Children's Home run by North East Autism Society in Durham

Unique reference number SC458754 Inspection date 31/07/2013 Inspector Stephen Graham Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 15/05/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children’s home provides care for up to eleven young people with learning disabilities. The home is operated by a private provider.

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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

The overall effectiveness of the service in meeting the needs of young people living at the home is good. Young people enjoy good outcomes in their care and receive well organised support from the staff team to help them to achieve this. They, along with their parents and carers discuss their individual care needs with the staff team very regularly. They receive good support with their personal health care needs. They participate regularly in a broad range of healthy leisure activities in their local community. They attend their education regularly and are supported to be successful in it.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is decorated and furnished to a good standard. It provides a safe and comfortable environment to the young people who live there. The staff team give young people advice and support to help keep them safe. The home is well led and managed. The management arrangements work effectively to support the good quality of care provided to young people and the individual outcomes they achieve.

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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 the equipment used to alert the staff to any visitors arriving at the home works effectively (NMS 10.3)  ensure that staff understand and implement the written policy on managing behaviour by maintaining clear records of every event occurring at the home (NMS 3.3)  maintain a record of staff working at the home which demonstrates the staffing levels at all times. (NMS 17.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people living at the home interact well with the staff team. They, along with their parents, carers and placing social workers regularly discuss the success of their individual care plans with the staff team. This helps to ensure that the outcomes agreed in their care plans are achieved. One social care professional with links to the home describes how they are ‘very pleased’ with the progress being made by the young person and the qualities demonstrated by staff in supporting this progress. Another describes how, in their experience, the home has, ‘Worked hard to improve standards,' adding, ‘I have confidence in the staff team.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people living at the home achieve some good health outcomes. They benefit from the support available to them both at the home and from additional specialist health care services. They can enjoy a very healthy and active lifestyle and participate regularly in a good range of healthy activities both within the local community and beyond. Young people also enjoy a healthy diet which takes into account their individual food preferences and any additional dietary needs they may have.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people achieve good outcomes in their education. The staff team maintain very good links with the local specialist education service attended by young people. These links work effectively to help the staff team to maintain and improve educational outcomes for young people. Social care professionals linked to the home agree that children’s learning is supported by the care they receive from the staff team.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people practise and develop their individual self-care skills. The staff team provide them with very good support and practical advice to help them to achieve this. They work very closely with parents, carers and placing social workers to plan this. The home has good facilities in place to support this. This helps young people who move on from the home to make a successful transition to adult care services.

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Quality of care

The manager and staff team closely monitor the individual care plans for each young person living at the home. They work in close partnership with parents, carers, young people and their placing social workers to do this. This helps to ensure that the monitoring is effective and that the individual needs of each young person are fully known and addressed successfully. One placing social worker describes how telephone communication between themselves and the home is good. Others describe how they receive regular written reports from the home regarding the progress young people have made. Social care professionals describe the current service provided at the home as ‘good’ or ‘ok’. They agree strongly that improving outcomes for young people is the clear priority of the manager and staff team.

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Quality of care

Young people are supported to give their views directly to the social care professionals involved in meeting their care needs. Regular meetings are organised to review the effectiveness of each care plan. Parents and carers are encouraged to attend these meetings. The manager and staff team members also attend and provide detailed written reports regarding the progress being made by young people.

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Quality of care

The home has agreed admission procedures in place. These are used by staff to help young people coming to live at the home to settle in quickly. Detailed admission information is gathered and recorded. Individual risk assessments are completed by the manager and staff team in partnership with placing social workers. These arrangements work to ensure that young people are admitted safely. The written information available to young people in advance of their move to the home has also been improved to include photos of the building and it’s interior. One placing social worker describes how the child they have placed at the home, ‘Has settled remarkably well.' Another reports that, ‘I would happily place another child there.'

