Children's Home run by Friends Therapeutic Community Trust in Cambridgeshire

Unique reference number SC025733 Inspection date 26/02/2013 Inspector Stephen Halliley Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 08/11/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The service is provides a therapeutic programme and treatment for up to 17 young men with emotional and behavioural difficulties and or learning disabilities.

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Brief description of the service

The service is run by a charitable community trust and caters for a specific age range and needs detailed within the Statement of Purpose. There are semi-independence bungalows in the grounds and a separate satellite service for those who require transitional accommodation before living independently. There is a wide range of facilities including on-site education and vocational workshops to support accredited work based learning courses.

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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

This home was last inspected by Ofsted in November 2012 and judged to be outstanding. Since this time the home has addressed the recommendations which were made at the inspection and continue to improve the service they offer to young people.

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Progress

A much improved welcome guide is in place to be given to young people when they arrive at the home. This includes an individualised page which has contact details for Ofsted, Children's Rights Director and an independent advocacy service typed in. The names and contact details for the young person's social worker, independent reviewing officer and youth offending team workers are written in so that these details are specific to that individual. This ensures young people have all information they require should they wish to raise a complaint or concern with someone outside the organisation.

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Progress

A newly developed six monthly summary was recently received by Ofsted in line with regulation. This clearly shows detail of consultation with young people and other stakeholders. Student social workers are working on ways of improving feedback and consultation with all partner agencies and other stakeholders so that a more comprehensive feedback on the service can be gathered. This will support the service to evaluate the quality of care being provided and, ultimately, improve the service received by young people.

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Progress

Health and safety checks are being carried out regularly and the previous gaps in the testing of emergency lights have been resolved. However, a pattern has begun to emerge whereby the weekly fire alarm tests have not been carried out when the facilities manager, responsible for these checks, is away from work. Despite regular monitoring under both regulations 33 and 34 this has not been identified by managers indicating the monitoring of records is not sufficiently robust at this time.

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Progress

There have been no instances of young people going missing from this service since the last inspection and only one physical restraint has been used. Records of sanctions for inappropriate behaviour are clear but there are minor gaps in this recording and the effectiveness of sanctions is not always clearly stated.

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Progress

Significant events have been notified to Ofsted and other relevant authorities as required. However some notifications have not clearly stated that placing authorities have been informed of incidents by way of password protected emails.

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Progress

The home has reopened the recently refurbished semi-independent bungalow. A newly appointed transitions social worker has oversight of this. This is a three bed unit and the focus is on the leaving care process and creating a smooth transition. The home works with local authorities on pathway plans and preparing young people for the next phase in their lives. This structured approach ensures young people benefit from a more dedicated staff role and more intensive support.

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Progress

The home has implemented additional group supervision every Wednesday and alternate sessions are training sessions facilitated by managers. This needs-led training ensures staff remain fully up to date with legislative changes and practice issues and are able to provide a consistent high quality service to young people.

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Progress

The home is also actively looking at staffing ratios in order to meet more complex needs of their young people. Staffing levels on shift have been increased and serious thought is being given as to whether there is a need to increase the waking night staff. This shows a good insight and understanding of the changing needs of young people and demonstrates a proactive approach to maintaining the level of service offered.

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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 the manager regularly monitors, in line with regulations, all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the homes policies, to identify any concerns about specific incidents and to identify trends and patterns; this specifically refers to the pattern of fire alarm tests being missed when the facilities manager is away from work (NMS 21.2)  ensure that all staffs work is consistent with the regulations, national minimum standards and the homes policies and procedures; this specifically relates to completing all areas of consequences recording and ensuring the effectiveness of the consequence is clear (NMS 21.3)  ensure a written record is kept which includes the action taken and the outcome of any action or investigation following a notifiable event; this particularly relates to recording that placing authorities have been informed of the incident. (NMS 24.2)

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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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