Children's Home run by Step-A-Side Company Limited in Gloucestershire

Unique reference number SC030650 Inspection date 15/08/2013 Inspector Thomas Webber Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

p.1

Date of last inspection 12/03/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

p.2

Brief description of the service

This children's home is one of two run by the same limited company. The home currently provides long term and respite care and accommodation for a maximum of five children and young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties, or learning disabilities.

p.3

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

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The overall effectiveness is judged to be good .

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The home ensures that outcomes for young people are good. The Registered Manager exercises effective leadership to ensure that young people are provided with a good quality of care. Given their starting points, young people continue to make significant progress within the home. The high level of care and support contribute to this achievement. The personalised care young people receive ensures that they receive additional support to meet their physical, emotional, psychological and educational needs.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

Young people thrive as a result of living in a warm, caring and nurturing environment. They are cared for by a qualified and stable staff team where positive, meaningful and respectful relationships have been established between staff and young people. Young people feel safe and comfortable living at the home and are very appreciative of the care and support they receive. The staff team are highly committed to ensuring that young people continue to achieve in many aspects of their lives.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The home makes good use of its internal and external monitoring arrangements in order to improve the quality of care as part of its drive to achieve better outcomes for young people.

p.3

Overall effectiveness

The manager intends to make further improvements to the living environment by replacing some of the furniture. Door guards to some doors are also to be provided to prevent them being wedged open. A requirement has been made to ensure that there are suitable arrangements for the recording and safe administration of the medication to young people.

p.3

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.

p.4

Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) make suitable arrangements for the recording and safe administration of any medicine. (Regulation 21(1)) 30/08/2013

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people enjoy and appreciative living at the home. Young people receive a high level of personalised care and support that strongly contributes to them making significant progress in many aspects of their lives. The clinical input and oversight they receive also plays a key role in this achievement. The home is clearly meeting the various individual aims, objectives and needs of young people who are accommodated.

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people continue to make good progress educationally. The well-established routines and expectations within the home and staff support motivate most young people to achieve excellent school attendance despite the long distances they travel each day to attend. The close working relationships between the staff, the psychological team attached to the home and the educational establishments contribute to successfully maintaining the educational placements of some young people. These practices also enable young people to make successful progress towards achieving their educational potential.

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are provided with effective support which enables them to maintain the level of agreed contact with members of their family and other significant people. This includes staff playing a key role in organising and supervising contact arrangements, where required, as well as providing assistance with transport. As a result of living at the home, some family contact has increased. The staff ensure that good communication is maintained between themselves, families and the respective placing authorities. This ensures that they are all kept informed of key aspects of the care and progress of young people. Parents and social workers speak very positively about the care provided and the progress achieved by young people. They also confirmed that excellent communication is maintained between themselves and the home.

p.4

Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are encouraged and supported to engage in a range of household chores. Assistance towards independent living is very much dependent on the age and emotional development of each young person.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people continue to thrive in a warm, caring, supportive and nurturing environment. Relationships between staff and young people are warm and friendly. Young people are very appreciative about the care and support they receive and speak extremely positively about it. They also described their experience of living at the home as being between good to excellent.

p.5

Quality of care

Each young person is provided with a personalised placement plan which sets out the aims and objects of the placement and how their needs are met. They have comprehensive therapeutic behaviour support plans and risk assessments. These provide staff with effective tools and guidance on how to effectively work with and meet the day-to-day needs of young people.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people are given every opportunity, particularly on an individual basis, to express their views about the care and services provided. Young people report that they know how to complain and feel confident in raising any concerns with a number of staff. The home has received four complaints since the last full inspection. The manager or, where appropriate, the organisation take prompt action to investigate and resolve all concerns.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people enjoy healthy, varied and balanced food. They are consulted in the planning of menus which also provides them with opportunities to appreciate food from different cultures. Young people spoke positively about the quality and quantity of meals provided.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people are registered with various healthcare services and are fully supported to attend all appointments. Young people also benefit from receiving a range of specialist services to meet their emotional and psychological needs. These include regular individual therapeutic sessions within the organisation. The staff are also provided with clinical support and oversight. This provides them with opportunities to raise and discuss any particular concerns or gain practical guidance in the delivery of care provided to young people. The home provides safe storage facilities for the administration of medication. However, concern was raised about the lack of diligence and safe practices in the administration of young people’s medication. The manager has previously identified these deficiencies through his own internal monitoring audit. Action is already being taken to remedy these deficiencies.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people attend a range of educational placements which are tailored made to meet their individual needs. The staff work very closely with the educational placements of young people which ensure that effective communication is maintained between them. This also ensures that any difficulties that arise while young people are at school are promptly addressed. The psychological team, attached to the home, provides valuable support and guidance to the educational placements of young people in assisting them with the management of specific behaviours.

