Children's Home run by Talbot House Children’s Charity Limited in Newcastle upon Tyne

Unique reference number SC432843 Inspection date 09/04/2013 Inspector Nicholas Murphy Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Residential special school (>295 days/year)

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Date of last inspection 09/01/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home accommodates up to seven children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, and is owned by a registered charity. It is part of a residential special school.

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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

At the last inspection in January 2013 the home was judged to be making satisfactory progress. Two recommendations were made and both have been addressed in full. The children’s guide for the home has been completely revised. As a result, young people have an up-to-date list of people outside the home they can contact if they need to. Additionally, there is a risk assessment for each young person in relation to the possibility of them going missing. This helps staff to be more aware of the circumstances in which a young person might run away.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides sound support to young people, taking full account of their individual characteristics, needs and circumstances. This approach has contributed to the achievement of good outcomes for young people. Staff provide day-to-day care in consultation with young people, listening to their views and promoting choice. As a result, young people have developed trusting relationships with staff.

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Overall effectiveness

The home keeps young people safe, and young people clearly feel secure here. One young person summed up their view of the home in their recent looked after review consultation, simply saying, ‘it’s good here’.

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Overall effectiveness

There are several shortfalls in practice. Of most concern is that care plans are poorly set out and do not cover all necessary areas. In addition, restraint recording does not meet requirements; guidance for staff in dealing with incidents when young people run away is incomplete; there is no policy governing room searches; there is no written development plan for the home; and not all records of staff supervision sessions are signed by the member of staff.

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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) promote and make proper provision for the welfare of children, specifically that each child has a detailed placement plan which is tailored to the individual child, focused on clear measurable outcomes, and fully involves the child (Regulation 11(1)(a)) 03/05/2013

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of the use of any measure of restraint in a children's home, a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose, specifically that the nature of the restraint is described in plain language. (Regulation 17B(3)(c)) 03/05/2013

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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 staff know and implement the home’s policy in relation to children going missing, in particular when to inform parents (NMS 5.2)  ensure that the home only carries out searches of a child’s room in accordance with the home’s guidance (NMS 3.20)  ensure that the home has a written development plan, reviewed annually (NMS 15.2)  ensure that staff sign the record of each supervision session. (NMS 19.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Since coming to live at the home, young people have developed greater self-reliance and confidence. One social worker said, ‘from the start of their placement, (young person) has made steady progress. From being a very immature young person they are beginning to grow into an adolescent and take more responsibility for themselves.’

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are in good health. They eat a reasonably balanced diet and are aware of the importance of maintaining healthy lifestyles. Young people do not have unhealthy habits such as smoking. Some specific health issues for young people, related to emotional well-being, have reduced in significance over time.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have excellent attendance at school and have a positive attitude to learning. As a result they are making good academic progress and taking pride in their achievements.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have become more willing to help out around the home and tidy their own space. They have some understanding of the importance of developing skills they will need in later life. These may be simple self-care routines, such as washing their hair without assistance.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people see their families at regular intervals. They look forward to these occasions and derive great benefit from them. Some young people cannot have contact with family members without it being supervised. In these cases, staff will support and supervise contact to ensure that it is meaningful, enjoyable and safe.

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Quality of care

Relationships between staff and young people are generally positive. Staff respond to young people’s needs with sensitivity and warmth. This gives young people a clear sense that staff care about them and want to do the best for them.

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Quality of care

Staff take time to explore young people’s feelings and respond to any concerns. They encourage young people to express their views and preferences and, wherever possible, act upon them. Regular sessions between young people and their key workers are particularly useful in finding out what young people think, within a setting where they feel comfortable and unthreatened.

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Quality of care

Case files have some useful documentation which describes young people’s needs and how to meet them. This is child-friendly and well set out. A social worker commented, ‘Staff have worked really hard to increase their knowledge of how to meet (young person's) needs.’ Unfortunately, the care plans, which should form the basis of all work with young people, are incomplete and poorly organised. This means that staff may not be completely consistent in their daily work with young people.

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Quality of care

The home provides a healthy environment for young people. Food is good and staff can accommodate the particular likes and dislikes of individual young people while encouraging the right food choices. For example, staff puree vegetables so that they can be incorporated into a sauce and so be more acceptable to young people. The home has good links with all necessary health services, including those providing specialist support for mental health issues. This ensures that young people’s emotional well-being is maintained. Staff are in regular contact with schools. They communicate any issues or concerns so that teachers can be aware of any difficulties young people may be experiencing and so respond accordingly. In addition, staff advocate for young people in order to improve their potential for learning. For example, staff have obtained agreement from a young person’s placing authority to provide them with a laptop. This will help

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Quality of care

with their reading and writing skills. Staff support young people in doing their homework, thus creating a culture within the home which values education.

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Quality of care

The home provides a satisfactory range of leisure activities both within the home and in the community. Young people enjoy arts and crafts, model making, painting, cookery, and board games. Outdoor pursuits include bike riding, fishing, swimming and ice skating. Some young people also attend a weekly youth club. This enables them to have fun with other young people of their own age.

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Quality of care

The fabric of the home is of excellent quality, well maintained, with modern and comfortable furnishings. The standard of the environment helps to promote feelings of self-worth for young people.

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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

There is no bullying in this home, and young people feel safe. Staff are alert to any worries young people may have and know what action to take if there are any safeguarding issues to be addressed. The manager liaises effectively with the appropriate agencies to ensure that the safety of young people is maintained.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There have been no incidents where young people have gone missing from the home. Staff know what action they need to take in the event of a young person running away, such as searching the immediate area and contacting the police. However, written guidance for staff is not fully specific about everything that staff need to do in these situations. For example, staff are not clear about if, and when, to contact parents.

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Safeguarding children and young people

In general, young people behave well. They respond to appropriate direction and encouragement from staff and confrontational incidents are rare. Physical restraint is similarly infrequent. However, the record of restraints uses technical language to describe how the young person was held. This means that it is difficult for anyone not familiar with this jargon to know what happened. From time to time it may be necessary to search a young person’s room in the interests of keeping them or others safe. However, the home does not have a policy governing this. As a result, young people and staff cannot be certain of how the rights and dignity of individuals will be protected in these circumstances.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Managers take care to ensure that staff have the right skills and experience to support young people and meet their particular needs. Staff undergo a suitable recruitment and vetting process before starting work at the home. However, the manager does not keep records of these checks within the home and so cannot provide immediate access to those who may need to see them.

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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

The manager has only recently been appointed and has applied for registration with Ofsted. This appointment has already provided the home with better stability and leadership.

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Leadership and management

The operation of the home is monitored at regular intervals by an independent person as well as by the manager. This ensures that the quality of care is monitored and action taken to address any shortfalls. However, although the manager is able to explain their ambitions for the future of the home, there is no written development plan. Such a plan enables managers and staff to be clear about what actions are necessary to achieve further improvement.

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Leadership and management

The home ensures that there is always sufficient staff on duty to meet the individual needs of the young people. Staff are qualified and trained to deliver a suitable level of care. Additional training is organised for specific purposes. For example, staff recently received training in the effects of a particular medication, so that they could monitor more effectively a young person’s reaction to it.

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Leadership and management

Staff say that they feel supported and have confidence in the manager. They receive regular supervision which is clearly focused on the needs of young people and well recorded. However, not all records have been signed by the member of staff involved. This reduces the accountability of both the supervisor and supervisee for ensuring that agreed actions are followed through.

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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 the inspection of children's homes.

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