Children's Home run by Durham County Council in Durham

Unique reference number SC449096 Inspection date 31/10/2012 Inspector Dennis Bradley Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 25/06/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children's home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties and who require to be looked after initially for a short period of time. The provider is 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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

Overall this home provides a good quality of care. The home provides short term placements to young people who are in crisis because their current living situation is at risk or has broken down. Staff endeavour to provide stability, routines and boundaries as well as promote improved outcomes for the young people. Young people are supported to either return home, or move on to a long-term placement that will meet their needs.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people receive good, personalised care and support from staff to meet their individual needs. They are consulted about how they should be cared for and how the home is run. Young people feel safe and staff are good at promoting and safeguarding their welfare. Young people live in a comfortable, homely environment which is well cared for.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff work closely with other professionals and agencies to ensure young people can access a good range of opportunities and resources. Young people receive good support and encouragement from staff to attend and engage in their education. They participate positively in a good range of leisure activities in the community. Young people’s health and wellbeing is promoted and they receive good support to access the health care services they need. Over time, young people make progress regarding their welfare and development.

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Overall effectiveness

Staffing levels are good and enable staff to spend one-to-one time with each young person to meet their needs and preferences. This helps young people to feel valued and builds their self-esteem. The home is effectively led and the staff are committed to developing the service they provide to young people. There are good arrangements in place for monitoring the care and welfare of the young people. Staff are well qualified and receive good support to enable them to promote positive outcomes for young people.

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Overall effectiveness

There is one shortfall relating to the home’s records which has minimal impact on the welfare of young people.

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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 in a volume kept for the purpose which includes the details specified in Regulation 17 B(3). (Regulation 17B(3)) 26/11/2012

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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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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 provides time-limited placements for young people. Consequently, in the few months it has been open a number of young people have moved into and out of the home. Over time, young people enjoy constructive, warm relationships with staff. It is also evident that young people benefit from the good levels of care, support and guidance they receive.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people attend school and engage in their education. They are also able to participate in a good range of positive activities within the local community, such as going to football matches and the local leisure centre. Young people also have the opportunity to acquire life skills, such as how to prepare and cook meals.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have good opportunities to participate in decisions about their day-to- day lives and future. Staff are proactive in trying to find the best way to promote their participation, for example in completing their personal care plans and risk assessments. Young people make use of positive opportunities to enable them to gain an understanding of their individual circumstances and backgrounds.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Most young people lead a healthy and active lifestyle and they have good access to the health services they need. They also have access to a good range of resources, advice and guidance on health and personal care issues. This helps them understand the risks associated with, for example, drinking alcohol. Young people are able to take appropriate responsibility for their own health. Although some young people smoke, they understand the health risks and are encouraged to stop. For example, they have the opportunity to attend smoking-cessation sessions. Most young people choose to stop engaging in other risk taking behaviours, such as going missing and self-harming. Overall, many make good progress in this regard.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from appropriate contact with family members and friends and staff actively support this. This enables young people to maintain links with people who are important to them and, for some it facilitates their move back home.

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Quality of care

Young people get on well with staff. Staff take their views and wishes into account regarding their care and how the home is run. Young people know how to make a complaint if they are unhappy about something and there are clear and accessible procedures to enable them to do this.

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Quality of care

Staff make every effort to enable young people to attend school or other education placements regularly. They make sure the routine of the home is organised to support this. Staff are good at maintaining contact with schools and other education and training placements. This helps address any day-to-day issues quickly and supports young people’s continuing attendance. Staff also celebrate young people’s achievements and progress which helps promote their self-esteem and confidence.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from having individual placement plans that detail how their needs will be addressed. Staff ensure young people are cared for in line with their placement plans. Young people are encouraged to play an active role in the development and review of their plans. It is good that staff are introducing new formats to improve young people’s participation in the assessment and planning process. Young people confirmed they know about their placement plans.

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Quality of care

Where appropriate, staff work closely and constructively with parents. This helps to ensure continuity of care and good outcomes for young people. For example, parents are encouraged to visit the home and staff provide parents with weekly reports regarding the care and progress of their child. Staff also work well with social workers and other professionals to make sure young people’s plans are implemented consistently without delay.

