Children's Home run by Hull City Council in Kingston upon Hull

Unique reference number SC034313 Inspection date 12/06/2012 Inspector Nicola McEvinney Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 12/12/2011 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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Brief description of the service

This children's home is run by a local authority and registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six young people of either gender between the ages of 14- and 17-years-old. The aim of the home is to support young people to become independent and help them with the transition to adulthood. The home also offers an outreach service to young people who have left care and may need additional support.

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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 Adequate : a service that only meets minimum requirements Inadequate : a service that does not meet minimum requirements

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

Although this home is judged as adequate overall, there are some good aspects in all areas; young people have made suitable progress as a result of their placement. The ‘my plan’ and placement plan provides highly personalised care planning for each young person which promotes their progress. Young people’s views are sought on all aspects of their care and how the home operates. All young people consider that they were well looked after by staff they feel care for and listen to them. Young people say that ‘this is the best home I have ever lived in.’

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from being cared for by a motivated and highly committed staff team who foster good relationships with them. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and are proactive in ensuring young people are safe at all times. Young people confirm that they feel safe and there is no bullying in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

The Registered Manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and development plans are in place to promote improved outcome for young people. There are some breaches in regulations and shortfalls in national minimum standards that impact negatively on the welfare of young people. These relate to ensuring young people access services that they require; ensuring medication is administered correctly; the monitoring of the home; support with education and giving young people the opportunity for to gain skills to enable them to make a successful transition to adulthood. Minor shortfalls relate to record keeping, training and the appearance of the outside of the home.

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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 each young person has access to medical and psychological services as required (Regulation 20 (2)(b)) 01/09/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure any medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed (Regulation 21 (2)(b)) 14/06/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure matters set out in Schedule 6 are monitored, particularly medication prescribed for young people. (Regulation 34 Schedule 6.14) 01/08/2012

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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 young people are helped by staff to achieve their educational goals by staff working with young people's education provider to maximise achievement by having up-to-date information about each young person's progress (NMS 8.4 and 8.7)  develop practical skills, including shopping, buying, cooking and keeping food, washing clothes, personal self-care, and understanding and taking responsibility for personal health care and allowing free access to the kitchen by keeping it open at all times (NMS 12.1)  provide a homely environment for the young people by ensuring the exterior of the home is well maintained (NMS 10.3)  ensure staff receive training to equip them to meet the needs of young people; in particular medication training (NMS18.1)  ensure there is a system in place to monitor the quality and adequacy of record keeping and take action when needed. (NMS 22.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are adequate . Many of the young people have experienced a number of traumatic events that have impacted negatively on their self-esteem and emotional resilience. Therapeutic input has been identified as necessary to support young people. However, this input has not been forthcoming which compromises the emotional and psychological health of individuals.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from being registered with doctors, dentists and opticians and they are encouraged to attend appointments. Young people speak highly of the support from staff who accompany them on request; particularly for those young people who are anxious about attending dental appointments. However, there is no evidence that follow up appointments are made where young people have been diagnosed with a condition. This does not ensure that they are in good health following treatment, which may compromise their health.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit immensely from the ‘my plan’ initiative which ensures that their views are central to the care planning process. All the young people consider that they are listened to and fully participate in all decisions that affect their lives. Some young people have completed compulsory school education, they had good attendance at school and are going on to college placements in September. Other young people attend college or have alternative education packages which they engage quite well with. However, not all the young people have personal education plans and staff do not have full knowledge of their educational level or attainment. This does not enable them to appropriately support all young people with their education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The home has worked hard to build up relations with the local community. For example, neighbours complained about the young people being noisy hanging around the front gate. These neighbours were invited in and met with the young people; this resulted in the young people being more considerate, helping them to develop social responsibility. Young people benefit from the efforts of the staff team to have constructive contact with significant people. Staff will facilitate supervised contact and make these sessions rewarding for all concerned. Young people are encouraged to have friends in the community which promotes their well-being. The home has an excellent record of enabling young people to return to live with family members. This is due to the skill and the tireless efforts of the staff team who work with the young people and their families to work through issues that impact negatively on family dynamics.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have limited opportunity to develop practical skills to prepare them to make a successful transition to live independently. For example, they do not regularly shop and prepare meals; as the kitchen was locked they do not have ready access to this area. The Registered Manager gave assurances that the kitchen will remain open at all times. However, staff were clear that young people are never discharged to hostels and they continue to support young people when they move on to future supported-living placements. Some young people continue to regularly visit the home and staff meet with their families to ensure that their placement can be sustained.

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Quality of care

Young people confirm that that they feel that staff always care about them, there is always someone they can talk to and feel supported. Staff speak positively about the young people they care for and it is clear that young people are cared for by highly skilled and committed staff.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from having individual crisis management plans that help them to manage their behaviours. Staff also work with families to help work through areas of conflict and to equip them with alternative strategies that enable young people to return home.

