Children's Home run by Suffolk County Council in Suffolk

Unique reference number SC430022 Inspection date 04/10/2012 Inspector Deirdra Keating Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 08/05/2012 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 home provides medium and long-term placements for up to seven young people who have emotional and or behavioural difficulties. The home is owned and operated by a local authority.

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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 adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

Young people benefit from personalised care delivered by a nurturing team of staff with whom they have formed trusting relationships. Young people are actively encouraged to share their ideas and opinions. They are settled, secure and feel safe. A social worker said, 'not a bad word to say I am really impressed with the service it feels like the children’s house.'

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Overall effectiveness

There are a number of regulatory shortfalls although these do not presently impact on the good outcomes for young people. These include the cleanliness of one area, the systems for administering medication, general settling times, and the monitoring and keeping of records. The manager was aware of some of identified shortfalls and has a clear overview of the home's strengths and weaknesses.

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Overall effectiveness

Overall, while there are serious issues with some young people's sleeping routines these are a small number. Otherwise young people achieve positive outcomes in most areas they and are happy with the care they receive.

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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 that all parts of the children's home are kept clean (Regulation 31 (2) (e )) 11/10/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that by means of fire drills at suitable intervals the persons working at the home and children accommodated there are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire (Regulation 32 (1) (e)) 01/11/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the complaint procedure shall include the name address and telephone number of HMCI (Regulation 24 (4) (a)) 02/11/2012

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure there are suitable systems for the recording, safe administration and disposal of any medicines received into the home. (Regulation 21 (1)) 01/11/2012

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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 the daily routine of the home provides the opportunity to promote every aspect of a child's welfare with reference to evening routines and settling times at night (Volume 5, Children's Act 1989, (2.39))  maintain a written or electronic record detailing the time, date and length of each supervision held for each member of staff (NMS 19.5)  ensure that records are clearly expressed, non-stigmatising and distinguish between fact and opinion (NMS 22.4)  ensure staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of the children and that training keeps them up-to-date with professional, legal and practice developments and reflects the policies and legal obligations of the home; for example, with regard to restraint, first aid and attaining a level 3 qualification (NMS 18.1)  ensure that staffs work is consistent with the homes policies this is in regard to the regularity and recording of supervision (NMS 21.3)

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Recommendations

 ensure that the manager monitors all records kept by the home. This is with reference to the medication and supervision records. (NMS 21.2)

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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 like the staff and benefit from strong attachments and a trusting rapport with staff. Young people prepare and cook meals with staff and this helps them develop practical life skills that will help them in adult life. Young people enjoy the support and daily interaction with staff. They have good communication skills and readily offer their views and opinions. For example, young people request a children's meeting to discuss new settling times imposed by staff. They know that their views are valued and sometimes influence decisions made in the home. Subsequently, they confidently make their feelings known. This empowers young people in the home to have a voice and make choices about aspects of their care.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from healthy lifestyles. Most young people do not smoke and enjoy physical activities including cycling and football. This helps young people keep fit and active. Young people make a positive contribution to the community by committing to regular sporting events and learning how to be part of a team.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people see family and friends regularly and are able to make arrangements that are practical and fit around their lifestyles. Staff help young people make decisions that are right for them and provide transport. There is a busy atmosphere of young people coming and going. Staff are resourceful, helpful and flexible promoting a family home environment.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people generally attend school and some are in routines conducive to good attendance. However, some young people have developed unhealthy habits of sleeping through the day and settling late at night. Young people are repeatedly woken up by staff and encouraged to go to bed at a sensible time.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Incentives are offered and for some young people this has been successful. A new approach has been adopted regarding the settling times agreed for young people in the evening. Although, young people do not welcome this, they do understand the impact on their education. The approach to this issue demonstrates how the staff and young people communicate openly to address any on-going issues.

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Quality of care

Staff have worked well with individual young people resulting in close relationships that support young people as they reach adolescence. This is a strength of the service and highlighted by external professionals. One social worker said 'Staff like the young person, they build him up and make a lot of him. Another said; 'the key worker is proactive at meeting his needs and gets the best deal out of everything for him.'

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Quality of care

Staff have consistent expectations of behaviour and young people generally behave well. Meal times are orderly and young people show an understanding of agreed rules. The settling times for young people to be in their rooms by are unrealistically late. This has contributed to poor attendance in school for some young people. This issue was partly addressed during the inspection process.

