Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Southampton

Unique reference number SC407783 Inspection date 10/01/2013 Inspector Anna Williams Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 29/05/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home is run by a national private organisation and provides accommodation for an associated residential special school. The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people aged nine to seventeen years who have emotional and behavioural 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 adequate .

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Overall effectiveness

This children’s home was judged to be inadequate at a full inspection in May 2012. The home has addressed the vast majority of requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection. This children’s home provides an adequate quality of care. Young people are positive about the care they receive. They generally feel safe living in the home. Placement planning is individualised and promotes positive outcomes. Young people’s progress with educational aims and their attendance at educational establishments is generally good. Relationships between young people and staff are warm and appropriate.

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Overall effectiveness

Areas for improvement all relate to the leadership and management of the home, which is inadequate. There has not been a Registered Manager in post for over two years. This has impacted negatively on the organisation of the home. The formal supervision of staff is inconsistent. Staff appraisals have not taken place for some years. This does not ensure that staff are suitably supported and guided. Regulation 33 visits have not happened for the past two months. This means that the quality of care has not been reviewed on a regular basis in line with regulation. Regulation 34 reports do not contain consultation with children, their parents or placing authorities. Consequently, feedback is not used to improve the quality of care within the home. Staff undertake key working roles without appropriate life story work skills. This means young people do not benefit from proactive life story work as staff lack

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Overall effectiveness

A new manager has very recently been appointed. They do not have an application in process with Ofsted. The home has a development plan in place. It is based on recent Ofsted inspections. This provides an adequate focus on driving forward improvement within 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 written confirmation is sent to HMCI of details of the appointment of the manager, and the date on which the appointment is to take effect (Regulation 7 (2) (a and b)) 11/02/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that staff receive appropriate appraisal (Regulation 27 (4) (a)) 31/03/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that staff receive appropriate supervision, including regularly-used agency staff (Regulation 27 (4) (a)) 31/03/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that visits to the home take place at least once a month (Regulation 33 (3)) 31/03/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the system in place to review the quality of care includes consultation with children accommodated within the home, their parents and placing authorities. (Regulation 34 (3)) 31/03/2013

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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 staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of children and purpose of the setting, with specific reference to life story work skills. (NMS 18.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for children and young people are adequate .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people now have regular key worker sessions. This provides them with opportunities to discuss their current situations and personal circumstances. Young people say they like this one-to-one time with key staff, as it allows them the chance to talk about anything they want to. This offers young people formal personalised support and helps build emotional resilience. Young people’s health needs are now fully met. Young people now engage with smoking reduction plans, and confirm that their smoking has reduced. Young people now eat a balanced diet. They are engaging in more healthy lifestyle choices, such as regular exercise. Some young people now attend a local gym. Access to child and adolescent mental health services is now addressed in a timely manner, although no young people have identified psychological needs currently. Young people now engage well with routine health appointments. This supports young people to

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Outcomes for children and young people

maintain a healthy lifestyle and identified individual health needs are fully addressed.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people engage with activities within the home and in the local area. Activities include shopping, cinema trips, bike rides, football games and group visits to local places of interest. Some young people undertake voluntary work on a regular basis. This enhances young people’s positive engagement with the wider community.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s progress with educational aims and their attendance at educational establishments is generally good. Young people maintain contact with their family and those who are significant to them. This benefits young people by keeping appropriate attachments with those who are important to them.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are now engaging well with independence goals. Some young people use an allocated budget to buy food on a weekly basis. They are progressing well with budgeting, shopping and preparing healthy choices of food. All young people engage with daily living tasks around the house. All young people use public transport independently. This effectively prepares young people for a successful transition to independence and adulthood.

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Quality of care

Young people have positive relationships with each other. Since the last inspection, the staff team have focused on creating a culture that consistently supports and encourages positive behaviour. Proactive and appropriate role modelling by staff has resulted in warm and constructive relationships with young people.

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Quality of care

Young people say that their views are now heard and they can influence the running of their home. Feedback following young people’s house meetings is now clearer and actions are followed up in a more timely manner. Examples of changes following meetings include the redecoration of bedrooms, the purchase of furniture and equipment and activity choices. This demonstrates to young people that their views are valued and listened to.

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Quality of care

Young people know how to make a complaint. Complaints raised have been promptly addressed and fully resolved. The system to administer and record medication within the home is safe and effective. Staff now actively support young people to reduce their smoking and to make healthy lifestyle choices. This impacts positively on young people’s health and well-being. Placement plans now contain up-to-date information about young people. They have been revised and now more positively address a young person’s cultural identity. This provides young people with personalised care planning. A new keyworker system has recently started. This means an allocated staff member is now responsible for monitoring the implementation of a young person’s placement plan in their day-to-day care. This ensures the individual needs of young people are being consistently met.