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Quality of care

Staff place a strong value on making positive relationships with young people and making sure they are listened to and respected. They endeavour to work constructively to reduce the incidences of negative behaviour displayed by the young people. They use a restorative approach to try to help young people to understand the impact of their behaviour on others.

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Quality of care

There are good arrangements for storing, administering and monitoring young people’s medication. Staff who administer medication have had training in safety with medicines. These arrangements help to protect young people’s health and meet their health care needs.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from the very good links the home has with a range of health care services, including those that provide support for young people who may have emotional or psychological difficulties. Many of the staff have also undertaken specific training in how to support and promote young people’s health and wellbeing.

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Quality of care

The home is attractively decorated, and furnished and maintained to a very good standard. This means young people have a comfortable, homely place in which to live. They each have their own bedrooms which are equipped with en-suite showers and toilets. Young people are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms.

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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

Staff are good at protecting young people’s welfare by implementing the home’s safeguarding procedures, risk assessments and reporting procedures. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in keeping young people safe and take appropriate action to safeguard young people. Young people said they feel safe living at the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Bullying is currently not an issue in the home. A key part of the home’s ethos is that any bullying is unacceptable. Young people say staff deal well with bullying if it occurs. Staff have had training in countering bullying behaviour and the home has received anti-bullying accreditation.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are clear procedures in place which are used effectively by staff to minimise the risk to young people who go missing, or fail to return to the home at the agreed time. These procedures have been agreed with the police and local authority safeguarding staff. While, recently there has been an increase in the number of such incidents, staff in partnership with the police and placing social workers have worked effectively to reduce the number of occasions when most young people go missing. Overall, the frequency of young people going missing reduces over their time at the home. Records indicate that when young people go missing it is not to get away from the home but to stay out with friends.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff work hard to develop and maintain positive and constructive relationships with young people living in the home. They are very good at responding positively to acceptable behaviour by providing appropriate incentives and rewards. They agree individual targets and rewards with each young person. However, for a period of time, because of the often very challenging behaviour of some of the young people, staff have used physical restraint and sanctions regularly. The use of these measures is appropriate and proportionate. For example, physical restraint has only been used on young people to keep them or others safe, or to prevent significant damage to the home. However, this is not always clearly demonstrated in the home’s restraint records. Also, some of the records of sanctions given to young people have not been completed as required. This relates to a delay in record keeping which makes it more

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Safeguarding children and young people

difficult to monitor the appropriate action taken by staff. The use of physical restraint and sanctions has reduced over the last few weeks.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The Council has clear and comprehensive staff recruitment and selection procedures. These help make sure only suitable people are employed to care for the young people. No new staff have been employed at the home since the last inspection, therefore staff personnel records were not checked.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a home that is safe and secure. For example, there are good systems within the home to identify and minimise any risks or hazards.

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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

The home has a Statement of Purpose that provides clear, accessible information about how it operates. It is child focused and clearly sets out how young people will be cared for. A young people’s guide to the home includes important information, for example, how to complain or contact an independent advocate.

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Leadership and management

An interim manager is in post who is also the Registered Manager of another home. The interim manager and the deputy are both qualified and very experienced. They provide good and effective leadership for the staff team to enable them to provide good outcomes for the young people. This is the first inspection of the home since it was registered.

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Leadership and management

The management team continually monitor and review the quality of care provided by the service and the staff team strives to improve outcomes for young people.

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Leadership and management

Staff are skilled and experienced and have a strong commitment to meeting the complex and diverse needs of the young people who are admitted to the home. They receive good support and supervision which enables them to have a good understanding of young people’s needs and how to support them and keep them safe. Staff also have access to good training opportunities in caring for children and young people.

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Leadership and management

Staffing levels are good and enable staff to spend time meeting the individual needs of the young people. The management team monitor staffing levels and can adjust these when necessary. This helps make sure young people receive the support they need. Regular staff meetings and good handover arrangements between shifts help ensure there is effective communication within the staff team. This helps staff to keep up to date with any changes to young people’s needs or circumstances. The good on-call arrangements also help make sure staff are well supported when working at night and at weekends.

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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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