Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children‟s Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Unique reference number SC398377 Inspection date 02/08/2011 Inspector Trevor Hall Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 31/01/2011 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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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 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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About this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the Inspections of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011) and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service that exceeds minimum requirements Satisfactory : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Brief description of the service

This home is part of part of a range of children's services within a private care organisation. The home is registered to offer care and accommodation to three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people make excellent progress in their placements and feel prepared for independence and adult life. Young people receive support from a stable and experienced staff team. There is a good emphasis on young people making the most of their educational opportunities. Young people say that staff listen and take an interest in everything they do and they feel supported and safe. Young people enjoy being at the home and take an active role in their own care planning. A safe environment is provided for young people with good health and safety control measures. Behaviour management strategies are based on positive interactions and this is confirmed by the young people’s comments. The leadership and management of the home promotes a culture of respect and individuality that positively impacts on the young people. Monitoring of the service is of a good standard and contributes towards improving practice; staff are motivated, competent and well trained.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people have educational placements in mainstream schools, colleges or at the company's own college. Young people say that they are fully supported in all areas of education from helping with homework to transporting to and from school. All young people have good school attendance. As a result of this young people are achieving and they feel that the home values their education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are helped to understand how to lead a healthy lifestyle and to take responsibility for their own health and well-being. Young people benefit from having a nutritional and healthy diet and they develop skills and knowledge that will help them in adult life.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are appropriately supported to maintain contact with their families in line with arrangements detailed within their care plans. Young people are supported by staff wherever necessary during family visits. Placement plans and supportive case file records make explicit the authorised arrangements for contact between each young person, their family, friends and their social workers. The home has adequate space to enable visitors to the home to see young people with an appropriate degree of privacy, and without impacting unreasonably on the other young people’s experience.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Care plans have been developed that recognise young people's individuality and encourage the celebration of difference. Young people are assisted to develop a healthy sense of self and to recognise the rights and feelings of others. This enables them to more easily engage with the wider community. The home actively acknowledges racial, religious, gender and other differences and encourages open discussion and learning on such issues. The home offers young people a wide range of activities and encourages them to pursue their own particular interests. This enables young people to gain confidence and learn new skills through new experiences.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn and receive consistent support to develop their independent living skills at their own pace. Young people have detailed pathway plans and receive a weekly budget in preparation for their independence. This includes information around having useful telephone numbers and addresses of establishments that can offer assistance in a range of things. Young people say that they feel prepared for moving into independence and that staff have given them the advice and tools which will help them in a successful transition to independence and adult life.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from a staff team that has an excellent understanding of their individual needs and what it is hoped they will achieve from their placement. Each young person has a placement plan, to which they have contributed. Staff are very knowledgeable about young people’s needs and aspirations. The service employs a good mix of staff who provide positive role models and who work effectively with young people to establish good values such as respect and tolerance.

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Quality of care

Staff are very motivated and skilled in helping young people achieve the objectives of their placement. For example, they work extremely closely with placing authorities to ensure that individual needs, such as education, protection or contact, are thoroughly addressed. Consultation with a placing authority confirmed their satisfaction with the quality of care and support received at this service. They reported that staff are 'highly motivated' and respond effectively to meeting 'individual and complex' needs.

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Quality of care

Young people are consulted regularly and their views are taken into account in how they spend their time. Staff empower young people through their open and transparent ways of working. There is a culture of promoting young people’s rights and providing them with important information. For example, young people influence decision making in areas such as personal goal setting, incentives and activities. Young people plan their own activities and they say staff encourage them to include physical activities. Staff encourage young people to make constructive use of their leisure time by offering in-house activities such as board games but also understand the young persons need for free time.

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Quality of care

Staff and young people enjoy excellent relationships. The staff team are proactive and imaginative in finding ways to support young people to ensure they get the most from their placement. They ensure that they listen to young people's views and respond appropriately. Young people confirm that they know about the complaints procedure and that they have confidence in the process.

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Quality of care

Staff treat young people respectfully and reciprocal respect is encouraged between young people and staff. Individual diverse needs are appropriately identified and addressed, both in daily living and care planning. Staff place the well-being of young people at the centre of their practice. For example, staff pay excellent attention to personal safety issues, health needs and special dietary requirements. This helps young people to feel valued and to achieve a healthy and positive personal identity.

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Quality of care

Young people's health needs are actively promoted. Young people are registered with a doctor, dentist and optician and are supported to attend other specialist appointments. Access to specialist services is facilitated. Comprehensive placement plans outline young people's needs in relation to their health and well-being and detail how these are to be met. This underpins an excellent approach to promoting the physical and emotional well-being of young people. The arrangements for dealing with medication are safe and effective with administration record sheets appropriately completed.

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Quality of care

Young people are fully consulted about all aspects of their care. They are able to discuss their progress and make decisions about their future with staff and attend their review meetings. Placement plans reflect the current assessment of need which young people comment on and include the culture, race, religion and gender of young people. This means that the individuality of young people is fully acknowledged and staff can give individualised care to meet these needs.

