Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Torbay

Unique reference number SC456863 Inspection date 15/10/2013 Inspector Jim Palmer Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 14/03/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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.

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Brief description of the service

This home is owned and operated by a national provider of children's services. The home looks after young people who may display complex emotional and behavioural needs. The service has good internal and external links to specialist services to work with young people with those complex needs.

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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 a good service, with some outstanding areas of practice. The quality of care is outstanding and young people benefit significantly from living in this home. Young people are happy living in this home and enjoy excellent relationships with staff. Feedback from other professionals, family members and young people is very positive.

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Overall effectiveness

Strengths of the service include strong leadership, a clear commitment to achieving good outcomes for young people and excellent relationships between staff and young people. Staff have a good knowledge of young people's needs and how these are to be met.

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Overall effectiveness

The home sets high but realistic targets for young people, and strikes a good balance between providing a nurturing environment and having clear expectations of young people. Challenging behaviours are effectively and positively managed.

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Overall effectiveness

The home provides a pleasant comfortable homely environment in which mutual trust and respect can develop.

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Overall effectiveness

Three areas for further development were identified. These include, revising of the Statement of Purpose and service development plan, to ensure the Statement of Purpose accurately describes the service and is understandable to all readers. The service was also asked to ensure that the fire safety risk assessment is regularly reviewed.

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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.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) compile in relation to the children's home a written statement, in these Regulations referred to as 'the statement of purpose', which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1. In particular ensure this document accurately reflects this service and is comprehensible to all persons listed in the Regulation. (Regulation 4 (1) and (2)) 01/12/2013

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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 risk assessments of the whole children's home environment are carried out, to identify any potential sources of harm to the children, are recorded in writing and regularly reviewed, namely fire safety risk assessments (National Minimum Standard 10.8)  ensure that any patterns or trends requiring improvement are identified and action taken to address any issues. (National Minimum Standard 21. 2)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make very good progress in developing self-esteem and confidence. Staff work skilfully to support young people to increase their social and communication skills. This is recognised by family members, and social workers from the local authority. This growth in confidence and self-esteem has had a significant impact in the reduction of less socially acceptable behaviour and aggressive ways of managing disagreement. Young people have a good understanding of the reasons for their placement in the home and are fully engaged and consulted about the planning for their future. Importantly, they feel they are making good progress in most aspects of their lives and are committed to working with staff to achieve good outcomes.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from very strong, positive relationships between staff and young people. Young people have developed strong positive relationships with staff and feel cared for and valued. Young people can identify who they would speak with if they had any personal concerns.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's attendance in education and ability to work successfully in group situations in the company-provided school has improved significantly. In some cases young people are now able to be introduced to local college courses. While young people and family members recognise this progress, it remains an area that continues to require further consolidation. Young people welcome the support they have been given in achieving educationally and clearly benefit from this experience.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's health is promoted by staff members consistently highlighting the importance of good health care and of maintaining medical appointments. As a result of this approach young people now have regular health assessments and regularly attend the doctor, dentist and opticians. This is a significant development. Young people have comprehensive personal health plans. Staff are pro-active in monitoring the health of young people, for example advocating for more frequent reviews of medication prescribed for young people with the Children's and Adolescent Mental Health team (CAMHS).

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Outcomes for children and young people

Staff are committed to achieving good outcomes for young people and are skilful and resilient in managing challenging behaviour. Staff commitment to young people is evident and is well embedded in practice. Staff and the manager are knowledgeable about the reasons for a young person’s placement and how they contribute to supporting young people in achieving their goals. Young people are quite rightly proud of their achievements and recognise the progress they are making. One young person described his experience of living in the home as ‘brilliant’. The mother of a young person said that her child is ‘making excellent progress she cannot fault the home,' and, ‘it feels like he has two homes.'

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

Relationships between staff and young people are excellent. Staff are committed to achieving highly successful outcomes for young people. They have high aspirations for young people and create a nurturing, therapeutic environment in which to help them develop their self-confidence and esteem. A good balance is reached between setting high but realistic objectives within clearly defined expectations and provided a relaxed casual homely environment. This enables young people to feel secure and safe yet able to test boundaries and develop self-limiting behaviour. As a result, young people are able to flourish in this environment and make positive contribution to the future plans. Young people say they now understand other people's perceptions far better and are always offered reasons as to why their own wishes may not always be in their best interests. For example, why it is necessary to place limits on the amount of time they spend on computer games.

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Quality of care

Young people are consulted about the day-to-day running of the home and are able to contribute to the menu planning and décor. An example is the selecting of pictures and posters for the walls. Young people are invited and encouraged to participate in their care planning meetings. If they find attendance at those meetings difficult, staff and key-workers seek their views and ensure they are passed on to the review meeting. Young people say staff always take time to seek their views and to prepare them for any meetings or discussions or explain the reasons why specific decisions have been made. This reduces significantly young people's anxiety, and enables them to feel more confident to express their opinion in an appropriate manner.

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Quality of care

Young people are clear about who they would speak to if they had any concerns about the way they are being looked after. There are an excellent range of posters, guides and information that can be made available in other languages or formats if required, that signpost young people to external agencies that can address any concerns.

