Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Unique reference number SC066218 Inspection date 04/10/2011 Inspector Sonya Robinson Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 10/01/2011 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

The home offers accommodation for up to five young people from 10 to 17-years- old, in the registration category of children with learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people live in a safe, caring and supportive home environment that enables them to make good progress in all aspects of their lives. Young people feel safe and are protected from significant harm. Young people are happy with the quality of care and the support they receive from the staff. This is reflected in the strong and positive relationships and trust that exist between young people and staff.

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Overall effectiveness

All aspects of care planning and practice are highly personalised and tailored to comprehensively meet the individual needs of each young person and take into account their disabilities. Staff work in a coordinated way with young people, their family, social workers and schools. This ensures that young people continue to get the right help, guidance and advice they need on a daily basis. Young people’s needs and views are central to the running of the home. Staff are encouraging young people to become more involved in making choices and decisions about their lives. Staff use effective communication and observation skills to seek young people’s views about all aspects of the care and always take them seriously.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is effectively managed. The management and owner place emphasis on providing a good standard of childcare practice and they work hard to improve the service. As a result of this inspection issues were raised around medication, documentation around behaviour management and developing new protocols to further safeguard the young people who live in the home, and parts of the home which have lost their homely touches due to wear and tear. The medication issues were acted upon during the 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 person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that there are suitable arrangements for the recording, handling, safekeeping , safe administration and disposal of any medicines received into the children's home (Regulation 21 (1)) 04/10/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17A (2001) ensure that where a measure of restraint is used on a child the record must include details of any measure used to avoid the need of that measure, and for example detail of the measure used. (Regulation 17B (4) (b)) 30/11/2011

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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 the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated (NMS 10.3)  ensure that the children’s home has a designated person, who is a senior manager, responsible for managing allegations (NMS 20.5)  ensure that when a child's whereabouts are unknown that the home's procedures are compatible with and have regards for the local Runaway and Missing from Home and Care (RMFHC) protocols maintained and managed by the police or by the local authority for the area where the home is located (NMS 5.6)  ensure that there is regular review of incidents of challenging behaviour, trends or issues emerging form this, to enable staff to reflect and learn to inform future practice. (NMS 3.21)

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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

Young people have a sense of self-worth. Their enjoyment of school is reflected in their good attendance. They have a sense of pride over their achievements which is equally recognised and celebrated by the staff, for example rewards such as stickers and certificates given at school are proudly displayed within young people's bedrooms.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The staff ensure young people have opportunities to develop their personal and social skills to take responsibility for their own health and well-being, now and in the future. This is illustrated well in the level of life skills young people have built up during their time spent at the home and how confident they are becoming as a result. This level of support is enabling young people to be more prepared for adult life. Positive contribution, in learning about budgeting, shopping and baking is well established. There is effective multi-agency planning for delivering services to meet the needs of young people. Young people are supported and encouraged to participate in physical activities of their choice. For example, this is achieved through going for walks, playing in the park and playing football. Lots of encouragement is generated by staff that enables young people to achieve significant milestones, such as building up

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Outcomes for children and young people

greater confidence over engaging within the wider community and attending medical appointments in a calm manner.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from appropriate good contact with family. At times staff will supervise contact for some young people. This is managed in a sensitive manner to secure the required levels of safeguarding. .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Individual needs are assessed and addressed, in a way that promotes dignity and privacy, and differences are observed and respected. Support is provided to ensure that young people have their needs acknowledged and that they feel included and valued.

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Quality of care

Young people are making good progress living in a stable, caring and supportive environment. A social worker said ‘staff are very caring.’

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Quality of care

Staff provide young people with consistency, and as a result young people feel settled. Staff are creative in finding ways to support young people in making progress in every aspect of their lives. For example, staff have devised distraction techniques and activities to help young people to feel calm when they feel upset or frustrated.

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Quality of care

Staff are effective at building positive relationships with young people. Young people have strong relationships with staff. Young people are valued and accepted as individuals. Staff are proud of how well young people are doing, in fact one social worker said 'staff beam with pride'. Staff are committed to enabling young people to overcome the difficulties they may face to lead happy and fulfilling lives.

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Quality of care

Staff place the well-being of individual young people at the centre of their practice. Staff see young people in a positive and realistic light. Staff have good knowledge of the young people they work with ensuring that young people receive individual support and reassurance. This enables staff to plan for young people’s care and accommodation. Young people’s placement plans provide a good picture of all their personal needs and the support young people require. Staff put young people’s plans into practice effectively to ensure young people’s specific needs are met on a day-to- day basis. Care planning and staff’s day-to-day practice recognises young people as individuals with different needs, backgrounds, interests and views. They ensure that young people receive an individual service designed to meet their personal and communication needs, disability, background, and personal identity. Staff use a variety of communication techniques appropriate to individual young

