Children's Home run by Essandore Limited in St Helens

Unique reference number SC066218 Inspection date 22/01/2013 Inspector Sonya Robinson Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 20/09/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home offers accommodation for young people who may have learning disabilities and physical disabilities. The home is owned by a private company.

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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 good progress .

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Progress

At the last full inspection in September 2012, the home was judged as adequate overall. At that inspection, Ofsted asked the provider to make improvements in some areas. Children and young people were unavailable during this interim inspection.

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Progress

The provider was asked to ensure young people's files contained necessary information in accordance with legislation and ensure that each entry is signed and dated by the author; the Statement of Purpose and children's guide were in need of review and the record of children and young people being admitted to the home required updating.

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Progress

Also, the home was asked to ensure that household maintenance issues are addressed and additional staff training in autism spectrum disorder for staff was recommended.

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Progress

Since the last inspection the home has reorganised and reviewed young people's files, reflected on their monitoring systems and updated the admission and discharge register. As a result young people's files are more organised and the register is up to date. This means that the positive outcomes for young people have been more easily identified and areas for development planned for, such as promoting more effective communication. The Statement of Purpose and young people's guide have both been reviewed and updated and now contain Ofsted's up-to-date details and information for young people about how to access their social worker and independent reviewing officer. This provides young people and their families with the means of contacting Ofsted and others directly without having to ask for this information.

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Progress

Maintenance issues have been addressed and young people have been consulted and involved in choosing colour schemes for the hallways, large landing and corridor areas. They have chosen different colours for their bedroom doors. Young people and their families have also been involved in the decoration of their bedrooms and some are highly personalised in accordance with the young person’s hobbies and interests and others in accordance with their tolerances. Young people are also consulted and encouraged to take part, subject to their age and ability, in household tasks such as going shopping and menu choices and are also encouraged to choose how to spend their leisure time. For example they decide if they want to attend youth clubs or go swimming, bowling or to the theatre.

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Progress

Since the last inspection outcomes for young people have continued to improve. For some young people this has been significant in terms of improving their social interaction skills and promoting their independence skills. For example, some are taking more control of their personal care needs and are now more able to spend time with others and have attend Christmas parties and festivities.

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Progress

The home owner undertakes regular monthly visits to look at the overall effectiveness of the home and copies of the reports are very detailed and are regularly sent to Ofsted. The Registered Manager also regularly monitors the home’s records and sends a review of the service to Ofsted twice a year. This process identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the service and highlights the improvements that this home has made. It also highlights the progress young people are making and how staff practice is developing.

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Progress

All staff have undertaken specialist autism training since the last inspection and say that they 'really enjoyed the training'. As a consequence of this training they have reorganised some internal decoration and have redesigned their orientation board so as to not overload young people with too much information at any one time. This means that young people are able to make clear choices and continue to develop their independence skills.

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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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