Children's Home run by A Significant Other Limited in Durham

Unique reference number SC429995 Inspection date 16/10/2012 Inspector Stephen Graham Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 13/06/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The children's home is run by a private company and provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

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Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making good progress .

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Progress

The home is currently judged as good. Since the last inspection, the manager and staff team have worked effectively to further improve the service. The one action set at that visit and two of the three recommendations made, have been implemented. Action has also been taken to implement the third recommendation made. However, as the improvements made have not proved fully effective in practice, the recommendation is re-stated in this report.

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Progress

The home has detailed admission procedures which are used effectively by the manager and staff to admit young people safely and to help them settle in quickly. The admission and discharge register has been improved to ensure that it provides a permanent record for the home and captures all required information concisely.

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Progress

There are arrangements in place which help to ensure that the home remains a safe place for young people to live. These include procedures to complete checks on new staff team members to ensure they are suitable to work with children. However, the records maintained of the individual checks completed do not always clearly demonstrate that good recruitment practice has been consistently followed. The manager has reviewed the arrangements to notify any significant events occurring at the home and these have been improved to ensure that they are effective.

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Progress

Young people coming to live at the home receive their own summary guide to the service they will receive. The manager has further improved this to ensure that it contains all of the information recommended, for example, details of how a child can contact Ofsted, should they wish to.

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Progress

The manager and staff team use a combination of group meetings, surveys and individual discussions to consult with young people, their parents, carers and placing social workers. This helps to ensure that the wishes and feelings of young people and those involved in their care are taken into consideration. The manager maintains detailed records of the views received. They incorporate these where possible into their plans to further improve the service and the day-to-day running of the home.

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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 recruitment records demonstrate clearly how the registered provider has followed good recruitment practice. (NMS 16.2)

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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 progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection (March 2011).

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