Children's Home run by South Tyneside Council in South Tyneside

Unique reference number SC032701 Inspection date 02/10/2013 Inspector Stephen Graham Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 15/11/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This home provides care and accommodation for up to nine children who experience emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home is provided by the local authority.

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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 as a result of the care they receive. Arrangements made to provide them with support and advice about their health are very well organised and they can participate in a good range of healthy leisure activities within their local community. They are encouraged to attend their employment and further education regularly and to participate positively in these. They receive outstanding support from the staff team to help them achieve these good outcomes.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people live in an environment which is both safe and comfortable. The home is well presented and is decorated and furnished to a good standard. Young people receive good advice and support to help keep them safe. The management arrangements in place at the home are outstanding. The views of young people are sought very regularly and are included in plans to further develop and improve the service provided to them. The management arrangements work very effectively to support both the outstanding quality of care and the good outcomes achieved by young people living at the home. There are some minor shortfalls within some records. However, these shortfalls have had no impact on the overall good quality of care that young people receive from the staff team and manager.

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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 summary recruitment records maintained at the home demonstrate clearly how the registered provider has followed good recruitment practice. (NMS 16.2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people living at the home enjoy some good outcomes as a result of the care they receive. They discuss their personal care plans with the staff team very regularly. The staff team also works in close partnership with placing social workers and other professionals linked to the home, to help achieve the outcomes agreed in these plans. Young people relate well to staff and enjoy the care they receive. The staff team ensures that the individual achievements of all young people living at the home are documented clearly and are celebrated.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Social care professionals linked to the home describe the service it provides to young people as being ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. They agree that the needs of all the young people who live there are considered appropriately, irrespective of their age or gender. They also agree strongly that improving outcomes for children is a clear priority for staff at the home.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people achieve some good individual health outcomes. There are well organised arrangements in place which ensure that they can access the specialist advice and support that they need. They enjoy a healthy diet and enjoy a good range of healthy activities within their local community. Young people confirm that the staff team look after them if they are ever unwell. Social care professionals linked to the home agree strongly that young people access appropriate health care. One describes how young people ‘are encouraged to attend medical appointments and are supported to attend’ and another how ‘the staff team is very good at supporting young people to access health services’.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people also enjoy some very good outcomes in their employment and further education. The staff team have developed good links with local employers, further education services and specialist employment and educational advisors. They work in good partnership with these services to support and further improve the attendance of young people and to acknowledge their very positive achievements in their employment and education. With regard to the support and encouragement received, one young person describes how the staff ‘motivate me to do well’.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make very good progress in developing their self-care skills. They benefit from very good support and practical advice to help them develop these skills. All young people confirm that the staff team ‘help me to learn how to look after myself’. The home has outstanding facilities in place to support this. The staff team work closely with a range of external professionals to support young people in their transition to adulthood. This helps young people to move on positively and to live successful, independent lives within their local community. One young person highlights the ‘support and help received from my keyworker and the staff toward my independence’.

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

The individual needs of each young person are known and are addressed very positively in their individual care arrangements. The staff team monitor individual care plans regularly and work in close partnership with young people and their placing social workers to support this. Social care professionals describe how the staff team at the home communicate well with them. They also describe the quality of care provided at the home as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ and confirm their belief 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 strongly encouraged and supported to be directly involved in their own care planning. Regular meetings are organised to review the effectiveness of their care plans. The manager and staff team members attend the meetings and provide very good information regarding the progress being made by each young person. Young people themselves can also attend these meetings. The staff team encourages and supports them to attend and to share their views and ideas at their meetings.

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Quality of care

The home has detailed admission procedures in place. These are used by the manager and staff to encourage and support young people to settle in at the home quickly. Well planned introductory visits are organised and individual risk assessments are completed which help to ensure that young people are admitted safely. The quality of the layout, furnishing and decoration at the home is very good. Young people live in a comfortable, well equipped and safe environment which meets their needs. The location provides them with very good access to a broad range of local community facilities and recreational opportunities.

