Children's Home run by Oracle Care Limited in Bedford

Unique reference number SC389698 Inspection date 22/03/2011 Inspector Natalie Burton Type of inspection Random

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Date of last inspection 28/09/2010 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 home provides two placements for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The service is one of three small homes operated locally by the organisation, in addition to registered services in other regions. The service also provides a school setting within easy travelling distance, which is available to meet the needs of children who have no current mainstream school placement.

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Brief description of the service

Children have individual bedrooms and open access to a range of communal living areas. There is a garden providing space for games or relaxation.

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Brief description of the service

Two children currently live in this home, both were present and participated in 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 was an unannounced interim inspection of this service. The findings from this interim inspection are supported by the full inspection in September 2010.

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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. Two young people participated in this inspection.

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Summary

Young people are cared for by caring staff who work hard to promote good outcomes for them. There are good arrangements in place to keep young people 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 the recommendations set out on the previous inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Action has been taken to ensure that fire evacuation procedures and the fire safety risk assessment are updated to reflect the temporary locking of the side gate leading from the rear garden. The registered person has removed the temporary lock.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Whilst some action has been taken to ensure that systems are in place to monitor performance, in particular in relation to developing a stock control system for medication received into the home, this system is not yet sufficiently robust.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff actively support young people to take responsibility for their bedroom and belongings and they have a key for their room. Young people’s personal information is correctly stored in lockable facilities and only shared with others on a need to know basis. Young people’s privacy is respected through staff being aware of their responsibilities to promote privacy and confidentiality, and their practice is consistent with the organisation's policies and procedures. Consequently, young people enjoy privacy and respect, appropriate for their needs and level of understanding.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people say they know how to make a complaint and information is readily available in an accessible form. Young people can use a handheld phone to make calls in private. The home takes complaints from young people seriously and deals with them quickly and effectively. There is an appropriate system in place to record any concerns made by the young people, however, a written response is not consistently completed. Staff are fully trained in the area of safeguarding and this is updated on a regular basis to ensure the safety of young people. Staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously and they are supported by good policy and robust procedure. Clear information is available for all staff regarding these procedures. Young people say they ‘feel safe living here’. 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 staff team are fully committed to protecting the young people from any form of abuse or bullying. There are countering bullying policies and procedures readily available at the home and staff are familiar with them. The organisation's policy and procedures regarding young people who leave the house without permission are robust. Staff focus on developing supportive and consistent relationships with the young people to encourage alternative and safer ways of behaving. Promoting young people’s safety and protection is central to the operation of the home. Incidents of this type are currently not an issue.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Behaviour management systems within the home are positive and encourage improvements through rewards as well as sanctions. Young people are assisted to develop appropriate behaviour through the encouragement of acceptable behaviour and constructive staff response to inappropriate behaviour. Good behaviour management programmes examine differing de-escalation techniques that are used with individuals; these show an effective way of responding to differing young people. Young people receive good, clear guidance on expected behaviours and understand what happens if they misbehave. The young people's individualised crisis plan identifies and details coping strategies for dealing with situations that the young person may find particularly stressful. Behaviour management policies and strategies have, as their prime objective the creation of a safe, supportive environment. All recordings of behaviour management are fully completed and referenced within the

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

home's record as well as individual files. Very few physical interventions occur. The organisation makes sure that staff complete the required training to ensure if physical intervention is necessary it is consistent with guidance.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Young people live in a home that provides for their physical safety and security. The management of health and safety processes is generally good. Equipment and installations are serviced regularly and there are regular fire safety tests. The certificate of Public and Employer Liability is displayed as required. This helps to protect young people from the risk of harm or injury in the home. Young people undertake fire drills, so that they understand what to do in the event of a fire, or an emergency. However, a night time drill has not been undertaken in the last year. There are risk assessments for all aspects of the safety of the premises and grounds including serious incident planning, the behaviour of young people and their activities. But some risk assessments are now out of date and need reviewing. All visitors to the home are monitored by being asked to show evidence of their identity and required to sign in the appropriate book. These procedures ensure all young

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

people living here are protected from potential risks.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The staff recruitment checks were inspected in September 2010 and were assessed as being sufficiently robust. Therefore they were not checked at 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

16 ensure that a written record of the outcome of the complaint investigation, is kept, within the home's records. (Regulation 24.5) 29/04/2011

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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 that there are systems in place to monitor the performance with the Children's Homes Regulations 2001. In particular this relates to the need to develop a stock control system for medication received into the home (national minimum standard 33.1)  ensure that risk assessments are regularly reviewed, specifically young people's and generic risk assessments (national minimum standard 26.2)  ensure at least one night time fire drill including evacuation takes place in a 12 month period. (national minimum standard 26.8)

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