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Quality of care

The home is situated in a quiet residential area. The accommodation provides a pleasant, warm and comfortable home that young people enjoy living in. Furnishings and decoration are to a good standard. Young people are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms and are involved in choosing decoration. There is a pleasant atmosphere in the home. Staff ensure they apply a good level of privacy by respecting young peoples needs for time alone and always knock on bedroom doors.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Care plans clearly identify the risks to which young people are vulnerable and strategies for staff to use to minimise these risks. The home’s ethos is of staff being a positive role model and showing mutual respect. Staff use effective approaches and they actively encourage and promote positive behaviour. Young people learn to take responsibility for their actions, and the reward system succeeds in helping young people develop and maintain socially acceptable behaviour. Sanctions are fair and generally restorative, and there is good evidence of positive behaviour being promoted within the home. This helps young people to interact positively and behave appropriately. Staff are trained in how to de-escalate conflicts and in the use of physical intervention; this is only used as a last resort and detailed records are kept.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has appropriate systems in place to protect young people should they go missing. The home follows the local authority’s policy on young people missing from care and implements this in accordance with a young person’s risk assessment and care plan. Staff are very open with young people about the procedures they need to follow if this occurs and commendable efforts are made by staff to discourage young people from going missing. Young people say that staff discuss the risks with them, encourage them to maintain contact while they are absent, and they check that they are alright on their return.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff actively discourage bullying and are clear about the potential harmful impact such behaviour has on young people. Information is supplied to all young people, which describes what constitutes bullying, the home's anti-bullying policy and how to report bullying if it is occurring. Young people say they are protected from bullying and have the support of staff if there are any concerns.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The management of health and safety at the home is good and helps to protect young people from the risk of harm and injury. This can be attributed to the effective implementation of clear health and safety policies and procedures; staff training; regular servicing and maintenance of equipment; detailed risk assessments which are regularly reviewed and robust and effective monitoring systems. Staff receive fire safety training and the fire evacuation procedure is explained to new staff on induction and young people on admission. Regular checks of the fire alarm system and fire drills are carried out.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safe, robust and effective recruitment practices and the vetting of visitors help to protect young people from the risk of harm and abuse. Appropriate checks are carried out including enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks, proof of identity and obtaining appropriate references. Young people are also encouraged to be involved in the recruitment of staff as much as possible, which gives young people a voice and makes them feel valued.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are outstanding .

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Leadership and management

The home offers care and accommodation in line with its Statement of Purpose, which includes all information required by regulation and accurately reflects the practice in the home and the conditions of the home's registration. Social workers confirmed receipt of the home’s Statement of Purpose and feel that they are fully informed of all progress and incidents relating to their clients. The home's Registered Manager is well qualified, very experienced and provides excellent leadership and support to the staff group. Young people are central to the home's ethos and the service continues to demonstrate capacity for further improvement. The service is regularly monitored and shortfalls are routinely identified and appropriate action taken. The one action and four recommendations made at the last inspection have all been addressed. Recording of concerns, complaints, behaviour management and room searches now meet standards and

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Leadership and management

pathway plans are in place for all young people aged over 16 years. By making these improvements the service has demonstrated its commitment to improving the quality of the service and outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s files provide a good record of risk assessments and behaviour management plans which gives staff clear insight into the young peoples needs and which informs the day–to-day care that they give.

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Leadership and management

The staff provide a excellent level of care, ensuring they themselves have the necessary training and support to work effectively. The organisation demonstrates a commitment for staff to undertake training on a variety of topics which address the diverse needs of young people. Training programmes include all mandatory training with new staff completing an induction. There is a robust recruitment process in place. This means that young people are cared for by suitably cleared and trained staff.

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Leadership and management

Staff are positive about the management arrangements and feel they are given scope to care for and nurture young people. Staff say that regular formal supervision and appraisals provides them with opportunities to discuss their professional development and plan actions to meet the needs of the young people.

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Leadership and management

The promotion of equality and diversity is good. Staff are committed to enabling young people to achieve as much as possible from their placement and to work towards fulfilling their potential. Young people are helped to develop confidence in a range of situations and to develop a positive self-view. The service has a commitment to anti-discriminatory practice and discriminatory issues are managed sensitively and effectively. The diverse staff team supports young people by providing positive role models.

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Leadership and management

The home is well resourced and employs a sufficient number of staff to maintain consistent cover. Staff are working very effectively with young people ensuring they do not experience any disruption to the quality of care and support they receive. Staffing levels vary from day to day, facilitating flexibility to support the needs of young people through education, contact and activities. As well as a permanent staff team the home also has access to named bank staff members.

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Leadership and management

The manager has established good internal quality assurance monitoring systems. It is clear that she checks all reporting systems regularly and comments if any record fails to meet either the home's policies and procedures or the regulations. All such issues are clearly dealt with either through staff supervision or by additional staff training. Regular internal monitoring reports are produced which help the home to develop its practice and ensure that young people are receiving the care and support they need.

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Leadership and management

Monthly regulation 33 visits to the home are carried out by a representative of the company. These visits generate reports that are shared with Ofsted. These reports are comprehensive and give an accurate description of the functioning of the service and complement the internal monitoring systems to ensure that young people receive the care they need.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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