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Quality of care

The home is appropriately furnished and decorated to meet the needs of the young people who live there. It provides them with a comfortable and safe environment. However, the arrangements to alert the staff to any visitors arriving at the home are not always effective. The location of the building provides young people with access to a good range of local community facilities and recreational opportunities.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy a healthy diet and can try different foods from a variety of cultures. The staff team work closely with parents, carers and a range of specialist health professionals linked to the home. This ensures that the individual health needs of each young person living at the home are agreed and met. The staff team have received additional training in first aid and the safe administration of medication. This helps to ensure that the health needs of young people are met in any emergency and that medication is administered to young people safely.

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Quality of care

The staff team develop and sustain very positive and constructive relationships with the young people living at the home. Young people, as well as their parents and carers, are encouraged to give their views on the overall running of the home. Young people are also supported to maintain contact with family and friends as agreed in their care plans.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe. The home has good arrangements in place to help safeguard young people. Social care professionals with links to the home agree that the staff team understand how to protect children and safeguard their welfare. They also believe that the staff team work to help children to understand how to protect themselves. The staff team are trained to help protect young people from abuse and have access to agreed safeguarding procedures and guidance. They complete detailed risk assessments and care plans in partnership with parents, carers, placing social workers and young people themselves where possible. These plans clearly identify risks and protective factors for each young person. They are monitored and reviewed regularly to ensure that they remain effective in helping to keep young people safe.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The staff team have agreed procedures in place to help ensure that if young people were to go missing from the home, they would be found and kept safe, as quickly as possible. Positively, no young people have been missing from the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The staff team work to promote and sustain positive and constructive relationships with young people who live at the home. The use of restraint has been necessary at the home on some occasions. The current system used to record and copy these incidents clearly has not always worked effectively. However, the current acting manager has taken good steps to improve this. There are a range of agreed sanctions and incentives in place which the staff team can use to promote and support the positive behaviour of young people. However, the use of sanctions has not been necessary. Overall, the relationships between the staff team and young people who live at the home are very positive.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home provides a safe and comfortable environment to the young people who come to visit. The manager and staff team ensure that regular health and safety checks are completed to help minimise any potential risks to young people. The staff team are trained to know what to do in any emergency and they practice these arrangements with young people.

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Safeguarding children and young people

There are very good arrangements in place to complete checks on new staff team members to ensure they are suitable to work with children. Any visitors to the home are supervised by staff to help ensure that children are kept safe when they are present.

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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 arrangements for the manager to monitor the quality of the service provided at the home are good. Regular reports are completed regarding the quality of the care that young people living at the home receive. The home does not currently have a registered manager. However, the registered provider has taken urgent action to fill this position. The acting manager has worked very successfully with the staff team, parents, carers, a range of social care professionals and young people themselves, to plan and implement further improvements to the service. Social care professionals linked to the home believe that the service provided to the children who live there is currently good. They strongly agree that improving outcomes for children is the clear priority of the manager and staff team. There is a Statement of Purpose in place which accurately describes the service provided at the home and contains some good information. Young people receive their own

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Leadership and management

summary guide to the service, which is very well presented.

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Leadership and management

The staff team overall contains staff team members who are experienced and qualified. They use their experience and knowledge well to support young people to achieve some good outcomes in their care. Additional training opportunities are planned and provided regularly to the staff team. They also receive individual supervision and annual appraisal. This helps the service overall to develop and maintain the knowledge and skills needed to care for young people successfully. One social care professional describes how they were, ‘Impressed with the staff team and the confidence they display with young people.' The manager monitors the daily staffing levels at the home very regularly. However, the records of staff working in the home do not always demonstrate the staffing level achieved each day or that young people are receiving the individual care and support that they need.

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Leadership and management

Independent monitoring visits to the home are completed regularly on behalf of the registered provider. Reports are completed in good detail. The manager reviews the contents of these reports and works to implement any recommendations made.

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Leadership and management

Each of the actions raised and recommendations made at the previous inspection visit have been implemented by the manager and staff team.

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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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