Children's Home run by Keys Group Progressive Care & Education Limited in Hampshire

Unique reference number SC412476 Inspection date 03/07/2012 Inspector Brian Mcquoid Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/01/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home offers small group living to four young people with learning disabilities. It is located in a suburban setting on the outskirts of a city on the south coast. The home, a detached chalet bungalow, has been extended and refurbished to meet the requirements of a residential home. All young people are accommodated in their own rooms.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding : a service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements Good : a service of high quality 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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is good with positive outcomes being successfully promoted for young people, and parents and placing social workers having a high regard for the service. Highly personalised plans support the delivery of good quality care which is effective in addressing the individual and sometimes complex needs of young people. The home provides a safe physical environment where the welfare of young people is paramount and where staff have a good understanding of safe working practice. High staffing levels ensure young people are safe at all times both within the home and in the community. Providing choice and consulting with young people is an integral aspect of how the home operates and staff work well at promoting independence and maximising each young person's potential. The home is being managed very effectively and demonstrates a continuing commitment to improvement. One recommendation is raised in relation to the information to be

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Overall effectiveness

recorded in young people’s case records.

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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 results of all statutory reviews are recorded on the child's file, and individuals responsible for pursuing actions at the home arising from reviews are clearly identified.(NMS 25)

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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

The home successfully promotes positive outcomes for young people. Staff know each young person intimately and young people have formed positive and trusting relationships with them. School attendance is excellent with young people making good progress and education staff reporting that they have constructive working relationships with the home. Healthy lifestyles are actively promoted within the home and young people have their routine and specific health needs well met. Staff engage positively with external health professionals involved with young people and seek appropriate support to address identified individual needs.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff are able to communicate very effectively with each young person and routinely provide them with as much choice as possible in their daily lives. Consultation with young people is an integral aspect of day-to-day practice within the home and key workers regularly ascertain their views about living there. Independence is promoted and young people are making good progress towards maximising their potential in this area. Helping with the laundry and dressing independently are two examples where progress has been made. Young people are enabled to successfully participate in a wide range of stimulating activities both within the home and in the wider community. Two young people went to the cinema during the inspection as part of a birthday celebration.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people at the home enjoy regular contact with their families. This includes overnight stays in some cases, weekend visits, and parents visiting them frequently at the home. The home provides excellent support for maintaining contact arrangements and make parents feel very welcome when they visit. Parents were generally extremely positive about their relationship with the home and the care being provided for their children. Comments from parents include, 'Couldn't be happier with the placement', 'a fantastic home', and 'he has made a lot of progress.’ Placing social workers were also very positive about the home saying, 'they meet his individual needs very well' and 'he has made very good progress since being there.’

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Quality of care

The home provides a good quality of highly individualised care to young people with disabilities who have varied and complex needs. Comprehensive and individual care plans of a high quality support the delivery of care to young people and are being implemented very effectively. Young people are responsive to staff and clearly have positive and trusting relationships with them. The staff team is able to communicate effectively with all young people and successfully supports and encourages them to develop positive and socially acceptable behaviours, such as greeting visitors. Young people's behaviour is generally very good.

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Quality of care

Staff at the home are fully supportive of young people's education. School attendance is excellent for all young people and education staff are very positive about working relationships with the home. Staff attend and contribute to educational reviews and professionals from schools have visited the home in order to advise on ways of working with individual young people. The home works in close partnership with parents to promote positive outcomes for young people. Some parents regularly spend time at the home with their child while others have frequent overnight stays with their families. 'Brilliant', 'excellent communication', and 'the carers do a good job' were some of the overwhelmingly positive comments received from parents. Young people's social workers also commented very positively about the care provided at the home.

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Quality of care

There is positive engagement with external agencies and professionals involved with young people and the home is proactive in seeking support from specialist services when necessary to meet young people's identified individual needs. The home provides a healthy environment within which staff actively promote healthy lifestyles. Young people are provided with healthy meals and encouraged to try new foods. Physical activity is promoted and there are lots of opportunities for young people to do things they enjoy doing. Arrangements for the management and administration of medication are excellent and there is a good working relationship with the local surgery where young people are registered. The routine and specific health needs of young people are being well met with effective systems in place for the close monitoring of each young person.

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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 makes good provision for ensuring the safety and well-being of young people at all times with staff having a good understanding of safeguarding and safe working practices. Parents and social workers feel that the home provides safe care for young people and observations indicate that young people seem happy living there. Staff encourage and routinely praise good behaviour while also seeking professional support to understand and better manage that which is challenging. There is a good understanding of techniques to try and prevent the use of physical restraint and the detailed recording of incidents showed these to be used in practice. The home's manager monitors the use of restraint closely and takes appropriate action to minimise incidents occurring. High staffing levels at all times are effective in ensuring young people are safe and, although some incidents of bullying type behaviours do occur, these are minimised and managed very well.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people benefit from living in a safe and secure environment where the arrangements for managing risk are extremely good. Comprehensive and individual written risk assessments clearly identify strategies for managing and minimising risks to young people and these are being reviewed regularly. Staff have a very good awareness of the specific vulnerabilities of each young person. Effective measures are implemented to reduce the risk of absconding and include the provision of two to one staffing for some young people while in the community. Health and safety provision at the home is very good with monthly inspections carried out by staff and audits by the provider being undertaken twice yearly. Up-to-date risk assessments are implemented for all activities undertaken by young people both within the home and the community. There is a dedicated fire safety officer on each shift and all tests, checks, and fire evacuation practices are being carried out as required. Staff

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Safeguarding children and young people

recruited to the home are being appropriately vetted, with recruitment procedures providing effective safeguards for the welfare of young people.

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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 home that is being managed very effectively and which is meeting its stated aims and objectives. There is a suitably qualified and experienced manager in post and effective arrangements for staff to deputise in her absence. The physical environment is being very well maintained and the home is well resourced. Since the previous inspection developments have included a second vehicle being obtained, the creation of a new play/quiet room for young people, and the implementation of child-centred plans. There have been no requirements or recommendations arising from the homes two previous inspections. There is a culture of transparency within the home with any concerns or complaints being addressed thoroughly. Parents regularly spend time at the home and speak very positively about how it is being managed and how their children have progressed since being there.

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Leadership and management

The staff group at the home has seen several changes since the previous inspection but continues to operate very effectively as a team. Staff are extremely enthusiastic about working at the home and clearly place the welfare of young people at the centre of their practice. They receive good support from the home’s manager both informally and in the form of regular supervision. The individual training needs of staff are being met and staff were extremely positive about the quality of training provided. The manager of the home is proactive in seeking professional support and additional training for staff, should it be necessary. Staffing levels are good, providing effective supervision of young people both within the home and in the community; this includes night waking staff.

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Leadership and management

The home’s overall operation and the welfare of individual young people are being subject to close monitoring on a regular basis. The provider carries out health and safety audits twice yearly and ensures all of the home’s supporting policies and procedures are up to date. Regulation 33 reports are carried out regularly and indicate that the home is operating effectively, while the manager monitors matters in accordance with Schedule 6 of the regulations. Communication between staff is very good and the home has positive working relationships with external agencies. Recording systems are extremely good with case records being very well organised. However, not all case records contain up-to-date copies of statutory review reports and this is a recommendation of this report.

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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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