Children's Home run by Progressive Care Limited in Sheffield

Unique reference number SC002930 Inspection date 07/08/2012 Inspector Debbie Foster Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/02/2012 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 one of a number that is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care and accommodation for up to nine children and young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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

Young people receive a good standard of care. The staff team provides personalised care with clear objectives. Young people experience improved outcomes across health, safety and independence.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff feel well supported and build very good relationships with the young people to enable them to engage quickly and aid young people to make progress in their lives. This is a notable strength. Young people have their views heard and have some say on the running of the home and plans for their future. Young people say they feel safe, and acknowledge that staff support them well in this area, while noting this work is ongoing. There are strong safeguarding measures in place.

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Overall effectiveness

The leadership team at the home is strong and can demonstrate clarity in how they work with young people to bring improved outcomes. The home is divided into two sides. This is executed well, servicing the needs of some young people undertaking a 12-week placement before moving on, and others who will have a longer-term placement and make this their home. Young people say they are helped greatly to settle quickly and given clear information and expectations about living in this home. This is supported by a staff team divided into two teams to bring consistency of care and clear aims and objectives for the young people who they care for.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is well organised with a thorough paperwork system in place. Sound monitoring systems are in place and overseen by the management to ensure the well-being and safety of the young people. This inspection identifies areas for improvement around the quality of the environment, fire safety and direct work records, staff training and qualifications, and quality assurance systems.

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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 all parts of the children's home used by children are kept clean and reasonably decorated and maintained; in particular, carpets, decoration and furnishings. ( Regulation 31 (2) ( e)) 28/09/2012

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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 that each child’s placement plan is monitored by a key worker within the home who ensures that the requirements of the plan are implemented in full. In particular, direct work sessions must demonstrate all the work undertaken and show the progress young people are making (NMS 25.2)  ensure staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping, trained to maintain them and to understand the need to be careful, objective, and clear when making records. In particular, fire instruction and drill records to detail all who have taken part in them (Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, Volume 5 Children's Homes 3.28)  ensure that all existing care staff attain the level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma (NMS 18.5)  ensure that the Registered Manager has a qualification in management (NMS 14.2)  ensure the training and development programme is evaluated for effectiveness at

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Recommendations

least annually and if necessary is updated. In particular, to include self-harm, attachment disorder, drugs and alcohol awareness to bring further understanding to support young people (NMS 18.2)  ensure effective procedures for monitoring and controlling the activities of the home. In particular, ensure monitoring systems identify omissions and deficiencies and thereby take immediate action to assist in improving on the quality of care. (NMS 21.1)

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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's progress and outcomes are good because staff are persevering and supportive, enabling young people to have a fresh start and move positively forward in their lives. Young people benefit from the discussions and interactive activities that staff use to build secure relationships with them. As a result, young people gain good knowledge and understanding of their own backgrounds, they adapt well to new surroundings and their view of themselves is increasingly positive.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy good health because their health needs are effectively identified and services are provided to meet them. Young people are encouraged and supported to attend routine appointments with dentists, doctors and opticians. Young people are accessing other specialist services, for example, child and adolescent mental health services. Staff demonstrate awareness of the importance of supporting young people with their emotional well-being and the benefits for their long-term health into adulthood. Young people are encouraged to eat healthy foods and snacks. Young people confirm that they are involved in planning and preparing meals.

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Outcomes for children and young people

