Children's Home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Lancashire

Unique reference number SC411046 Inspection date 17/10/2011 Inspector Sarah Oldham Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 02/01/2011 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 is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have learning disabilities.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be satisfactory .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are supported by staff to develop good relationships and this enables them to make some positive progress. They have their health needs met and receive good support to attend education. Parents feel that their children are being well looked after and placing social workers say that the support provided to the young people is positive and enables them to make good progress.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff ensure that individual support and attention is provided to the young people. This includes promotion of positive behaviour and behaviour management strategies to support the young people. However, some behaviour management plans lack specific detail to ensure that all staff have a clear understanding of the procedure to follow for each individual young person.

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Overall effectiveness

All young people have care plans in place. However, some of these vary in information provided and do not always contain clear details on agreed outcomes for young people and how these are to be achieved.

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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

17B (2001) ensure that where a measure of restraint is used on a child, it must be proportionate and records must include details of any methods used to avoid the need to use the measure (Regulation 17A (2)(a)(b) and Regulation 17B (4)(b)) 01/12/2011

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) establish and maintain a system for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals and improving the quality of care provided in the children's home. The system referred to shall provide for consultation with children accommodated at the home, their parents and placing 30/12/2011 authorities. (Regulation 34 (1)(a)(b) & (3))

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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 there is a clear written policy on managing behaviour which includes de-escalation of conflicts, discipline, control and restraint, that all staff understand and apply at all times (NMS 3.3)  ensure that staff rotas have time scheduled to ensure handovers are held and that they include the planning of spending time with individual children (NMS 17.6)  ensure that when only one member of staff is on duty at any time, a risk assessment has been carried out and recorded in writing, identifying any likely risks to children, staff and members of the public (NMS 17.9)  ensure that staff have access to appropriate training that keeps them up-to-date with professional, legal and practice developments, in particular with regards safeguarding and child protection (NMS 18.1)  ensure that, in consultation with the child’s responsibly authority, arrangements are in place to support young people’s communication, so that they are able to

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Recommendations

make their views known about the running of the home (Volume 5 Children’s Homes Guidance and Regulations 2011, statutory guidance, paragraph 2.25)  ensure that the level of delegation and responsibility and responsibility of the manager and staff, and the lines of accountability, are clearly defined (NMS 21.4)  ensure that a system is in place to monitor the matters set out in Schedule 6 is in place and that these reports completed at six monthly intervals should be sent to HMCI within twenty eight days of completion. (Volume 5 Children's Homes Guidance and Regulations 2011, statutory guidance paragraph 3.14)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are satisfactory .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from a nurturing and supportive environment enabling them to make satisfactory progress in their individual development.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from support by staff who are proactive in supporting and promoting their health care needs. Individual health assessments are in place and these ensure that staff have the necessary information to support health care needs. Staff receive training in first aid and administration of medication. They ensure that young people receive prompt medical attention. These measures promote young people’s good health, development and physical well-being. Young people are encouraged and supported to have a healthy diet. They are encouraged to try a range of different foods. This enables them to make informed choices of meals. Pictorial symbols are used to enable all children to contribute to menu planning. Meal times are social occasions and this encourages young people to develop social skills.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are enabled to access a range of leisure activities, both in the home and in the local community. They have a range of toys and play equipment that is appropriate to their age and staff are aware of the individual activities that young people enjoy. Young people also enjoy accessing local community leisure facilities, for example parks, and shopping facilities. Staff also encourage and support them to try a range of different activities to enhance their life skills. All activities are risk assessed to ensure that they are appropriate for individual young people.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from appropriate contact with family and friends. Staff support this to ensure that young people’s identity within their family is effectively promoted.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is satisfactory .

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Quality of care

Young people are supported by a small dedicated staff team who demonstrate an understanding of the young people's complex needs. Young people are treated as individuals and their care provided is personalised to them. Placement plans are in place for all young people and provide details of care and support that young people need. These plans are kept under review to ensure that current needs of young people are identified to enable effective and appropriate support to be provided.

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Quality of care

Staff use a variety of communication methods to enable individualised communication. This includes verbal, pictorial, signs and gestures. However, not all staff have not received training in specific pictorial communication and this does not ensure that staff are always communicating with young people at the appropriate level. Details of specific communication are not routinely reviewed as part of the individual care plan.

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Quality of care

Young people are supported to attend education. The home ensures that positive links are maintained with schools to ensure effective communication about the educational progress of each young person.

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Quality of care

Individual risk assessments are in place. These identify potential risks and how they are to be managed. However, some risk assessments do not provide adequate details of how the risk is to be managed. This does not ensure effective measures are in place to promote continuity of care and support.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are effectively protected and kept safe from significant harm. Staff undertake safeguarding training. However, not all staff have had this training updated to ensure that their knowledge is current. There have been no safeguarding incidents and staff are aware of the reporting procedures.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Information is made available in written and pictorial formats to provide information to young people on what to do if they feel that they are being bullied or they are unhappy. The level of information is not specific to each child in a clear and appropriate format. However, there are no indications to identify that bullying is an issue at the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are supported to develop positive behaviour. This is based on individual management strategies that include de-escalation, re-direction and the use of visual prompts to help young people to self-manage their own behaviour. Physical intervention is very much seen as a last resort and only applied when there is an immediate risk of harm. All staff receive training in physical intervention and senior staff are trained to provide this training. Records are maintained of interventions. However, not all records contain in depth information about the outcome of the restraint for the young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staffing levels at the home provide one-to-one support. However, this also applies when there is a single placement at the home. There is a lone working policy and procedure in place and generic risk assessment. However, this risk assessment is not specific to individual young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has clear practices and procedures regarding what to do if a young person is missing from the home. Individual risk assessments also underpin the procedures to follow and these are known and understood by staff. There have been no incidents of missing from the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a physically safe environment. The home is maintained to a good standard and provides a safe environment for young people living there. Environmental risk assessments are in place and kept under review. All staff are carefully selected and vetted and visitors to the home are monitored and supervised as appropriate to ensure that young people are protected from people who pose a risk. Service contracts for fire, gas and electrical equipment are in place. Young people participate in regular fire drills and staff are aware of the individual support required for each young person during the evacuation process. Regular checks of the fire alarm, smoke detectors and emergency lighting systems take place. This ensures that the safety and well-being of young people is promoted.

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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 home has a Statement of Purpose in place that provides information about the aims and objectives of the home. This is made available to placing social workers, parents and guardians, enabling them to have a good understanding of what the home provides. There is also a children's guide which has been developed to provide information in a child-friendly format, including a pictorial version. This enables young people to have an understanding about living at the home.

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Leadership and management

Staffing levels at the home ensure that there is one-to-one staffing for young people. However, the manager is included on the staffing rota as part of the care team and this reduces the management hours and the opportunity to monitor staff practices within the home. This does not ensure that there are robust monitoring systems in place to effectively evaluate the standard of care for young people.

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Leadership and management

External visits to the home are undertaken by another manager for the organisation and reports provided to the manager. This provides the manager with information about how the service is operating and identifies any shortfalls in practice. The manager is striving to continue to improve the service and to have better outcomes for its young people. However, the monitoring and quality assurance system in place does not record the young people's views and those of parents and other professionals.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is satisfactory .

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