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Quality of care

The staff team encourages young people to eat well and to enjoy a healthy diet. The home has a dedicated cook and they, along with care staff, involve young people directly in menu planning and food preparation. Young people can enjoy a range of healthy choices and can try foods from a variety of cultures. To help ensure that the health needs of young people can be met in any emergency, the staff team receive regular training in the administration of first aid. They are also trained to store and administer medication to young people safely. The arrangements in place to administer medication are monitored regularly by the manager.

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Quality of care

The staff team work to develop and sustain very positive and constructive relationships with young people living at the home. When asked, ‘what is good about the home’ young people describe ‘everything’ and ‘the staff’. All of the young people who wrote or spoke with us confirm that they ‘get on’ with the other children and young people in the home. Young people receive outstanding encouragement from the manager and staff team to give their views and to be involved in the overall running of the home. They also receive outstanding support 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.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people feel safe living at the home. The staff team is very experienced and committed to helping them to stay safe. Staff are trained to help protect young people from any abuse and have access to detailed safeguarding procedures and guidance to support this. They complete detailed care plans for each young person in partnership with placing social workers. Young people describe how they themselves can help to write their plans and that they are happy with their content. The plans put in place help to 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. Social care professionals strongly agree that the staff team understands how to protect children and to safeguard their welfare. They also believe that the staff team helps children to understand how to protect themselves.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Local police protocols and agreed procedures are used by the staff team to help ensure that where young people are missing from the home, they are found and kept safe, as quickly as possible. There are agreed strategies in place which are working effectively to reduce the number of absences from the home. The staff team are trained to use physical restraint if this is ever necessary to keep young people safe. However, the use of physical restraint or any sanctions at the home has not been necessary. There are a range of agreed incentives available to staff. These are used regularly to promote, support and celebrate the positive behaviour of young people. Overall, young people living at the home enjoy positive relationships with the staff team and each other.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Regular health and safety checks are completed at the home to help minimise any potential risks to young people. The staff team know what to do in any emergency and they practice this with young people. Senior staff at the home and line managers, describe in good detail the arrangements in place to complete checks on any new staff team members. They confirm that all required and recommended checks have been completed to ensure they are suitable to work with children. However, in some examples the written summaries of these checks, held at the home, do not report clearly on all recommended matters. For example, the qualifications staff members may have which are relevant to their role or full confirmation of their previous employment history are not always recorded. However, this shortfall has had no immediate impact on the care of young people. Any visitors to the home are supervised by staff to help ensure that children are kept safe when

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Leadership and management

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

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Leadership and management

The home has a Statement of Purpose in place which contains clear, detailed information about the service provided. Young people receive their own summary guide to the service which is very well presented and contains some very good information.

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Leadership and management

The arrangements put in place by the manager to monitor the quality of the service provided by the home are very well organised. The manager regularly prepares detailed written reports which analyse the quality of care provided to young people. The manager uses the information in these reports and works very effectively with the staff team and young people themselves to plan and implement further improvements.

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Leadership and management

The staff team overall is very experienced and very well qualified. Staff use their experience to help young people to achieve some good outcomes in their care. Social care professionals with links to the home believe that the staff team works well with them. The manager works to ensure that the staff team benefits from a very good range of additional training opportunities. This helps staff to both maintain and further develop the skills and knowledge they need to care for young people successfully. The manager also ensures that the staff team receives regular supervision and their performance is appraised annually. Staffing levels at the home are monitored closely to ensure that young people receive the care and support they need.

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Leadership and management

The registered provider ensures that independent monitoring visits to the home are completed regularly on their behalf. Reports from these visits are completed in good detail and report on all of the matters required and recommended. The manager at the home reviews and uses the contents of these reports to help plan further improvements to the service. They also consult very regularly with young people, the staff team, social workers, other professionals and parents where possible, to gather their views on the effectiveness of the service.

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Leadership and management

There were no actions raised or recommendations made at the previous inspection visit.

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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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