Children's Home run by Meadows Care Limited in Oldham

Unique reference number SC066072 Inspection date 14/12/2011 Inspector Stephen Trainor Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 16/03/2011 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 privately owned home provides care for two young people from 11 years up to 17 years with emotional and behavioural difficulties. This home is also registered as a school. In-house arrangements support local education authority provision.

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be satisfactory .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people receive a satisfactory standard of care and this means they learn how to develop skills suited to building positive relationships with staff. Young people are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour but not all provide their fullest cooperation. The staff team is fairly new, with the home environment and culture still being established. Young people’s social and emotional needs are not being fully met in order for their individual potential to be fulfilled. Young people have not yet learned how to resolve conflict positively.

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Overall effectiveness

Despite young people showing varying degrees of cooperation, this service is responding to individuals changing needs and has had some success with some of the strategies it adopts to support behaviour changes. There are inputs from a wide range of professionals and this means young people start to develop emotional resilience and self-esteem. Individuals are clear about their placement arrangements, being aware of plans and programmes. Social workers visit frequently and report that progress is being made. Young people state that they feel safe while living at the home. There is a good standard of safeguarding afforded to residents from agreed strategies and protocols that staff implement.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people’s efforts are rewarded and incentives do help to change behaviours. However, there is still frequent conflict due to the demands made by young people. The consistency and continuity of staff practice is insufficient to lessen conflict. Improvements have been made since the appointment of a new manager. The new manager is still to be registered with Ofsted and has not yet completed suitable management training.

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Overall effectiveness

The promotion of young people's health and well-being is satisfactory, and safe practice is demonstrated. Contact arrangements are coordinated well. The home supports young people’s education and young people are showing signs that they want to learn. There had been some excellent attendance recorded over recent weeks.

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Overall effectiveness

Recreational interests are supported, and varied experiences increase young people’s self-confidence. Staff practice affords young people opportunities for positive engagement in the local community. This is carefully managed through shared decision making and clear risk assessments. Young people gain important life skills from their interactions in the community and this is helping them to develop self- knowledge, self-help skills and improve their self-esteem.

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Overall effectiveness

Placements are subject to frequent review and frequent visits are made by social workers. Young people are involved in decision making that has an impact on all aspects of their lives. There is liaison with partners supporting placements during reviews, but outside this forum partners views are not being captured. A robust body of evidence is not available to support the monitoring of staff practice and develop the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The home's aims and objectives are being fulfilled but there are changes needed to some management systems. Regulation 33 and 34 monitoring reports do not provide an in-depth analysis of information and partners views, and this can restrict weaknesses from being identified. The staff team is relatively inexperienced and few of the existing staff have attained a minimum qualification at level 3. Some management records are difficult to access and some lack clarity. The staff learning and development programme is disjointed and the management team and staff are not yet up to date with professional and legal developments following extensive changes to the inspection frameworks in April 2011. The outcome of notifications is not always being made clear.

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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 the details of the newly appointed home's manager, including start date, are made known to Ofsted and complete the relevant application form to become registered with Ofsted. (Regulation 7 (2) (a) (b)) 31/01/2012

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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 a written record is kept which includes details of actions taken, and outcome of any action or investigation, following a notification (NMS 24.2)  ensure the home's learning and development programme keeps staff up-to-date with professional and legal developments; in particular, the new inspection framework, evaluation schedule and grade descriptors and revised regulations and minimum standards (NMS 18.1)  ensure all existing staff have attained a minimum level 3 qualification (NMS 18.5)  ensure the learning and development programme clearly records the induction process (18.1)  ensure all staff have their performance individually and formally appraised at least annually; particularly that management records make clear the process followed (NMS 19.6)  ensure staff are provided with regular supervision (NMS 19.4)  ensure clear and effective procedures are in place for monitoring and controlling