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Quality of care

Staff seek young people's views and input about several aspects of running the home. The staff make time to listen and the manager works from an open office where young people often are seen. Regular meetings with young people are held. This gives young people choice and input regarding clothes, décor, menus, holidays, activities and equipment. Staff plan quality time and activity time with young people on a regular basis. Overall, staff ensure that young people are informed about all aspects of their care, consulted about decisions and know how to complain.

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Quality of care

Staff facilitate and manage young people's health needs well. They ensure that young people see health professionals regularly and administer prescribed medication. However, the systems for the storage and disposal of medication do not work well and are not robustly monitored. This could compromise young people's health.

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Quality of care

The house is large and purpose built. This provides a spacious and modern environment which staff maintain and clean. The house is generally clean throughout. However, the domestic fridges in the kitchen were not clean which does not meet the requirements or the environmental health standards for the storage of food. This does not provide young people with examples of how to safely store food and could potentially compromise their health.

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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 of varying ages are relaxed with one another despite minor irritations and some differences of opinion. Young people say that they feel safe; they respect one another's personal space and belongings. Individual care plans identify potential risks for individuals and details of how to minimise the impact of these on young people. These help protect young people and minimise risky behaviours.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Positive behaviour is strongly encouraged using incentives and positive role- modelling. This helps young people to develop social skills and learn to treat one another with respect. Bullying is not tolerated and is not identified at the home, although, staff remain vigilant in the prevention of this. They ensure protective parenting perimeters around vulnerable children while helping all young people live together peacefully. The staff use sanctions that are connected to incidents and therefore have a related meaning. This helps young people learn about the consequences of their actions. The use of physical intervention is minimal; there has been one incident of restraint since the last inspection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The systems to safeguard young people in the home work well and are demonstrated by safe procedures. Staff understand how to safeguard young people's welfare and work well with outside professionals. This ensures that procedures are compatible with local safeguarding professionals and the home is transparent and open about investigations into allegations. This provides good safeguards for young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff working in the home undertake robust checks to ensure their suitability to work with young people. Visitors sign in and are always chaperoned. This reduces potential risks to the welfare of young people living at the home. The environment is safe and newly built. Service checks are carried out by designated staff including fire drills; however, these are not carried out with enough regularity. Young people receive a fire induction but have not all practised a drill and deficiencies from drills have not been fully addressed. This could compromise young people's safety in the event of a fire.

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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

The home is managed by an acting manager currently undergoing registration with Ofsted. This is a planned change of management. The acting manager has worked as a deputy at the home, promoting continuity of care for young people.

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Leadership and management

Staff receive induction training and supervision to support and guide them in their roles. However, the record of supervision is patchy. Some staff do not have or are not working towards gaining a level 3 qualification. This does not meet the legislative requirements and means that there are staff who are less knowledgeable about their role's and interactions with young people. Staff initially undergo mandatory training courses including safeguarding, first aid and restraint. However, these are not always kept up-to-date as required and this could impact on the quality of care provided.

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Leadership and management

The manager ensures that the home meets the aims and objectives set out in the Statement of Purpose. The senior staff team work cohesively to promote a consistent quality of care for young people. External monitoring is good and drives improvement in the home. Internal monitoring is basic and includes a review of the quality of care. Consultation of stakeholders is sought to feed into this report. However, the internal scrutiny of records within the home is not robust. This means that some systems do not work well and are not addressed in a timely manner. This could affect the quality of care provided to young people.

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Leadership and management

Records are of a varying standard there is some use of jargon that is unprofessional and makes the reporting of events unclear. This makes monitoring difficult and is not useful for young people wishing to access their individual records. These records are stored adequately and confidentiality is maintained.

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Leadership and management

The complaints policy for the home lacks the correct information and some records of complaints lack clear detail about the outcome of complaints. This is available in part and young people know how to use the procedure. However, this does not always provide a clear audit trail and Ofsted regulatory details as required.

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Leadership and management

The manager and senior staff have a realistic understanding of the key strengths and weaknesses of the home and are working hard to change some areas of practice. There is a commitment to change and a clear vision for the future of the service. A social worker said that the homes provides the best service out of all the children's homes. Overall, the staff team are strongly committed to improving the quality of care and outcomes for young people.

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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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