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

Unique reference number SC398482 Inspection date 07/03/2011 Inspector Natalie Burton Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 08/07/2010 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 provides care and accommodation to six young people, aged from 11 to 16 years of age, including those with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It forms part of a larger organisation that also offers educational provisions to young people to those accommodated and external placements.

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Brief description of the service

The home is within a semi-rural area. The registration is made up of two accommodation areas, the house and the lodge. The latter consists of two self- contained bungalows with accommodation for young people and staff sleep-in areas. The house is a large building with separate bedrooms for young people. Both accommodation areas are on the same general site with a driveway between the two.

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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 interim inspection of this service. The findings from this interim inspection are supported by the full inspection completed in July 2010. This inspection considers the progress the home has made in implementing the recommendations and requirements made during the key inspection and revisits the key standards under the staying safe outcome area. Two young people participated in this inspection. Children are looked after by caring staff who work hard to promote good outcomes for children. There are satisfactory arrangements in place to keep children safe. Staff maintain appropriate relationships with the young people and are committed to supporting them.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The registered person has made progress with requirements and recommendations set out on the previous inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Progress has been made to improve the structure and contact of placement plans and these now contain the contact arrangements and cultural needs of young people.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Action has been taken to ensure suitable arrangements are made around medicines received into the home. Medicines are checked by the registered manger and all medication is clearly labelled and stored safely. Not all staff have completed their training though, in the administration of medication. Whilst some actions were taken in response to a recommendation around complaints records, in relation to the action taken and the outcome of the complaint, this continues to need some development.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Action has been taken to ensure that activities are appropriately planned for young people. Decoration of the home now supports young peoples development more fully.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Further work is required to ensure that a minimum ratio of 80% of all care staff have completed their Level 3 in the Caring for Children and Young People NVQ.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Some further requirements and recommendations are set within this report and the progress the provider makes will be monitored by Ofsted.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people's rights to privacy is actively promoted. Young people are issued with a personal bedroom key. As a result their belongings can be kept securely and they do not have to ask staff to open their bedroom doors. The provision of en-suite bathrooms facilities further supports children's right to privacy. Information held on behalf of young people is correctly stored in lockable facilities. Staff respect young people's privacy through knocking prior to entry to their rooms. Young people's privacy is respected through staff being aware of the responsibilities to promote privacy and confidentiality, however, the home does not have a procedure on room searches.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The welfare of young people is promoted by a complaints policy. Information regarding how to make a complaint is within the young people's handbook, although, this does not contain information regarding Ofsted. 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. Records of complaints do not show the action taken. If complaints are allegations about staff, there is an allegation log that is completed. There is no supporting records of the action taken to investigate the allegations made. Subsequently welfare of young people and recording around allegations is lacking. Staff are trained in the area of safeguarding. The procedures within the home comply with the local safeguarding Children Board.

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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. 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

Detailed behaviour management plans are produced which identify known challenging behaviour and clarify agreed strategies to guide the protection of children. However, staff do not consistently work within these strategies and case records sometimes fail to clarify the work which may have taken place. The monitoring around physical intervention and measures of control is inconsistent. This restricts management oversight of the events leading to a measure of control or physical intervention, but also highlights that management monitoring is not always robust. In addition, the organisation has not ensured that all staff are in date with their physical intervention training. Measures of control are based on promoting 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 aspects of the safety of the premises and grounds, however, these would benefit by being thoroughly reviewed. The fire risk assessment does not cover both of the homes registered. Health and safety checks are completed on a regular basis and within the expected timescales. Children benefit from being involved in regular fire evacuation drills. As a result they know what actions to take should a real fire occur.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The organisations staff recruitment checks were inspected in May 2010 and were assessed as being sufficiently robust. Therefore they were not checked on 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

26 ensure a fire risk assessment is implemented to cover both buildings as a precaution against the risk of fire (Regulation 32.1(a)) 29/04/2011

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Std. Action Due date

17 ensure written records are kept of any allegation of abuse or neglect, and of the action taken in reponse (Regulation 16.2(d)) 31/03/2011

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Std. Action Due date

1 ensure the children's guide includes the address and telephone number of Ofsted (Regulation 4.3(c)) 31/03/2011

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Std. Action Due date

13 ensure all staff have completed training in the administration of medication (Regulation 27.4(a)) 29/04/2011

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Std. Action Due date

22 ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restarint 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)) 31/03/2011

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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 a minimum ratio of 80% of all care staff have completed their Level 3 in the Caring for Children and Young Persons NVQ (NMS 29.5)  ensure the registered person has liaised with the Local Authority Child Protection Co-ordinator regarding local procedures and practises keeping children safe and responding to allegations (NMS 17.5)  ensure the registered manager reviews the implementation and effectiveness of action identified as a result of risk assessment carried out (NMS 26.3)  ensure the home provides guidance for staff on when it may be necessary to search a child's possessions (NMS 9.8)  ensure the registered person monitors and signs against each entry of physical intervention and measure of control within the home to confirm monitoring has taken place (NMS 22.11)  ensure all staff are trained in techniques of physical restraint and other forms of physical intervention, specifically when their training is out of date they do not

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Recommendations

participate in any physical interventions (NMS 22.8)  ensure a written record of a complaint is made, specifically around the action taken and the outcome of the complaint. (NMS 16.3)

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