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Recommendations

the activities of the home; specifically, demonstrate how information within Regulation 33 & 34 reports, including the captured views of children and partners, is being evaluated and used to promote continuous improvement and development (NMS 21.1)  ensure the views, wishes and feelings of partners and those significant to children including independent reviewing officers is taken into account when monitoring staff and developing the home (NMS 1.7)  ensure the proposed Registered Manager has a recognised social work qualification or a professional qualification relevant to working with children at least at level 4 and a qualification in management at least at level 4; or alternatively is enrolled on a suitable course within six months of their appointment (NMS 14.2)  ensure the home has and implements a written policy that clarifies the purpose, format and content of information to be kept on the registered person's files; in

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Recommendations

particular so that management and staff can access information when requested to do so (NMS 22.1)  ensure that the registered person can demonstrate, within written and electronic records, that it consistently follows good recruitment practice (NMS 16.2)  ensure children receive personalised care that promotes all aspects of their individual identity (NMS 2.1)  ensure staff support children's social and emotional development and enable children to develop emotional resilience and self esteem (NMS 2.2)  establish an environment and culture, to promote models and support positive behaviour that all staff understand and implement (NMS 3.2)  ensure children develop and practice skills to build and maintain positive relationships and resolve conflict positively (NMS 3.5)  ensure children are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviour, in a way that is appropriate to their age and abilities. (NMS 3.6)

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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 have not yet developed the skills to build and maintain positive relationships and resolve conflict positively, resulting in frequent disagreements and arguments. Staff persevere and work hard to support children's social and emotional development and enable children to develop emotional resilience and self-esteem. Young people, over a prolonged period of time, start to experience stable placements and begin to make progress, including their social presentation, self-awareness and taking responsibility for their behaviour.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people, after living at the home for a while, gain confidence in their placements. Progress being made shows that they are making some responsible and mature decisions. Cooperation being extended towards staff has improved considerably over recent months. The young people rate the support they receive highly when talking about their placement experience. A young person commented, 'Staff and management are very professional, if appointments or issues need to be sorted it'll be done straight away'. Young people are set personal goals and this helps them to develop a better understanding and appreciation of their personal circumstances. Some young people motivate themselves well to follow their personal programmes. There are occasions when day-to-day arrangements and programmes are not followed.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Education is an area that requires a particularly well coordinated response. The challenges that are created by the specific needs of the young people living at this service are being managed but there is limited success when viewing attendance records and young people’s educational achievements. There is satisfactory liaison and communication between staff and schools which is helping to keep educational arrangements focused.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people living at the home are treated fairly and staff work hard to support their individual needs. Young people have a growing optimistic view about their futures. Young people gain benefits from high levels of emotional support they receive. This is particularly evident in maintaining contact and relationships with family members.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy good health and usually select to follow a healthy lifestyle. The response taken to support young people’s personal, social, health and education training is clear. Young people learn how to take responsibility for their health and make clear links between diet and exercise. Regular activities, including gym, football and shopping ensure they remain physically active. All young people are familiar with their health arrangements, are aware of the contents of their health plans, and attend their appointments with health professionals including therapists. There is consideration for young people to administer their own medicines. Risk assessments support safe practice.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Arrangements linking pathway and ‘after-care’ plans were not applicable for the young people living at the home due to their age. Young people do gain competencies and life skills through the experiences provided by in-house independence and social skills training programmes. Programmes encourage social presentation skills which are becoming more identifiable in how young people conduct themselves at the home and in the surrounding community.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is satisfactory .

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Quality of care

Relationships between staff and the young people, and between the young people, fluctuate considerably on a day-to-day basis. The environment and culture of the home is still forming. Staff promote models of care and implement support to influence behaviours positively. However, there has been limited success in getting young people to provide their full or best cooperation. Continuity with staff practice is still to be established. The staff team is working hard to stabilise then maintain placements, and encourage children to take responsibility for their behaviour. Young people do receive personalised care but at present practice is not to a high enough standard that promotes all aspects of young people’s identity.