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Quality of care

people to seek young people’s views and wishes. Staff encourage young people to develop their language skills to enable them to express their views and make choices about their lives and the running of the home, including what they want for tea and what they want to do after school. Staff’s knowledge of young people’s communication styles enables them to identify when young people are feeling frustrated or unhappy and sort out any problems. Young people often use non-verbal communication to identify their needs; for example, a young person let staff know where they wanted furniture and personal belongings placed when they recently moved into a larger bedroom by drawing a very detailed picture for staff.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a healthy environment that actively promotes their physical health and emotional well-being. They are supported to develop healthy lifestyles. Staff understand the importance of a well-balanced diet and ensure young people enjoy healthy and nutritious meals. Young people are actively involved in choosing meals they like, shopping for ingredients and helping to bake at times. Young people have easy access to community health services. Staff have a good understanding of young people’s specific health needs and ensure they are met on a daily basis. They closely monitor young people to make sure they are healthy, encouraging them to attend routine health checks, such as going to the dentist. They also ensure young people get suitable medical advice and treatment when they are feeling unwell. Staff effectively plan for any health treatment young people need to reduce young people’s anxieties and prevent them from becoming distressed. This careful and

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Quality of care

coordinated planning with the health services ensures that young people always get the medical treatment they require. There are systems in place for the administration of medication; however minor issues regarding storage and administration were apparent, although these were quickly addressed during the inspection.

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Quality of care

Staff have created a stimulating environment that promotes young people’s education. This includes staff actively encouraging young people, building confidence in their abilities through enjoyable activities in the community, such as going to the park, washing cars and going to the zoo. Staff ensure that the daily routine supports young people’s participation in education and school attendance. Young people have easy access to books, art materials, board games and other educational resources. Staff have established good links with the schools and work effectively with young people’s teachers to challenge any barriers to young people’s full participation in education.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a suitably designed house in a residential neighbourhood. It is handy for the shops, parks and community amenities. The house is clean and bedrooms reflect young people’s personalities and needs. However, parts of the home are showing signs of wear and tear and homely touches in some communal areas have become damaged and therefore removed.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. Staff demonstrate a very good commitment to preserving the confidentiality, dignity and privacy of young people and they have a good understanding of safeguarding issues. However, the home does not have a specific named person designated, that staff can go to, to deal with allegations. There are good systems in place to ensure that young people feel safe living in this home and that they communicate to staff and others, such as parents and social workers if they were worried or upset. This ensures that young people are protected from abuse.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home actively takes steps to make sure that young people are protected and do not go missing from care. There have been no incidents of young people going missing from care. keypads are on the main exits due to young peoples needs and lack of awareness regarding dangers and road safety. This does not restrict access around the home or into the large garden. The home is yet to develop links with the local police and agree local protocols regarding young people missing from care. There are however, risk assessments in place detailing individual needs and agreed strategies to support and protect young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Although trained in behaviour management including restraint, staff will always attempt to de-escalate a difficult or tense situation involving young people. Physical restraint is kept to a minimum in this home. Staff base their behaviour management on attempting to keep situations calm and to engage in discussion and distraction with young people rather than resort to physical actions. New legislation regarding children's homes has meant that further detail is now required within documentation and detailed clarity of the physical intervention used. Also, sanctions imposed upon young people have become repetitive at times and the effectiveness of these overall isn't consistently reviewed. Staff pride themselves on their knowledge of the young people and anticipating triggers that may escalate tensions. Rewards are also plentiful and have included praise, extra activities and personal items.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a home where there are regular health and safety checks of the premises, including certification for gas, electrical and fire safety checks.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safe recruitment processes within the organisation are robust and ensure all staff are suitably vetted. Safeguarding checks are undertaken prior to any member of staff working with young people. All visitors to the home are required to sign in and are appropriately supervised during their visit.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

Staff are provided with good quality training, support and resources to enable them to understand the developmental needs of young people and the part they play in ensuring their needs are recognised and met. Joint working is common place. Multi- agency partnerships are forged with health services, placing authorities and schools, working together in the best interests of young people. Young people are supported to obtain their views to be involved in meetings where key decisions are made about their future, inclusive of contributing to decisions. Care plans are drawn up with a multi-disciplinary partnership. This ensures young people are getting the right access to resources, benefits and education, necessary for achieving progress during transition stages. This is managed with realistic levels of what young people can achieve and with the right balance of providing safeguards to met their diverse needs. All records that are compiled are kept up to date and

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Leadership and management

Young people are supported by sufficient numbers of staff to meet their needs. There are adequate resources to meet the needs of young people with regards to domestic arrangements and the number of leisure facilities made available within the home and beyond.

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Leadership and management

The management team monitor and sign appropriate records as part of their internal quality assurance. Regular visits by the home owner take place to provide additional quality assurance mechanisms and involve consulting young people wherever possible. The management have a strong commitment to meeting the needs of young people. The level of progress young people have made is a testament of the impact the management have made to help young people aspirate, irrespective of their disability, ethnicity, gender or faith. Young people are increasingly confident and have built up their skills which means they are more prepared for adult life.

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Leadership and management

The home has a clear, accessible and comprehensive Statement of Purpose that clearly sets out its aims and objectives. These objectives are being utilised in everyday practice, inclusive of ensuring young people feel safe, protected and well cared for.

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Leadership and management

The home has taken action to address previous requirements and recommendations rising from the previous inspection. For example, there are now good systems in place to notify all relevant authorities of any significant events that may occur within the home. Sanctions and physical interventions are now recorded is separate dedicated books and all staff are working towards or have gained an appropriate qualification in childcare.

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Leadership and management

The staff receive regular and good quality supervision. This is evident by staff's appreciation of support and how supervision is enhancing their practice.

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Leadership and management

The home has forged good relationships with the local community and neighbours. These links have meant young people are able to access local resources and feel comfortable within their community.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is good .

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