Children's Home run by Fairfield Residential Limited in Cheshire West and Chester

Unique reference number SC397987 Inspection date 14/12/2012 Inspector Louise Redfern Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 26/03/2012 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 privately owned and is registered to provide accommodation for up to two children with learning difficulties.

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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

Young people make excellent progress in the home and enjoy varied opportunities to engage in activities. As a result, young people improve their social skills and increase in confidence. Young people enjoy positive relationships with staff and each other. Young people receive highly personalised, well-planned care, taking into account their individual needs.

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Overall effectiveness

The home strongly promotes positive outcomes for all young people. The manager and staff team are particularly proactive and successful in engaging young people in the placement and developing strong attachments. This is because they are cared for by a small and dedicated staff team. As a result, young people make good progress in relation to their starting points across all aspects of their welfare and development.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people live in a nurturing, supportive environment that is underpinned with clear and consistent boundaries. Individual needs are well identified with updated plans and strategies in place to address them. A strong commitment to engage young people in community based activities is a strength of this home.

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Overall effectiveness

Recommendations and requirements have been made, these shortfalls are not currently impacting on the welfare and outcomes of young people placed in the home.

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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 a record in respect of each child includes the information specified in Schedule 3, in relation to health examinations conducted at school (Regulation 28(1)(a) Schedule 3(23)) 31/01/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) supply to the HMCI a report in respect of any review conducted by him for the purposes of paragraph (1). This is with regard to submitting regulation 34 reports at regular intervals (Regulation 34(2)) 31/01/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the system for monitoring and improving the quality of care provides for consultation with children, their parents and placing authorities. (Regulation 34(3)) 31/01/2013

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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 that all staff are trained in physical restraint techniques and training is regularly refreshed (NMS 3.14)  ensure that the home provides for a comfortable and homely environment which is well maintained (NMS 10.3)  ensure the children's guide includes how a child can contact their independent reviewing officer (NMS 13.5)  ensure that the registered person has a written development plan, which is reviewed annually and relates specifically to the home (NMS 15.2)  ensure that a record of telephone enquiries made relating to verifying references is kept. (NMS 16.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from highly individualised and intensive support from the staff team. As a result, positive attachments are established and maintained. One grandparent commented ‘the staff team are wonderful with my granddaughter; they really know and understand her.’ Young people maintain healthy lifestyles that maximise their quality of life and assist in improving their well-being. Young people’s physical, emotional and psychological health is proactively supported. For example, young person attend a dentist, who specialises in working with young people with disabilities. As a result, young people are confident in attending appointments and maintaining healthy lifestyles.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make informed choices using their preferred communication style. They actively participate in day-to-day decisions, such as planning their activities. Individual and group activities are stimulating and wide ranging, for example, horse riding, bowling and swimming. These enhance young people’s skills, promote their independence, and improve their social relationships.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have exceptional attendance at educational placements suitable to their individual learning needs. Staff facilitate attendance and consistently liaise with education providers, ensuring that communication is current and robust. Consequently, contributions are effectively made to care planning arrangements. This means that young people benefit from an integrated approach to sustaining and progressing in their education.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making exceptional progress, in relation to their individual starting points and in developing their independence skills in preparation for adulthood. They undertake household chores such as laying the table. As a result, young people are empowered and encouraged to develop skills for life and feel part of the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from appropriate contact with their families, friends and significant others. Staff are proactive in encouraging sustainable relationships by supporting visits in the home and arranging transportation to contacts. This means that young people are not isolated from their families or peer groups. Subsequently, young people experience improved and sustained relationships with family members. For example, friends and family members are invited to and attend birthday parties at the home.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy strong and positive relationships with staff. The atmosphere at the home is calm, relaxed and well ordered; and young people thrive in this environment. Young people are supported by high levels of staffing to meet their individual needs. Young people have a clear understanding of who is their dedicated staff member for each day.

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Quality of care

Staff engage with young people using a varied range of verbal and non-verbal communication methods. This ensures young people are reassured and their views and wishes are heard and taken into account. Young people engage in house meetings, which are supported by their speech and language therapists. These meetings enable young people to contribute to the running of the home. There have been no complaints since the last inspection. Young people have access to the complaints procedure and parents closely support young people and act as an advocate.

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Quality of care

Young people receive encouragement to lead a healthy lifestyle. This includes, taking an active part in activity planning. The manager and staff have good links with young people’s individual health services. Effective communication ensures that relevant health information is included in placement plans. Professional communication and partnership working is embedded in the home. For example, staff liaise with education provisions on a daily basis through home to school diaries. As a result, young people experience a cohesive approach to sustaining their education, managing their behaviour and in the celebration of their educational achievements.

