Children's Home run by Able Health Care Ltd in Suffolk

Unique reference number SC408714 Inspection date 17/12/2012 Inspector Dorrit Andrews Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/09/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is privately owned. It is registered to look after a maximum of six young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. There are education facilities within the grounds of the home.

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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 inadequate progress .

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Progress

At the full inspection in September 2012 the overall quality rating for the home was judged as adequate, with two requirements and eight recommendations set within the inspection report.

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Progress

One of the requirements and three of the recommendations have been suitably addressed. The home's Statement of Purpose has been revised and submitted to Ofsted, the young person's guide has been updated, and reports of visits carried out under Regulation 33 are now lodged in the home for the manager and staff to respond. In addition, the practice of occasionally restricting access to areas of the home to promote young people's welfare is agreed with placing authorities, and, if appropriate, parents. The recommendation to have a written development plan has been partially addressed. The plan is awaiting further additions with regard to budget allocation and sign off by the responsible individual.

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Progress

The remaining requirement and four recommendations have not been appropriately addressed. Despite amendments to recording formats for the recording of incidents, sanctions and the use of restraint to ensure all required areas are included, a number of records still do not meet requirements. For example, records do not always evidence comments from young people or record the opportunity offered to young people to comment. In addition, a high number of records are not signed by the manager or contain the manager's comments to evidence robust monitoring. Furthermore, many sanction records do not include comments on the effectiveness and consequences of the sanction applied. The lack of robust and effective monitoring has also failed to identify that staff are utilising both old and new sanction recording formats. Similarly, the information recorded by staff with regard to young people going missing does

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Progress

not reflect the home's procedures, particularly in relation to recording follow-up action and seeking a young person's reasons for going missing. These shortfalls have the potential to impact on the welfare of young people as care practices cannot be effectively monitored. The home's stated frequency of staff supervision sessions is monthly. However, this has not been achieved since the previous inspection. Issues raised through reports of visits carried out under Regulation 33 do not always receive a timely response, therefore it is difficult to gauge improvements and developments within the home. As a consequence of these shortfalls it has been necessary to make a repeat requirement and four repeat recommendations.

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Progress

The home has continued to endure a difficult period since the previous inspection, with staff encountering some highly challenging behaviour from young people. Frequently this has resulted in damage to property which has sometimes taken a while to attend to and fully repair. This does not promote a welcoming environment for young people, their friends and families, staff or visitors.

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Progress

Since the previous inspection, stakeholder surveys have been introduced and circulated to social workers for completion. The quality of Regulation 33 visitor reports has also improved. A parent is now contacted monthly by the Regulation 33 visitor to ascertain their views on the quality of care provided by the home. It is anticipated that such practices will contribute to the home's improvement and development. The manager and staff team remain committed to the young people in their care and strive to improve young people's life chances.

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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 written records of any measure of control, restraint or discipline include all details required by this regulation, with specific reference to the paragraphs noted (Regulation 17B (3) (f) (h) and (i)) 07/01/2013 (2001) ensure that all parts of the children's home used by children are kept reasonably maintained. (Regulation 31 (2) (e)) 04/01/2013

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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's comments and reasons for going missing from the home are detailed in missing from care records (NMS 5.10)  ensure all staff's work is consistent with the home's policies and procedures, with particular reference to completing missing from care records, incident reports and records of sanctions (NMS 21.3)  ensure the registered person takes action to address any issues of concerns which are raised with them, with particular reference to Regulation 33 reports (NMS 21.9)  ensure all staff are provided with regular supervision by appropriately qualified and experienced staff (NMS 19.4)  ensure the manager regularly monitors, in line with regulations, all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the home's policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. Immediate action is taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring. (NMS 21.2)

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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.

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