Children's Home run by Fairways Care (UK) Limited in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Unique reference number SC391708 Inspection date 17/04/2013 Inspector Maureen Hamer Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 18/12/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This provision is a children's home, which is owned by a private company. It is registered for up to two young people. The home provides care for young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties as well as physical and 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

Staff provide good and consistent care and are successful in gaining good outcomes for young people.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people's risk taking behaviour is well managed and issues such as going missing have stopped. However the home does not have all the necessary up-to-date local authority and police missing from care policy guidance.

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Overall effectiveness

Medication is safely administered to young people but the home's policy does not include staff guidance on the safe auditing of controlled drugs. Young people feel comfortable in the home but some areas of the house have not been well maintained.

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Overall effectiveness

There is good evaluative quality assurance in place but the home's development plan is not comprehensive.

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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 if a child is absent from the home and their whereabouts is not known, the home's procedures, protocols and procedures are compatible with those maintained by the local police or local authority for the area where the home is located (NMS 5.6)  up-date the home's safe administration and storage of particularly controlled drugs policy so that staff have clear guidance on the auditing of these drugs (NMS 6.13)  improve those areas of the home's environment so that it is all well maintained and decorated (NMS 10.3)  review the home's written development plan, reviewed annually, for the future of the home, identifying planned changes in the operation or resources of the service. (NMS 15.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's self-esteem has improved as a result of living in this home. Their confidence develops and they state that they want to make positive changes to their lives. Young people’s complex health needs are well assessed by medical consultants. Staff understand and follow medical guidance; for example on the administration of medication for episodes of epilepsy. As a result young people are able to enjoy activities and are safe. Young people are provided with good lifestyle advice. Young people are involved in a range of activities and exercise to help to manage weight and to keep agile. Risk taking behaviours such as drug misuse and anti-social behaviour have stopped. Young people are very aware of the negative effects of cigarette smoking and know that staff want to help them to stop smoking.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people’s absence from school has been addressed and their attendance has greatly improved. Young people say that they enjoy attending school. Young people’s writing and reading as improved as well as their communication and social skills. As a result young people are maximising their potential. A social worker said that young people are making good progress in their ability to focus on their school work.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people keep their bedrooms tidy. Young people are engaged in contributing to the home according to their ability; for example writing out the food list, preparing meals and doing their laundry. This helps them to develop a responsible attitude towards their home and to develop life skills in preparation for independent living.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy appropriate and important contact with family and friends. There is good access to a range of positive activities that young people can join in to have fun and to promote positive social skills. This helps to develop and maintain attachments that promote their sense of feeling part of significant communities outside of the home.

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Quality of care

Staff are good at developing positive relationship with young people. This is successful at promoting a respectful home environment. Young people say they trust staff, they can be honest and open to staff, they feel they can be themselves. Young people say that staff listen to them and help them to understand why some of their requests cannot be met. This successfully helps young people to positively manage disappointment.

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Quality of care

Staff are good at engaging young people in all aspects of their care. Staff provide effective support to young people who have previously had long absence from education. Young people are helped to manage their anxieties about returning to school and as a result feel able to manage new demands and relationships. Young people show good progress in going to school and enjoying school.

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Quality of care

Staff have a range of approaches to promote young people's educational progress. There is good daily communication with school about their progress this promotes consistency. Staff attend parent evenings and ensure that practical support is given to young people in the home. For example young people are encouraged to write out the food shopping list and letters home to encourage them to improve their writing. Staff listen to young people reading. Young people are given praise for their efforts and this motivates them to do their best.

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Quality of care

Staff access in-house counselling services to support a consistent and evidence based approach to emotional well-being and behaviour management. In complex cases staff also access local child and adolescent mental health services to gain additional input; for example to understand the functions of challenging behaviour.

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Quality of care

Staff are consistent in applying young people’s individualised positive behaviour strategies. Staff are good at communicating their effective approach with colleagues, for example, in education and this has reduced episodes of challenging behaviour and helped young people to develop self-management skills.

