Children's Home run by The Drive Care Homes Ltd in Kent

Unique reference number SC063689 Inspection date 25/08/2011 Inspector Karen Malcolm Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 01/02/2011 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

The children’s home is registered to provide care for up to six children aged between 10 and 17 years, who have learning and/or physical disabilities.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people enjoy a service that is child focused and ensures that services are built around the needs of the child. The Registered Manager and care team are fully committed to providing children and young people with positive outcomes. A key feature of the service is that children and young people enjoy activities that meet their needs and wishes and are encouraged and fully supported to access full time education.

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Overall effectiveness

Children and young people benefit from a home that provides a safe and homely environment. Placement plans are detailed and risk assessments are in place and reviewed. The home ensures that children and young people are able to communicate in the ways that suits them; they enjoy a healthy lifestyle and contribute to the running of the home. Children and young people have a positive relationship with the staff team. Care staff are trained and qualified to meet the needs of the children and young people they care for on a daily basis.

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Overall effectiveness

Under leadership and management the outcome judgment is satisfactory, although the overall effectiveness of the service is good. The shortfalls identified relate to key documents not being consistently updated such as the Statement of Purpose and the home's policies and procedures, these do not reflect all the current changes in legislation. Also, with regard to changes in the staffing levels, no contingency plan is in place to ensure all persons living and working in the home are aware of the changes. The home's security measures have no risk assessment to verify why these measures are in place. Further to this, Regulation 33 reports do not clearly reflect the views of children and staff.

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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 person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

33 ensure that the person carrying out the Regulation 33 visits 30/10/2011 (2001) shall interview, with consent and in private, the children accommodated there and persons working at the home, in order to form an opinion of the standard of care provided in the home. Clear evidence of how children are communicated with is to be recorded also (Regulation 33(4)(a))

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) update the absent without permission policy to include the local authority and police protocols on missing children (Regulation 16(4)(b) 30/09/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the Statement of Purpose consists of all matters listed in Schedule 1 such as the arrangements for dealing with complaints. (Regulation 4(1) Schedule 1) 30/09/2011

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 ensure that where secure measures are used by the home, there is a written policy that sets out how they should be used, how they promote the welfare of children, how children will be informed of their use, how legitimate privacy of children will be protected and how children will be protected from potential abuse of such measures (NMS 10.5)  have in place a contingency plan in the event of a shortfall in staffing levels, which is known to all persons working for the home (NMS 17.3)  ensure that new staff undertake the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction standards, commencing within 7 working days of starting their employment and being completed within 6 months (NMS 18.3)  make sure that the management of the home ensures all staff’s work is consistent with the home’s policies and procedures and these are kept up to date in line with current changes in legislation. ( NMS 21.3)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are good .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Children and young people make good progress in relation to their starting points across all aspects of their welfare and development, this is underpinned by effective support from staff to meet their individual needs. Children and young people are able to communicate in various ways. Staff are trained to communicate, understand and pick up issues that may arise from children and young people’s body language, gesture or their own ways of communicating as to what their wishes or needs are. Staff in the home demonstrate a good understanding of safe working practice to meet individual children’s needs, through risk assessing all activities that children and young people attend. Children and young people enjoy a service that is child focused and ensures that services are built around the needs of the child and young person. The Registered Manager and staff team are fully committed to providing children and young people

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Outcomes for children and young people

with positive outcomes. A key feature of the service is that children and young people enjoy activities that meet their needs and wishes and they are encouraged through various communication aids to contribute to the way they service is run. All are in full time education and staff encourage and support them with any work or meetings they have to attend.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The home is managed in a safe and caring way that meets the needs of the children and young people. Their placement/care plans are good and detail all areas of risk the child or young person may have, there are clear dates of when the plans need to be reviewed. Children and young people are able to contribute through key working sessions and this is carried out in accordance with the needs of each child and young person. There is clear guidance for each child and young person on how they would like to be conversed with and how they are able to make informed and positive choice about their needs and wishes. The home ensures that children and young people enjoy a healthy lifestyle and contribute to the running of the home. Mealtimes are an important time. Children and young people were observed laying the table and washing up after the meal. Children and young people know what they like and dislike and staff are able to address these with them sensitively and in a productive

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Outcomes for children and young people

way. The relationships between children, young people and the care staff were positive and good; children and young people made their views known through gestures and body language which staff pick up on and react to.

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Quality of care

The home is located in a residential area close to a main road and within close proximity to the town centre, there is easy access to various leisure and recreational facilities also. The home provides children and young people with a homely accommodation that is maintained to a good standard. Children and young people have their own bedrooms which they can decorate to their own particular style and taste. Children and young people were observed to be comfortable and settled within their surroundings, as they wandered from the garden and from room to room either watching television or jumping on the trampoline. The home ensures that children and young people are aware of how to make a complaint. There is a complaint leaflet on the resident’s notice board in a pictorial format; the information also includes the contact details of a variety of appropriate external agencies.

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Quality of care

The service has a thorough procedure for introducing children and young people to the home and to ensure that they are welcomed into the home in a planned and appropriate manner. Placement plans are detailed based on the assessed and known needs of the individual. The Registered Manager has a good working relationship with the placing authority who are happy with the placement plan and risk assessments that have been devised. All reviews, including statutory reviews are completed within the specified timescales. Placement plans provide good guidance and support to the care team in how the assessed needs of children and young people are to be met. These are supported by detailed risk assessments and individual strategies with clear review dates.

