Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Warrington

Unique reference number SC456800 Inspection date 16/05/2013 Inspector Michelle Bacon Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is owned by a national provider. It provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is also registered as a 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 good .

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Overall effectiveness

This is an established home which has recently been taken over by a large private company. This is the home’s first full inspection since the new company was registered in February 2013. The overall judgement at the time of this inspection is good. There have been several changes to the management and staff team since the home’s last full inspection; nevertheless, some young people continue to experience placement stability. Feedback from young people and professionals is very positive.

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Overall effectiveness

Care planning and practice are highly personalised and meet the individual needs of each young person and through the effective support given by staff. Staff demonstrate a good understanding of safe working practice and young people confirm they feel safe. One professional commented, ‘The staff seem very aware of and tuned into my young person's needs.’

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Overall effectiveness

Most young people have made good progress in terms of their education and behaviour and the impact that the home has had in supporting this progress is clearly evidenced.

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Overall effectiveness

Overall the home is well managed and young people are cared for by an experienced and competent staff team. The manager and staff work well with other agencies to secure improved outcomes for young people. Three recommendations have been raised to further improve the quality of care for young people.

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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 work with a young person's education provider to maximise each young person's achievement and to minimise any underachievement (NMS 8.4)  provide evidence of the training undertaken by staff to meet the needs of young people, in particular evidence of first aid, food hygiene, medication and physical intervention (NMS18.1)  ensure staff are equipped with the skills required to meet the needs of young people, in particular that they have the skills to undertake life story work with individual young people.(NMS 18.1)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make good progress in developing emotional resilience and an understanding of their lives. Regular therapy sessions and key worker sessions help them make sense of their past. Furthermore, some young people now feel sufficiently confident and secure and have requested life story work to gain a better understanding of their background.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people have a good understanding of the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Overall, they are very healthy, although some do choose to smoke despite being told about the risks to their long-term health. Young people engage well with services that help them to understand the implications of risk- taking behaviours such as, drug and alcohol use. This helps them to make well-informed choices about their own health. Young people also regularly take part in sporting activities through their physical education lessons to keep them fit and healthy.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people engage in education. They have recently achieved improved attendance and participation, although participation in some subjects continues to be problematic. One young person is very proud of their predicted grades for their GCSE's next year. Young people now view their education as a positive aspect of their life.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged to have appropriate contact with family members and those who are important to them. This helps to reinforce their sense of identity and promote a sense of belonging.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff support young people to develop life skills appropriate to their age and ability. For example, they undertake household tasks such as, shopping, planning and cooking meals. This increases young people's ability to take care of themselves.

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Quality of care

Young people benefit from having very positive and supportive relationships with the staff who are very aware of their needs. One placing social worker commented ‘my young person has been able to sustain placement stability… they have good relationships with the staff and are able to open up to them.’ An Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) also commented ‘generally they meet (young person's) needs and keep them safe.’ Staff demonstrate they are committed to improving outcomes for young people.

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Quality of care

Comprehensive placement plans clearly detail young people's needs and the arrangements for meeting these on a day-to-day basis. Young people are well cared for in line with their plans. Young people said they are fully involved in all aspects of their care planning. Professionals confirmed that the staff regularly keep them up to date on individual young people's progress. Good quality risk assessments and behaviour management plans are also in place that identify potential triggers and how staff can deal with these effectively.

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Quality of care

Young people know how to complain. Information is provided in the young people’s guide and the home’s complaints procedures. A revision has been made to the home’s complaints procedure with the aim of ensuring that complaints are handled fairly, investigated thoroughly and the complainant informed of the outcome. This provides young people with the confidence that their concerns will be acted upon.

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Quality of care

Staff promote healthy lifestyles and ensure young people have good access to community health services. Medication is stored safely and securely with all staff being suitably trained in the safe handling of medication and first aid. Staff also have access to the organisation's in house clinicians, who provide support and guidance around young people's specific needs thus improving young people's emotional well- being.

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Quality of care

Young people are currently educated at home by visiting teachers. The manager and staff are aware that some young people do not engage as well in certain subjects as they do others. They plan to work with the lead tutor to ensure young people's full participation in all their subjects and giving them the opportunity to achieve their academic potential.

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Quality of care

The management are currently working with the organisation’s placement's team to ensure future admissions to the home are well planned and take into account the needs of the young people currently living there.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a home that provides a good standard of accommodation. Young people have taken ownership of their environment and refer to it as their home. The home is in a semi-rural area and public transport is not easily accessible. This means young people rely on staff to transport them to their appointments and activities.

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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 say they feel safe and are kept safe. They feel confident in discussing any issues or concerns they may have with the staff. Staff undertake safeguarding training so that they are able to respond to suspicions or allegations of abuse. Staff are very aware of the risks to young people and work with them to try and minimise these. Young people understand there are restrictions in place to keep them safe. One professional commented, ‘Although the placement is fairly isolating it is keeping (name) safe.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has agreed protocols with the local police to protect the welfare of young people who go missing from the home. Staff are aware of what action to take should this occur although the current levels of supervision reduce this risk. However, on occasions these systems have not always been effective as some young people have gone missing and placed themselves at risk in the community. As a result, a more specialised placement was sourced which led to the placement ending earlier than initially planned.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Positive behaviour is promoted, and restraint is only used as a last resort. There is clear recording of any restraint used and the reasons for its use. All staff are trained in behaviour management, including the use of physical restraint. Young people are generally well behaved and the use of sanctions is kept to a minimum. Both the sanctions and restraints are monitored well by the manager to identify any patterns or trends and to inform future practice.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Safer recruitment and vetting procedures protect young people, as far as possible, to ensure they are only cared for by suitable people. Furthermore, young people are protected by robust health and safety procedures in the home. Regular fire drills ensure young people and staff know how to evacuate the building safely in the event of an emergency. All fire, gas and electrical installations are serviced annually. This means young people live in a physically safe and secure environment.

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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

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager. She is also responsible for managing another two homes within the organisation, which means she is not in full time day-to-day charge of the home. This is the second manager since the home’s last inspection. There is a qualified first line manager who deputises in the manager’s absence.

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Leadership and management

Young people are cared for in line with the aims and objectives of the Statement of Purpose. The Statement of Purpose gives a clear overview of what placing social workers, parents and young people can expect from the service. The home is regularly monitored on a monthly basis and areas for improvement are reported on. This ensures that the home continues to improve the quality of care for young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people are cared for by suitably qualified and very experienced staff. Staff have access to relevant training which ensures they are competent to meet the needs of the young people. However, some staff files do not contain all the relevant certificates to demonstrate they have completed the mandatory training.

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Leadership and management

The number of staff on duty is sufficient to meet the needs of young people. The manager provides staff with good support and guidance, such as regular supervision, appraisals and team meetings.

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Leadership and management

Concerns raised with Ofsted about the home since the last inspection have been appropriately addressed.

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Leadership and management

The one requirement and three recommendations for improvement have been met. A report of the monthly visits carried out under Regulation 33, are forwarded to Ofsted on a monthly basis. This ensures Ofsted have good oversight of the home between inspection visits. Where appropriate, young people now engage in activities in the local community and have established some appropriate friendships. Furthermore, staff are now far more vigilant at ensuring young people do not access social networking sites if their risk assessments deem this inappropriate.

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Leadership and management

All records are well maintained and stored securely. They are up-to-date and provide a comprehensive picture of a young person's time at the home. At the time of this inspection, the home can demonstrate the positive impact it is having on improving outcomes for most 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 the inspection of children's homes.

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