Children's Home run by Inspire Children’s Services Limited in St Helens

Unique reference number SC441410 Inspection date 17/10/2012 Inspector Michelle Bacon Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 02/02/2012 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

The home is registered to care for up to two young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is owned by a private organisation.

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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

This is the home's first full inspection since registration. Young people are achieving good outcomes in relation to the starting points of their placements. Young people are engaged in education and their behaviour has significantly improved. Key professionals comment very positively about the progress young people make and the quality of their care.

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Overall effectiveness

A social worker who has placed a young person in the home commented that the home is good at safeguarding and managing young people with challenging behaviours. They said 'I have a high opinion of the placement...the staff are very skilled and competent.' Young people say they mostly have positive relationships with staff. However, on two occasions records did not sufficiently verify the verbal responses given to young people and the action taken by the Registered Manager when young people had expressed some dissatisfaction about key working arrangements. This does not evidence how the views of young people are always fully taken into account.

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Overall effectiveness

Overall the manager has an adequate understand of the homes strengths and weaknesses. The Registered Manager demonstrates a strong commitment to improving the service and outcomes for young people: However there are some administrative weaknesses notably: the sanction book does not measure the effectiveness of the consequences issued, and young people's behaviour management plans have not been reviewed since their placement began. Despite the staff being suitably qualified and having access to relevant training they have not completed any training in relation to supporting young people who self-harm. In addition there is a shortfall in young people's risk assessments. A further two recommendations have been made in relation to restraints and young people's placement plans.

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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

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of control, restraint or discipline a written record is made of the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure(Regulation 17B (3)(f)) 12/11/2012

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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 young people understand, within their level of understanding, the purpose and content of their plan and the reasoning behind any decisions about their care (NMS 25.1)  ensure the current system is more thorough in monitoring the quality and adequacy of record keeping. Specifically with regard to identifying shortfalls in behaviour management planning and ensuring action is taken when needed (NMS 22.1)  ensure staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of young people, in particular young people who self-harm (NMS 18.1)  ensure the registered person more effectively records the action taken to address any issues of concern that they identify or which is raised with them (NMS 21.9)  ensure individual risk assessments include all details of known behaviours and the actions that staff must take to manage these, in particular where young people self-harm (NMS 4.8)  ensure sanctions for behaviour are clear, reasonable and fair and are understood

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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 make good progress in the home. There is evidence of some life story work being done to help young people have an understanding of their background. Young people are being supported to develop their emotional resilience through regular one-to-one sessions and the young people's meetings. As a result young people's self-esteem, confidence and attachments to staff have improved.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have good access to a range of health professionals to meet their emotional and physical needs. Some young people are being supported to take responsibility for their own health needs such as making their own health appointments. Young people are helped to understand the benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle; they take part in activities that keep them fit and healthy, such as football and the gym. However some young people continue to put their health at risk by continuing to smoke: even though staff have actively encouraged and supported young people to stop smoking and offered good advice so they understand the longer term health implications of smoking.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's engagement in education has improved since admission to the home. Some young people have gone onto further education where their individual support needs have been clearly identified and matched to the most suitable courses. This means young people have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills to prepare them for adulthood.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from regular contact with family. In addition they have made some positive friendships within the local community. This enhances their feelings of self worth and self-esteem.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged to develop self care and independence skills in line with their age and ability. Pathway planning has commenced for some young people and they have an allocated advisor to support their transition into adult life.

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Quality of care

The good quality care provided by staff means young people are making progress. They provide firm consistent boundaries to support young people's very complex and challenging behaviours. A social worker said 'the staff have coped well with (young person) behaviours. I find them very caring.' Detailed behaviour management plans are in place. However, these have not been reviewed since young people were first placed. Therefore it is not clear if the plan is still relevant for individual young people.

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Quality of care

Social workers confirm young people are being cared for in line with their care plans. Young people's placement plans are very detailed and provide a clear picture of their individual needs and how these will be met. However, it is not clear if young people have contributed to their plans as they have not signed them. Young people are supported to attend to their review meetings. The staff regularly consult with placing social workers to ensure young people receive the right level of support.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a healthy environment that promotes their physical health and emotional well-being. Overall staff deal with issues of self-harm well. However they would further benefit from more specific training in this area to enhance the current practice. Staff understand the importance of a well-balanced diet and ensure young people understand this. The home ensures young people have access to health care services to meet their needs, including the looked after children's nurse and the ‘children and adolescent mental health service’. The home has robust medication procedures in place that includes the safe handling of controlled medication. This contributes to keeping young people healthy and safe.

