive steps are taken to keep young people, staff and visitors from fire and other hazards in the home. There are risk assessments in place for all aspects of the safety of the premises and grounds, however, these are not thoroughly reviewed. Young people’s risk assessments are of a good quality. Health and safety checks are completed on a regular basis and within the expected timescales. Fire drills are now of a sufficient number, although records do not consistently include the time of the drill.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The organisation's staff recruitment checks were inspected in May 2010 and were assessed as being sufficiently robust. Therefore they are not checked this 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 within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose, in particular ensuring a description of the measure used is recorded (Regulations 17 (4) (c)) 30/03/2011

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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 written record of complaints includes the action taken. In addition that a suitable written response is made to the complainant (NMS 16.5)  ensure the Registered Manager reviews the implementation and effectiveness of action identified as a result of risk assessments carried out (NMS 26.4)  ensure that the times of fire drills are recorded (NMS 26.8)  ensure the registered person signs against each entry of restraint and sanction within the home to confirm monitoring has taken place. (NMS 22.11)

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