p.5

Quality of care

Young people are given every opportunity to engage in a wide range of age- appropriate activities both within the home and in the wider community. Staff fully support and help young people to participate in particular interests and hobbies that they may have.

p.6

Quality of care

The home is generally maintained to a suitable standard. Some redecoration and the installation of a new kitchen has taken place since the last inspection. The manager intends to make further improvements to improve the physical environment by replacing some of the existing furniture and fitting door guards to the living and dining room doors to prevent them being wedged open. Given the design and limitations of the premises, it provides young people with suitable facilities to meet their needs. In addition to the lounge and dining room, there is an outhouse available in the grounds. These facilities help young people to engage in a range of in house activities. Young people are provided with their own bedrooms, which are personalised to their individual tastes. The home provides young people with bathing and toilet facilities to meet their individual and collective needs. Suitable locks are provided to these facilities to promote the privacy and dignity of young people.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

The service is good at keeping children and young people safe and feeling safe.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people enjoy and benefit from residing in a home where extremely positive and nurturing relationships are established between staff and young people. These contribute to young people feeling safe and comfortable living at the home. The manager ensures that all potential or safeguarding concerns are referred to the Local Safeguarding Children Board. The staff receive regular safeguarding refresher training. This ensures that they understand their roles and responsibilities in promoting and safeguarding the safety and well-being of young people.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

The organisation ensures that robust recruitment practices are maintained in respect to the careful vetting and selection of new staff. Staff do not start work at the home until all the required vetting checks are carried out. Visitors to the home, are also vetted through identification checks before gaining entry. These rigorous processes prevent unsuitable adults working or having access to vulnerable young people.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

Staff have used a multi-agency approach to make a significant impact in reducing the number of incidents where young people have gone missing. Only two episodes in the last four months have occurred which is a huge achievement. Where incidents have occurred, staff have taken appropriate action which have led to the safe return of young people at the earliest opportunity. Comprehensive records are maintained in respect of all such incidents.

p.6

Safeguarding children and young people

The high level of effective care and support young people receive enable them to learn and develop appropriate levels of behaviour. This practice also leads to the minimal use of restraint and sanctions given the complex needs of young people accommodated. Generally, suitable records are maintained in relation to these methods of control. However, minor amendments were made to the recording of such incidents during the inspection, to ensure more comprehensive records are maintained. Young people report that bullying is not an issue of concern but acknowledged that they do fall out with each other on occasions.

p.7

Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in an environment where they regularly take part in fire evacuation drills. These practices ensure that young people are well aware of the procedures to take in the event of an emergency. The staff also ensure that the various health and fire safety tests and servicing arrangements are accurately maintained to safeguard young people and staff.

p.7

Leadership and management

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

p.7

Leadership and management

Young people benefit from living in a home which is extremely well managed. The Registered Manager exercises effective leadership and has the required skills, experience and qualifications to sustain this. This ensures that young people are provided with a good quality of care. Good communication is maintained within the home through the use of daily handover and regular team meetings. These practices together with the regular and good quality staff supervision allow the manager to monitor the individual performance of staff. They also provide staff with good opportunities to raise and discuss any particular issues relating to young people.

p.7

Leadership and management

The aims and objectives of the home are clearly reflected in its Statement of Purpose and are embedded in practice. Copies of this document are readily available to all interested parties. Young people, as part of the admission process, are provided with clear and useful information they need to know about the level of care and services provided by the home.

p.7

Leadership and management

Young people continue to receive care from a stable and qualified staff team with little staff turnover. Staff are supported to receive additional training to further enhance their knowledge, skills and competence in working with young people. However, the range of more specialist training is somewhat limited.

p.7

Leadership and management

The manager ensures that there are high levels of staff on duty throughout the day and night. Additional staffing is provided to meet the specific needs of the young person who regularly receives respite care at the home. The staffing arrangements ensure that young people receive stability, continuity and consistency of care which ensures that their individual and collective needs are met.

p.7

Leadership and management

There were no requirements or recommendations made at the last inspection carried out in March 2013. The quality and delivery of care is regularly monitored through both external and internal processes to ensure continual improvements are made for the benefit of young people. These monitoring arrangements ensure that views of young people are regularly sought and acted upon about the delivery of care provided. The use of questionnaires is also used as part of this process which also includes seeking the views of young people’s parents and placing authorities.

p.7

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.

p.9

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.

p.9