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Quality of care

Young people are cared for in line with their individual in house and statutory placement plan. There is an excellent awareness across the staff team of individual young people's care and support needs. Detailed planning means that young people are treated as individuals and equality and diversity issues are positively addressed. For example, young people are supported to attend local youth clubs, ensuring that they are able to access appropriate forums to develop safe independent friendships.

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Quality of care

The home facilitates a range of activities including attending local youth clubs, swimming sessions, bike riding in a local park with specially adapted cycles and going on holidays. In the home, young people enjoy singing, using a touch screen computer, sensory toys and individually developed sensory activities. These activities improve confidence, social skills, and participation in the community. The home is personalised for the young people at the home. For example, photographs of them engaging in activities are displayed throughout the home. The staff team support young people to gather memorabilia during their time at the home which they access when they choose to.

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Quality of care

The home is welcoming and suitably located with lots of facilities and space to enable young people to be part of communal living as well as having individual time and space to engage in activities, be with staff and visit family members. However, some areas of the home are not kept in good repair, this relates to the floor plates and stair carpet. This is currently not having a negative impact on the young people living in the home.

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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

Detailed risk assessments and behaviour management plans are in place to protect young people from harm and promote their well-being and safety. Staff are able to identify vulnerabilities and triggers and put measures in place to reduce risks and episodes of negative behaviours. For example, redirecting and offering young people time to use sensory trays to prevent anxious and negative behaviour manifesting. Risk assessments enable young people to continue to take reasonable risks, wherever possible, ensuring that they have the opportunity to grow and develop, regardless of their disability. For example, they engage in community based activities such as going swimming or horse riding.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Managers and staff are well trained in safeguarding and the home has extensive policies and procedures in place to underpin effective practice. The home has a strong focus on safeguarding young people. For example, high levels of supervision are provided to ensure young people are kept safe. One parent commented, ‘I feel my son is very safe in the home.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are clear safeguarding procedures in place should young people go missing and staff are clear how to respond. However, due to the nature of young people, and effective staff support, there have been no episodes of young people going missing. Sanctions are not imposed at the home; staff focus is on rewarding positive behaviour. There have been no episodes of young people being physically restrained since the last inspection. However, some staff have not completed physical intervention training in the last two years, in line with the company policy. As a result, they may put young people at risk should they have to physically restrain a young person at the home, as their training record is not up-to-date.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are selected and checked through the organisation's robust recruitment procedures. The manager takes an active role in recruitment and ensures the safe recruitment of staff that are able to meet the young people’s specific needs. However, the manager does not clearly record when references have been verified. Effective health and safety risk management ensure the home is well maintained. The home provides a safe environment for the staff team and the young people. Young people practice fire drills and with staff support develop their individual personal evacuation plans. This means they have a clear understanding of what to do in the event of an emergency.

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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

Staff are enthusiastic and supportive of the manager, the home's ethos, aims and working practices, which they have helped to establish. They understand their role and responsibilities and work with the support of managers to address young people’s needs. The home is well resourced to meet the needs of the young people and high staffing levels are in place on each shift. Any shortfalls in the rota are covered by existing staff doing extra hours or with a small number of company casual staff. This ensures a level of consistent care to meet the needs of the young people. The staff team are supported through regular team meetings, appraisals and supervision.

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Leadership and management

The manager has a good approach to identifying young people’s individual needs. Effective individual placement plans are established to enable young people to make progress and achieve their full potential. Young people’s files are maintained in the home and contribute to an understanding of their lives. However, a shortfall was identified with the absence of a statutory health assessment being on file. The manager can clearly demonstrate the impact and value that living at the home has had on young people’s lives and how their life chances have improved over time. For example, this includes young people’s verbal communication skills significantly improving.

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Leadership and management

The manager undertakes regular monitoring of the quality of care. However, monitoring does not currently provide for formal consultation with young people, parents or placing authorities. This shortfall does not negatively impact upon young people. Their views and the view of their parents' and social workers' are routinely sought as part of regular communications, the review process and the effective admission process. Also these reports are not received by Ofsted as required.

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Leadership and management

The service does have a development plan in place but it does not focus on the specific home or demonstrate the strengths and weakness of the home and how improvements are being made in the home. This has the potential to impact on the quality of care provided to the young people. The Statement of Purpose and young person’s guide accurately represent the specific service of the home. However, there is a minor shortfall in the young people’s guide because it does not have the young people’s independent reviewing officer details included. There is no current impact on young people as a result of this shortfall.

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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 and the evaluation schedule for children's homes.

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