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Quality of care

The children’s guide is individualised to each young person and staff take time to ensure that young people understand the guide. Young people are aware of how to make a complaint. They say: ‘Everything is good. I would not change anything.’

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Quality of care

Care plans are comprehensive and reflect the needs of young people and the actions to meet those needs. Keyworkers ensure that the care plan is met. Young people’s views are gained on an on-going basis and regular keyworker sessions state progress.

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Quality of care

Monthly evaluative progress reports are provided to the placing authority. A social worker stated: young people make good progress and that they are confident in staff’s skills to provide good quality care to young people. The progress reports are very helpful.

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Quality of care

Young people’s bedrooms are personalised and private. Young people say that no- one goes into their room without permission this promotes their sense of dignity. The kitchen is well used. Young people help with food preparation and mealtime is a positive social occasion between young people and staff. The manager has taken action to have improvements made to the house, but the some areas need some redecoration.

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Quality of care

Staff ensure that young people are able to access a range of local services to promote young people’s health such as drug and sexual health related services. This ensures that young people are provided with up-to-date information from expert services to promote a healthy lifestyle.

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Quality of care

Medication, including controlled drugs, is safely administered to young people. However the home’s medication policy does not provide sufficient information about the auditing of controlled drugs to guide staff’s practice.

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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

Young people feel and are safe in this home. Staff act to promote young people’s welfare.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people’s behaviour and risk assessments identify relevant risks and protective factors. Staff understand the triggers and antecedents that increase young people’s anxiety and lead to challenging behaviour. Staff take effective and consistent action to de-escalate negative situations as a result physical restraint is rarely used and challenging behaviour has reduced. All incidents of restraint are sensitively and appropriately followed up in discussion and reflection with the young person. Staff record all incidents. The manager is very effective at evaluating episodes of restraint, and takes effective action to reduce challenging behaviour and use restraint.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's concerns are listened to and valued. Reasons for going missing are effectively addressed and as a result this behaviour has stopped. Staff are aware of the action to take in the event of a young person going missing; however the home’s missing from care procedures are out of date.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff provide young people with appropriate supervision to ensure their safety. There are no reports of bullying. The home is a very respectful environment for young people to live in and staff address any disrespectfulness in a positive manner.

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Safeguarding children and young people

All staff are selected and vetted robustly to ensure that young people are cared for by suitably qualified adults.

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

This home is managed effectively and efficiently. The manager is a good advocate for young people and ensures that they are provided with good quality care. In addition all necessary action is taken to ensure young people gain good support from other services such as education and health. There is a strong culture of continual improvement and capacity to improve. Management demonstrates good reflective evaluation of quality of care and is aware of priorities for improvement. However the development plan is not comprehensive. This hinders monitoring of the home’s progress against its priorities.

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Leadership and management

Staff feel valued and well supported. They receive regular supervision that is focused on the quality of care and the support staff need to effectively care for young people. Staff report that training is of a good quality that enables them to reflect on and improve their practice.

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Leadership and management

There is good monitoring of quality of care and this includes input from young people. The manager is active in seeking input from placing authorities about how the home can improve. Feedback is used to tackle weaknesses and make improvements. Management evaluates quality assurance information to improve outcomes. For example close scrutiny of behaviour incidents helped to identify trigger factors to challenging behaviour. This helped to provide additional support to young people at times of anxiety and to reduce escalation of negative behaviour.

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Leadership and management

All personal records are clear and stored securely. Statutory reviews are undertaken on a regular basis. The necessary information and documentation is gained from placing authorities to ensure only appropriate placements take place.

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Leadership and management

Health and safety in the home is monitored, and appropriate and prompt action is taken when there are any shortfalls. This ensures that young people are safe in the home.

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Leadership and management

All significant events relating to young people are informed to relevant partners. Social worker stated that staff always report incidents to relevant partners. This effective communication ensures that events are assessed to ensure that effective action is in place to manage the situation.

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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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