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Quality of care

Staff support young people to take part in a reasonable range of purposeful activities. This enhances their personal and social development. Diversity is celebrated within the home through recognising key religious festivals and having themed meals. This promotes young people’s learning about different cultures.

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Quality of care

Staff adequately support educational achievement and celebrate young people’s success. The home provides young people with suitable space to complete homework. Staff support young people with college applications and interviews. This approach has been successful in engaging young people with educational establishments.

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Quality of care

The home has benefited from a re-fitted kitchen and a new en-suite within a young person’s bedroom. Other areas of the home have new curtains, have been re-painted and have new soft furnishings. Young people say they were involved in the changes and like the redecorated rooms. All upstairs bedrooms now have functioning window restrictors on them, which can be used in line with individual risk assessments. This provides a safe and homely environment for young people to live in.

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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 say they generally feel safe living in the home. Young people do not identify bullying as an issue. Staff demonstrate a sound awareness of safeguarding policies and procedures. Significant events relating to the protection of young people within the home are notified to the appropriate authorities as required. This demonstrates appropriate multi-agency working for the protection of young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The behaviour management policy is now reliably applied within the home. This ensures that all negative behaviour is appropriately challenged and consistently addressed. Young people feel that staff address behaviours in a fair manner now. The use of physical intervention and sanctions within the home is low. Monitoring of the records takes place to ensure that measures of control are appropriate, which they are.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There have been two incidents of young people missing from the home. Appropriate action was taken. Suitable protocols are in place with the local police. This supports the safety of young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Risk assessments are now kept up-to-date and are reviewed after significant events. This ensures staff refer to current and accurate information regarding the safety and welfare of young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff are recruited safely. The home can now demonstrate that agency staff used are also safely recruited. This ensures that all staff working with young people are carefully vetted.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are protected by sound health and safety routines. Maintenance issues are promptly addressed. Regular gas, fire and electrical checks take place. Young people know what to do in an emergency through regular drills. This provides young people with a physically safe environment to live in.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are inadequate .

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Leadership and management

The home has not had a Registered Manager for over two years. This has negatively affected how efficient the organisation of the home is. The management of the home is inadequate due to the significant regulatory breaches. A new manager has very recently been appointed. They do not have an application in progress with Ofsted. The permanent appointment of a suitable Registered Manager will offer the young people and staff stability.

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose has been fully revised. This now provides parents and placing authorities with clear and accurate information about the service. The children’s guide contains an adequate description of the aims and objectives of the home in a child-friendly format.

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Leadership and management

Staff and regularly used agency staff still do not receive regular formal supervision. This does not allow staff the opportunity to reflect on practice and receive appropriate guidance. There are no appraisals on file for any staff member. Some staff report not having an appraisal for some years. Therefore, staff have not had their performance individually and formally appraised at least annually. Overall, this does not provide young people with staff who are suitably supported and supervised to maintain an adequate quality of care.

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Leadership and management

Staff complete eLearning modules in key topics such as fire safety, safeguarding, and food hygiene. This ensures staff are suitably skilled in safe caring skills. A previous recommendation to provide staff with life story work training has not been met. The only member of staff with life story work training has now left. Staff undertake key working roles without appropriate life story work skills. This means young people do not benefit from proactive life story work as staff lack confidence in this area.

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Leadership and management

New staff have joined the staff team. This means that staff now have a suitably balanced work pattern, without excessive hours. This provides young people with staff who are not overly tired.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s files have been fully audited and now contain all the information as required by regulation. This ensures that staff are able to refer to all relevant documents and statutory minutes as required. Records are stored securely and capture adequately the story of a young person living in the home. Young people’s personal letters and correspondence are now sensitively filed. This supports the safekeeping of young people’s individual memorabilia.

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Leadership and management

Regulation 33 visits have not taken place for the past two months. This is during a period when a manager left the service. This is not in line with regulatory requirements and demonstrates weak internal monitoring by the provider organisation. Regulation 34 reports now contain more evaluation about the quality of care. However, they lack consultation with young people, parents and placing authorities. Consequently, feedback is not used proactively to improve the quality of care within the home.

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Leadership and management

The home has benefited from guidance from an external consultancy service, which was commissioned following the last inspection. However, due to the lack of consistent leadership, the extra consultancy support has had little positive impact with regard to the management of the home.

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Leadership and management

There were 18 requirements and recommendations set at the last inspection. The vast majority of these have been fully addressed. This has improved the quality of care within the home. However, there are continued weaknesses in the management of the home. This has resulted in one requirement relating to supervision, and one recommendation relating to training being repeated. Further requirements relating to the management and monitoring of the home have been set. The home's development plan centres on previous Ofsted inspections. This provides an adequate focus on driving forward progress and improved outcomes for young people.

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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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