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Quality of care

There have been some successes where young people have engaged positively with staff and this led to some good choices being made. For example, keeping themselves safe and learning how to work alongside social workers to enable contact arrangements to work. Staff show insight and understanding of young people’s needs and family histories, and as a result young people are learning to appreciate and value the efforts staff make. Young people are learning how to work closer with staff to plan their futures.

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Quality of care

Young people are confident to express their views, especially during statutory reviews and meeting with social workers and partners. Staff practice supports young people to maximise their contributions but young people have not yet learned suitable negotiation skills. Inappropriate demands, threats and intimation are unwanted frequent features of the young people’s behaviours.

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Quality of care

Individual plans are of a suitable quality reflecting young people’s needs. The home's management in conjunction with partners sets realistic targets for each placement but there has been limited success in implementing plans. Limited information outside of the review minutes makes it difficult to chart where progress is being made. Equality and diversity is recognised within plans and ongoing opportunities are presented to develop self-knowledge and self-help skills. Partnership arrangements are good, and communication between staff, young people and their parents, social workers and other professionals is effective. The overall culture and ethos of the home continues to improve.

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Quality of care

The need to develop young people’s educational potential is recognised by staff. Care staff emphasise the importance of young people gaining a good education that supports continuous learning and development on a daily basis. Relationships with the local education authority are established and this allows young people to access appropriate services. In-house provision supports local arrangements. Young people understand how to make a complaint. They confirm that complaints, when made, are responded to in full. A written guide covers complaints with information, guidance and contact details of agencies such as Ofsted, children's rights and the Children's Rights Director. Young people can differentiate between grumbles and serious complaints. Complaints made between inspections were reported transparently and this allowed full investigations to be carried out.

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Quality of care

Healthy lifestyles are promoted. Staff roles include the delivery of health promotion work and this supports emotional well-being. Medication is stored safely and records are maintained on the administration of medication, including prescribed and non- prescription medication. Young people were fit and healthy with no prescription medicines being used. There are clear policies and procedural guidance and these are followed in practice. All staff receive suitable training to support health and well- being and this maintains the quality of care being provided. There are good collaborative links with many different health professionals and agencies and this allows helpful guidance and support to be provided when young people are most in need. Qualified therapists support individual arrangements.

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Quality of care

Staff engage young people in a range of activities to develop individual potential and enhance learning opportunities. Young people's aspirations are supported and a suitable budget enables them to pursue their hobbies and interests.

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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 confirm that they are safe living at the home. They are slowly learning to accept responsibility for their behaviour, have started to show initiative, and understand how they contribute to the home's operation. Young people do develop skills over time that enables them to differentiate their behaviour according to the different settings and situations they find themselves in. Some progress between inspections was reported by different partners. The new management arrangements were reported to be working better.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people understand the many forms that bullying can take and are equally clear about what to do if they have any concerns. Young people say that bullying is not an issue of concern to them either within the home, school, or when allowed out into the community. They have confidence that staff will respond to any concerns they have. Guidance is available to improve staff awareness and practice relating to bullying.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people have suitable safeguarding and complaints information and they are aware of the content of this information and acknowledge that they will not suffer any recrimination if complaints and grumbles are made. Policy and procedural guidance is consistent with that of the local safeguarding team's protocols. Staff receive regular training to update their knowledge and have a satisfactory understanding of safeguarding policies, procedures and actions they should take when an incident arises. There has been training between inspections to enhance safeguarding practice.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Systems for dealing with young people who go missing from home are well established and a draft protocol is set out. This protocol becomes final on 28 February 2012. Risk assessments take account of a young person's potential to go missing. Relationships with local police are established and reports made to local police and practice were in line with the established protocol. There are no major concerns relating to how the home manages young people’s behaviour. The time that young people take to settle does impact on the quality of practice that can be demonstrated and outcomes being achieved. Standard practice is to provide young people with the opportunity to reflect on incidents they are involved in and this ultimately enables young people to learn new skills and change behaviours.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff uphold children's rights. Young people respond well to praise and there is good use of positive reinforcement as opposed to the use of sanctions. Respectful communication was not evident throughout this inspection. Staff are clear that physical intervention is very much a last resort. There were three incidents between inspections. All staff receive regular and refresher training in positive handling techniques.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There have been many changes to the staff team between inspections. The management team could not demonstrate, within written and electronic records, that it consistently follows good recruitment practice. A computer link was unobtainable and this restricted access to important information. Hard copy information was requested but was found to be incomplete. It was possible to confirm each staff member had an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check prior to working at the home. Good practice ensures the vetting of visitors to safeguard young people. No concerns have been identified with the home's recruitment procedures during recent inspections.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Health and safety is managed well, ensuring young people and staff remain safe. Regular servicing of equipment and routine safety checks maintain a safe environment. Young people know what to do in the case of an emergency and can exit the home safely. Staff implement a range of risk assessments to identify and minimise hazards.