For those young people who live at the home long term, educational needs are met, with young people making improving progress in attendance in their education. The staff have worked in a determined manner to ensure that education placements are well sourced and supported. The impact of this has been improved school attendance. Young people have taken exams at school and they are making plans to start further education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people say, 'I see my mum all the time’, and, 'I see my family every week, but I have a say when.' Staff recognise the importance of family networks and have supported young people to rebuild relationships with family members. Therefore, young people benefit greatly from clear contact arrangements, understanding when they will see significant people, which helps them settle and enjoy seeing their families.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people learn life skills through taking part in the tasks of running the home, appropriate to their age and understanding, such as cleaning and cooking. Staff have a good balance between encouraging and developing independence skills balanced with nurturing young people. Young people are also given help and support with social skills, laundry, healthy eating and budgeting. Therefore, young people receive care which prepares them well for adulthood.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is good . Young people enjoy extremely positive relationships with staff, which are built upon trust, honesty and respect. Young people say that they can talk to the staff about anything. All young people said individually that the best thing about the home is 'the staff’. One person said: 'The staff are brilliant; you are not judged on your past, you have a fresh start and this helps a lot moving on.' Consequently young people are thriving in a stable, nurturing and supportive environment. Young people feel safe here and have a very strong sense of belonging. A young person new to living at the home said: 'I was really worried about coming into care, but this is a home and I feel comfortable here.' This has enabled young people to develop the skills to move on with their lives and become more independent. Staff always see young people in a positive light and have high aspirations for them. Staff speak fondly of young people

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Quality of care

and are very proud of their achievements across all aspects of their development.

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Quality of care

Young people’s views are central to the running of the home. Young people say that they feel valued and respected, as staff listen to what they have to say and give honest answers to their questions. Young people are aware that their requests may not always be possible, but know that the staff will do their best to make things happen for them. This shows that staff are respectful of young people's wishes. Young people are aware of how to make a complaint. Young people have not made any formal complaints. This is because staff take the time to talk and listen to young people; this enables them to resolve any issues quickly.

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Quality of care

Staff plan young people's care well. They have a good understanding of the diverse needs of the young people and plan well to meet these needs in practice. Care planning is child-centred and specifically tailored to the young person's needs, interest, background and views. Placement plans are regularly reviewed and adapted to meet young people's ever changing needs to help young people develop the skills they will need later in life. However, direct work for specific areas is not routinely being recorded in all identified areas. Therefore, this is not always evidencing the progress young people are making or indicating where continued support from staff is still required.

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Quality of care

Young people live in an environment which promotes their physical health and emotional well-being. Staff understand the importance of meeting specific health needs. This ensures young people receive the right support at the right time. Good systems are in place for the safe administration, recording and storage of medication.

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Quality of care

Young people are consistently reminded of the importance of education. Some young people who have recently come to live at the home, have previously experienced sporadic and low attendance at school. Therefore, they are at the start of this journey to fully engage, recognise the importance and achieve in an education setting. Staff have realistic aspirations for young people's education and are working with other professionals to establish educational placements, good attendance and attainment. Staff do experience barriers from some educational providers and work hard to address these. Young people say that the staff always make sure they are 'up for school', supporting them to attend. Staff make sure young people's daily routines are well planned to facilitate attendance in school and other placements. Young people spoke positively about starting college placements and returning to school after the summer break.

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Quality of care

Young people are able to engage in a range of leisure activities of their choice and currently enjoy spending their summer break with friends, family and undertaking activities. Young people said they enjoyed their recent trip to a theme park. During the inspection, young people went to a local park, shopping and planned to go to the cinema and to go swimming.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a large house in a residential neighbourhood, with good and easy access to local shops and the town centre. The home is furnished in the main to an adequate and safe standard. Young people liked their bedrooms and have personalised them. Although one hallway had been decorated shortly before the inspection, the majority of the rooms within the home have marked or discoloured decoration. Carpets in communal areas are badly stained and some of these defects have been long standing. Curtains are not in place in one lounge and the fabric of one settee is damaged. This gave an unkempt appearance and an impression of a lack of care. This is not acceptable and does not provide young people with a high quality and comfortable environment in which to live. It does not promote the positive ethos that is evident in the care provided to young people overall. All young people said if there was anything they could change about living in the home it