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Quality of care

Young people’s views are sought in all aspects of their care. They confirm that staff listen to them and feel part of the decision-making process. The home has developed an excellent innovative care planning document ‘my plan’ which young people have ownership of and are fully involved in drawing up and is tailored to address their needs. Alongside the ‘my plan’ a placement plan is produced setting out how these individual needs are to be met as well as individual daily routines. This identifies how the young person is to be cared for on a day-to-day basis which ensures that a consistent approach is maintained.

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Quality of care

The home accesses a number of services to help meet the needs of young people. For example, an individual from the child and adolescent mental health service attends staff meetings and gives guidance and support to the staff team to help manage behaviours young people exhibit. The looked after children’s nurse and sexual health services support young people on sexual health issues; substance misuse services support individuals with drug and alcohol misuse and the youth justice service support young people with offending behaviours. The staff team are trained in family group conferencing and have skills in supporting young people and their families to enable them to address areas of conflict. This enables young people to have productive relationships with their family and to return to their care. However, decisions taken at statutory reviews to access assessments have not been implemented and follow up appointments for some services have not been made.

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Quality of care

This does not promote young people’s welfare.

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Quality of care

Young people’s welfare is compromised by medication prescribed not being administered correctly. This is particularly relevant to the administration of antibiotics where young people have missed doses which make the medication ineffective, building their immunity against antibiotics.

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Quality of care

Young people are of an age where they organise their own activities; they have friends in the community that they associate with. They also enjoy activities with staff, for example the occasional trip to the seaside, drives into the countryside, walks with a staff member’s dog and some young people are being taught the guitar. All the young people are eagerly following the European football championship and theme nights are arranged around this.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy living in a pleasant home situated on a housing estate close to a number of amenities. It is pleasantly decorated and furnished although some young people’s bedrooms are damaged with broken pieces of furniture; although this is a recent occurrence and plans are afoot to rectify this with the young person involved. This encourages young people to take responsibility for their actions. The exterior of the home is rather unkempt, the grass is long and there is a bucket by the front gate for cigarette ends, unfortunately the surrounding area is also strewn with cigarette ends which is unsightly.

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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

Young people feel safe in the home. They are protected by staff who have an excellent awareness of safeguarding issues and have built up trusting relationships with the young people who are able to discuss times they feel their safety is compromised. Staff are vigilant in addressing these concerns ensuring appropriate action is taken. Young people are further protected from harm by having individual comprehensive risk assessments in place clearly identifying the potential risk with strategies in place to minimise the risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Many of the young people were admitted to the home with a propensity of going missing. This has greatly reduced while they have been living at the home. Staff are vigilant in checking the whereabouts of the young people if they fail to return when expected and undertake checks when young people stay at friends ensuring young people are in a safe place. Young people benefit from having good behaviour management strategies in place. There are weekly case discussions on each young person ensuring a consistent approach is maintained and to ensure all staff are aware of what is happening in each young person’s life. Young people generally behave well and respond positively to the nurturing approach offered by the staff team. The use of restraints is rare and only used to ensure the safety of a young person.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected by having robust recruitment procedures in place ensuring only suitable people are employed in the home. Young people benefit from living in a safe environment. Some young people have undertaken a fire awareness training course and there are regular fire drills to ensure all know what action to take in the event of a fire. All health and safety checks are up to date.

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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

Young people benefit from living in a well-managed home with a Registered Manager having a clear vision of how young people should be cared for. He is acutely aware of the strengths of the home being a highly skilled and committed staff team who share his vision in providing young people with a positive care experience. They are well supported and have good training opportunities. He acknowledges the weaknesses identified at this inspection and has taken immediate action to address the majority of them. Future developments include ensuring staff further develop their skills to have a greater understanding of attachment, restorative approach and training as family group convenors. This will enable them to offer a more comprehensive service to, not only the young people accommodated but also families in the city. However, they have not received up-to-date training in handling medication that would give them a better understanding of the importance of the

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit immensely from living at this home; some were placed as an interim measure prior to secure orders being sought but quickly responded to the supportive care and the innovative approach of the ‘my plan’ and settled, negating the need for a secure order. Young people say, ‘it is the best home ever, staff listen to me and are always there for us.’ Although there are regular monitoring systems in place the medication records were not monitored to ensure young people take medication as required. This compromises the welfare of young people. Young people benefit from living in a supportive community and there are good relationships with neighbours.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s records are maintained electronically, although hard copies are kept of pertinent documents ensuring essential information is available at all times. There are errors and omissions on the electronic system and some information is not readily available. This does not ensure that there is a comprehensive and clear understanding of the young people’s lives.

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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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