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Quality of care

Young people are made aware of how to make a complaint. Information is also available in the young people's guide on how to access advocacy services outside of the home. Young people's meetings are held regularly where they are consulted about menus, holidays and activities. Therefore young people do have a say and some influence in the running of the home. A further recent development to promote the profile of young people’s voice has been the introduction of a 'care council' that all young people within the organisation’s homes can attend.

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Quality of care

Young people are provided with regular opportunities to engage in a variety of activities in the local area. Staff support them to develop hobbies and interests, such as fishing and rugby. This means young people's self-esteem and feelings of self- worth are strengthened.

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Quality of care

The home is situated in a residential area of town. It is homely, well-furnished and decorated. Young people have good access to the local transport links that enables them to travel independently.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is adequate at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people can identify an adult that they can speak to if they have any worries or concerns. However, the incident records show that on two separate occasions a young person raised an issue with staff that was not followed up by the Registered Manager. The young person also spoke to the inspector about this during the visit. This means young people are not confident that appropriate action is taken to address their worries or concerns.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Individual risk assessments are in place to identify any risks young people may face and they include the strategies for managing these. This has resulted in a reduction in some risky behaviours, such as self-harming. However, the assessment with regard to self-harming would benefit from the addition of more detail. Young people going missing from the home is currently not an issue. There are clear procedures to follow should young people go missing from home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people’s behaviour has improved significantly. The staff are all trained in behaviour management techniques, including the use of physical restraint. The number of restraints has reduced because staff have developed effective behaviour management strategies which are specific to the needs of individual young people. However, on one occasion the restraint log lacked sufficient detail about a specific incident. This meant it was unclear whether the resulting action taken by staff would be reasonably viewed as a restraint or an additional measure of control. The home keeps a record of sanctions used but they do not measure the effectiveness of any sanction imposed.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home operates safe recruitment and selection procedures to ensure young people, as far as possible, are only cared for by suitable people. Young people live in a physically safe environment. All fire, gas and electrical equipment is serviced annually. Young people take part in regular fire drills to help keep them safe.

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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 a very experienced and suitably qualified Registered Manager. Since February 2012, the manager has been managing two of the company’s homes. The other children’s home has not been inspected by Ofsted this year. The manager’s commitments to the other home, together with staff changes, have had an impact on the management of this home. However, it has not had a negative impact on the outcomes for young people as overall the outcomes at this home have improved. In recent weeks, a senior residential childcare worker and an assistant manager began working in the home and this has strengthened the managerial team. However, since these developments are still very much at an early stage their effectiveness cannot yet be fully evaluated.

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Leadership and management

The home provides a detailed Statement of Purpose and children's guide. These comprehensive documents give a clear overview of what placing social workers, parents and young people can expect from the service.

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Leadership and management

The manager has a clear and realistic understanding of the strengths of the service and the areas for further development. There is a clear development plan that sets out how this is to be progressed. The home continues to demonstrate a capacity for further improvement, for example, in the strengthening of the management team.

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Leadership and management

The overall monitoring of the home is generally good. However, the Registered Manager has not always fully addressed any issues of concern that young people have raised with him. There are also some shortfalls in relation to monitoring the adequacy of records and taking action to address them. For example, the behaviour management plans and risk assessments have not been reviewed. This means that staff do not always have sufficiently clear direction in safeguarding and supporting young people. The manager ensures that serious incidents involving young people are appropriately reported to the relevant people and agencies.

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Leadership and management

An experienced and competent staff team looks after young people. They provide a good standard of quality care to the young people living in the home. Staff are suitably qualified and experienced and have access to relevant and good quality training. This assists staff to work effectively with young people and help them achieve good outcomes. The numbers of staff on duty are sufficient to meet the needs of young people in the best possible way. Staff are effectively supported and guided by the manager. They have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and aspire to provide good standards of childcare practice. The manager provides staff with good support and guidance. For example, regular, qualitative, one-to-one supervision. In addition, team meetings take place monthly and allow the whole staff team to discuss the running of the home. In these meetings staff look at ways to improve the service they offer. In addition, they also

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Leadership and management

clearly reflect on young people’s progress and how best to support them.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s written records from their time at this placement are securely stored and in the main, contain up-to-date information about them. Young people’s individual files are well organised however information about young people’s history prior to placement was not available to the home. Therefore the records do not fully help staff to understand the young peoples past lives, their current needs and to support them in planning for their future.

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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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