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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 say that they are safe and feel safe in their home. Three young people said that the staff are frequently talking to them about how to keep themselves safe. A young person said: ‘I am safe in the house and I'm working on keeping safe when I'm out.' Young people could explain how staff are supporting them to keep safe. This develops young people’s understanding and the reasons adults are concerned. As a result, young people's risk-taking behaviours reduce and they feel cared for and protected.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff demonstrate verbally and show a consistent knowledge of the individual risks for each young person. Individual risk assessments address young people's particular vulnerabilities and record the strategies that staff put in place to support them. Staff implement individual behaviour management plans for young people and they are aware of the specific triggers and the actions they should take to reduce the likelihood of harm. All risk assessments and behaviour management plans are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are up to date and continue to reflect young people's needs.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Good safeguarding systems and procedures exist for staff to follow in the event of any allegation or suspicion of abuse. The manager and staff have received child protection training. Staff demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding procedures to promote and protect young people’s safety. A notable strength within the home is its clear approach and response to matters relating to bullying. Young people are very clear on the anti-bullying policy which operates within the home. All stated they have read the anti-bullying policy and signed a contract to agree this is not acceptable and the action staff will take to eradicate any such behaviour. Young people say strongly: 'There is no bullying in this home.' There is good written guidance for staff to follow in the event of unauthorised absence, which is followed. Staff verbalised how this is applied and the individual protocols

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Safeguarding children and young people

It is rare that sanctions or a physical intervention are used to manage behaviour at the home. Alternative strategies such as negotiation, redirection, praise and rewards have been successfully employed. Appropriate records are held to support decisions on the management of behaviour. Staff are trained in the provider’s incident de- escalation policy and authorised physical intervention techniques. Young people say, 'staff are fair’, and, 'they always explain things to us’.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Regular fire safety checks, general checks and maintenance arrangements ensure the home is physically safe and is kept safe. Staff receive fire safety training to enable them to minimise the risks to young people in the event of a fire at the home. Staff and young people take part in fire drills at monthly intervals to make sure they know what to do in the event of a fire. However, record keeping is not fully effective in some parts of this area, omitting names of those staff undertaking some fire instruction and drills. This does not ensure the manager can be assured all staff have undertaken this required training to promote fire safety fully.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are appropriately recruited and undergo relevant Criminal Records Bureau checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with young people.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from a supportive manager who understands their needs and wishes. The manager is experienced and knowledgeable about her role and responsibilities, and provides clear, accountable leadership.

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Leadership and management

Previous recommendations made at the last inspection have been met or are partially implemented, showing that importance is given to improving the service further. The home has a development which identifies areas for further improvement. Staff completing their probationary period have commenced the level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma qualification. The manager is undertaking a management qualification.

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Leadership and management

There is a welcome pack and children’s guide about the home which gives clear information to young people on the facilities, care, their rights and house rules, while they live at the home. Young people receive a copy of it when they come to live at the home so that they know what to expect there. A Statement of Purpose is available to inform professionals and members of the public about how care is provided at the home.

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Leadership and management

There is an established staff team who have a range of skills and experience among its members. New members of staff receive good quality induction training before commencing work with the young people. Staff describe management support as 'good' and 'excellent', and they confirm that they are in receipt of regular supervision. Staffing levels are suitable, with higher staffing ratios to support young people where needs have been assessed as high.

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Leadership and management

Staff are trained in a variety of safety and childcare subjects. An ongoing programme of regular refresher training is provided in a range of subjects to enhance the staff team's competency to meet the needs of the young people. A large proportion of the staff team are currently undertaking the level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma qualification. New staff are to start the diploma qualification once they have completed their probationary period. However, staff have not received training in self-harm, attachment disorder and drugs and alcohol misuse. This shows shortfalls in aspects of training to enable staff to meet all the needs of the young people who come to live at the home.

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Leadership and management

The manager has systems to monitor, report and evaluate the administration systems of the home to help ensure that any areas of weakness are identified. This is supported by regular unannounced visits from the provider to monitor and improve the quality of care at the home. However, these quality assurance systems are not robust enough. The Regulation 33 monitoring reports do not clear identify areas for action and improvement. Prompt action has not been taken to address ongoing deficiencies in the environment and other matters identified in this report. Consultation with young people is not always reported on in the Regulation 33 reports. These arrangements are not effective enough to secure continued improvement.

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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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