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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

This service recently changed the manager, and many of the staff employed at the home are new. The new staff team is working hard to develop consistency within its practice, management and operation. The team is at an early stage of forming. The responsible organisation recruited a replacement manager but she is still to apply for registration with Ofsted. A suitable handover was provided by the departing Registered Manager. The service remains child-focused but with so many changes it is proving difficult to provide good quality care.

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Leadership and management

The new manager provides a clear vision for how the home should operate. Many practice adjustments continue to be made in line with a new inspection framework, new evaluation schedule, new regulations and national minimum standards. It is the intention of the management team for all levels of staff to influence and shape the service with their ideas. There are many challenges ahead but practice is being developed by the new management team who has shown that it is perceptive in identifying the home's strengths and the areas where it could perform better. An accurate verbal self-assessment of the service was outlined by the home's management team and some realistic and challenging targets are being set.

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Leadership and management

The views of the young people, staff, family members and partners are not fully captured during visits made to the home under the requirements of Regulations 33 and 34. Visits do provide a snapshot in time of what it is like to live in the home but do not sufficiently evaluate and analyse all processes and data to fully support continuous improvement. The home has a development plan but this plan does not reflect the new inspection framework and in particular the required outcomes for children and how these will be achieved. New ways of gathering the views, wishes and feelings of partners and those significant to children, including independent reviewing officers, are planned. These views will contribute to controlling the home's activities.

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Leadership and management

Individuals’ needs, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, are supported. The young people have confidence in staff and know who is responsible for them at all times of the day and night. Staffing levels are maintained and a good gender balance is evident within the team. However Staff skills are not fully suited to meet the needs of the young people. Staff have access to relevant qualifications but not all have completed National Vocational Qualification training at level 3. The new manager has not completed relevant qualifications for the post she occupies. The clarity of management records showing the levels of support each staff member is receiving is poor. There was some confusion about how induction for new staff is being managed. Systems for staff personal development and appraisal are not being followed and this restricts staff from improving their skills. Staff confirmed

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Leadership and management

that they receive supervision but this is not sufficiently frequent.

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Leadership and management

The home's service history predominately shows a good record in compliance. There was only one recommendation made at the previous inspection. This linked to staff members completing relevant qualifications. With the complete change of staffing this was not achieved so this recommendation is repeated.

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Leadership and management

There is a system in place to notify persons and appropriate authorities of the occurrence of significant events. However, the outcome of incidents is not always made known to Ofsted. Suitable reporting was evident with regard to six incidents between inspections. Notification records are kept safe and secure.

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Leadership and management

Staff practice is supported by written guidance, policies and procedures but not all the pertinent information required for this inspection was accessible. This meant a considerable delay in completing Annex A which is key to the new inspection framework. The responsible organisation is investing in a computer software programme that should allow better access to policy, procedural guidance and recording systems. Both hard copy and computer records will still need to be maintained. The home's Statement of Purpose provides information in accordance with regulations. The ethos and working practices of the home as well as the aims and objectives are outlined.

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Leadership and management

Equality and diversity practice is satisfactory .

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