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Quality of care

Children and young people enjoy good relationships with staff based on mutual respect and honesty. The home places the well-being of children and young people at the centre of their practice and ensures that the service fits around the needs of the child. The service is very child focused and is fully committed to ensuring that children and young people receive the best possible outcomes. This is demonstrated in the manner in which activities are arranged not only to provide leisure and social needs, but by incorporating independence, confidence and learning. From what was observed children and young people are happy with the activities provided and have an overwhelming buzz when they return back from an activity. The home ensures that staff have detailed guidance on how to implement positive behaviour support strategies and children and young people are able to describe how they are rewarded for good behaviour. The staff said that the children and young people

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Quality of care

enjoy being out all the time and generally being active.

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Quality of care

Children and young people not only enjoy the meals provided but also enjoy preparing and setting the table. Meals provided are varied, nutritious and meet their dietary needs, likes and dislikes. Children and young people are encouraged to eat healthily and partake in regular exercise. Menus viewed demonstrated that meals are from a variety of countries are served and are liked by them. Health care plans clearly identify the individual health care needs of children and young people and the action that is required to meet specific needs, and these are regularly reviewed. Records are kept of the visits and outcomes to a variety of health care providers. Children and young people are protected with good arrangements for the management of medicines and all staff have received medication training.

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Quality of care

A key feature of this service is the support provided to children in accessing education. Children and young people enjoy attending school and attend on a full time basis. Children's personal files contain vast amounts of information regarding their educational achievements and needs, including an up to date personal education plan.

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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

The home has suitable systems in place to ensure that children's welfare is protected and promoted. All care staff receive safeguarding training and care staff demonstrate a clear understanding of safeguarding protocols and procedures. The service has a good system in place for the recruitment of care staff and agency staff and all care staff working at the home have an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Care staff receive training in the use of de-escalation and restraint. Restraint has not been used in the home and minimal sanctions have been imposed. Comprehensive individual strategies and risk assessments inform staff how to manage behaviours and give clear boundaries. However, when there is a change to a risk this is not always updated to reflect the change. Children and young people are aware of the rules in the home and are encouraged to behave in an acceptable manner by the use of a rewards system that is managed and known to them. Detailed records are maintained of any untoward incidents and these are monitored by the Registered Manager.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home’s missing person policy is not compatible with the ‘Runaway and Missing from Home and Care’ protocols and procedures and managed by the police. It is also rare that children and young people at this service are absent without authority or go missing and if they do there are clear procedures in place of what action is to be taken which is known to all staff.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home is physically safe and appropriately secure to take into account the needs of the children. Detailed environmental risk assessments, activity risk assessments and fire safety checks are undertaken to promote safety and well-being. However, there are measures in place which restrict children and young people leaving the home freely due to an incident that occurred in the past. There is no written policy in place that sets out how the home promotes the safety and welfare of children and young people with these measures in place.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

The service has a detailed Statement of Purpose and a children’s guide that clearly describe what the home sets out to do for children and young people it accommodates, and the manner in which care is provided. However, what is missing from the Statement of Purpose is guidance on how complaints are addressed or handled when received. The children’s guide is in a form that is appropriate to the age and understanding of the children and young people who reside in the home and is fun to read. A copy of the children's guide is provided to children and young people on admission to the home.

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Leadership and management

Care staff receive frequent support from the Registered Manager. This results in staff receiving regular supervision and team meetings. The majority of the staff have newly been appointed from bank/casual staff to permanent care workers. Staff spoken to said that the induction they received was very comprehensive and clear and they learnt a lot through this process. The induction programme and policy in place is comprehensive, however, the policy does not make reference to when a new member of the staff team will be undertaking the Children’s Workforce Development Council’s induction programme.

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Leadership and management

The service ensures that all staff receive the appropriate training to perform their role and have received training in safeguarding, positive handling, first aid, food hygiene, working with challenging behaviour and communication awareness, medication and equality and diversity. Approximately five members of the care staff team have achieved a National Vocational Qualification at level 3 in Caring for Children and Young People and the others are working towards this.

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Leadership and management

The home ensures that there are appropriate numbers of staff on duty at all times to meet the needs of the children and young people. Staff confirm that they feel well supported and that there is a good on call system in operation. However, when there is a change in the staffing levels such as at night, there is no evidence of a risk assessment or contingency plan in place as to why this may occur and how this will be monitored. The impact of this change has had minimal affect on the safety of children and young people placed.

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Leadership and management

The manager has recently been registered. There is a clear leadership in place which is respected by all staff. The Registered Manager is aware of what are the strengths and weakness of the service and what needs to be improved. Care staff speak very highly of the support, guidance and advice they receive from the manager. They all feel they have learnt a lot more since the manager has been in post, they also feel empowered and able to support the children and young people in their care appropriately and safely. Once a month one member of staff team is given the title of employee of the month, this is through a fair ballot system of nomination from care staff only. The Registered Manager conducts regular audits on the quality of care provided at the home and this is undertaken monthly. As a new manager the manager feels it gives him a clear overview of the service he is managing on a day- to-day basis. The Regulation 33 visitor completes reports and ensures that these are

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Leadership and management

sensitive to the needs of the service. However, the reports received do not clearly evidence how the views of children and staff are gathered, following the guidance in the Regulation.

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Leadership and management

The manager ensures all staff’s work is consistent with the home’s policies and procedures, but these have not been kept up to date or in line with current changes in legislation.

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Leadership and management

The main aim of the home is to meet the needs of the children and young people placed. All staff feel supported by the fellow team members and where there may be a crisis they all pull together to support each other to ensure that the right and appropriate care is given to the child as this is their main priority.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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