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Quality of care

Young people have detailed placement plans, which are regularly reviewed and updated. Placing social workers and family members are kept fully informed of any developments through regular reports or telephone conversations. Staff are extremely knowledgeable about young people's needs and how they are to be met by the service. They are pro-active and highly skilled in preparing young people for day-to-day events in order to reduce the risk of anxiety, this includes case planning meetings, appointments, and activities. Considerable time is taken in preparing young people and explaining the reasons for these events. This is an area of strong practice. Young people thrive in this environment and make significant improvements in socially challenging situations.

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Quality of care

Staff are aware of the importance of contact between young people and their families and provide positive support to the young person and their family where a return to live at home is part of the placement plan.

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Quality of care

Medicines are securely stored and safely administered; all staff are trained in the safe administration of medicines. The manager seeks to improve the safety of medicines administration, for example is currently exploring the use of blister packs with a local pharmacy. Young people's health needs are well recorded and all appropriate consents for medical treatment are in place.

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Quality of care

The home is attractively decorated and furnished and is maintained to a high standard. It is located in a residential area, close to town centre amenities and leisure facilities. There are no features identifying this home from other properties in the area. This home provides a pleasant domestic-style living environment for young people. Young people can personalise their own bedrooms and are consulted about the choice of décor and fittings throughout the home.

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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

There are effective systems in place for promoting the safety and welfare of young people. They say they feel safe in the home, and that staff work hard to ensure their safety. Feedback from family and professionals indicate there are no concerns regarding safeguarding practice. The manager and staff liaise regularly with other professionals to promote the safety of young people. No young people have been absent from the home without permission since the last inspection; however, the home does have a protocol with the local police and staff are knowledgeable as to what they should do if a young person should be missing without authority. All staff receive regular safeguarding awareness training and are familiar with local referral procedures. Considerable time is taken to discuss with young people the risks that certain behaviours may present. This includes ways of promoting individual safety when using the internet. Young people are supported in taking controlled risks and

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Safeguarding children and young people

developing individual strategies for keeping themselves safe, for example by staff encouraging young people to access community resources and activities which they may find challenging in order to develop those social skills.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Behaviour management is good. Young people are supported in developing self- responsibility for effectively managing their behaviour and relationships with other people. This is largely achieved by good role modelling, rewarding positive behaviour and a considerable investment in spending time with young people to negotiate mutually acceptable outcomes to disputes. Staff encourage a restorative approach to resolving issues. Young people are supported in understanding the impact of their behaviour on others and in trying to put things right. Young people recognise the improvements in their behaviour and are rightly proud of this. As a result, the use of sanctions is minimal; there have been no physical interventions since the last inspection.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The safety of young people living in the home is further promoted by robust staff recruitment systems. All staff working at the home have successfully completed checks in place prior to their appointment. There is evidence of an audit process for completed staff profiles held in the home.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home makes use of comprehensive risk assessments for the environment, activities, equipment and individual young people in order to ensure a safe environment for young people and staff. All safety checks for electrical equipment, gas and fire safety equipment take place regularly. Fire safety evacuations take place at regular intervals; however, the fire risk assessment is overdue, despite requests by the manager for this to be completed.

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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 manager provides the staff team with very good leadership and direction. The manager sets high expectations for herself, staff and young people. The manager and staff have very good knowledge of young people and the reasons for their placement. The manager provides very direct, 'hands on' style of management. The manager is suitably qualified and experienced and each member of the staff team hold appropriate qualifications and are offered regular training updates. All staff complete a comprehensive induction course that meets all the core proficiencies and there is a detailed post-appointment programme. All staff receive regular supervision, annual appraisal and have personal development plans. There is the opportunity for career development for those staff who wish to take the opportunity. Staff meetings are held regularly. As a result young people benefit from good consistent child care practice.

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Leadership and management

The Statement of Purpose is in the process of being reviewed. There is a draft copy in the home which is a significant improvement on the previous edition. Despite these improvements the Statement does not cover each of the areas required by regulation. Very good information is available to young people about who they can contact if they have any concerns about the quality of the service in the young person's guide and numerous leaflets prominently displayed outside the staff office.

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Leadership and management

The manager regularly reviews the quality of care and is very aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. The home has a good track record for meeting any recommendations and requirements arising from previous inspections. The manager has taken action to address the previous requirement that the views of young people and their parents are considered in the review of the quality of care. This is now included in the reports. Two recommendations were made at the previous inspection, the first was that the Statement of Purpose contains contact details of other agencies; this is now in place. However, a requirement is made as not all required areas are covered. Placement plans are regularly reviewed and now contain short and long-term targets.

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Leadership and management

The home has a service development plan. However, this does not contain specific targets and timescales for addressing any patterns or trends identified as a result of service monitoring. The home is well resourced and there is sufficient staff to meet young people's needs. Staff stability and retention is good. There are good systems in place to retain staff and reduce staff absence.

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Leadership and management

The home’s case recording system is good and records are generally well maintained. There is an effective system for monitoring the quality of recording.

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Leadership and management

The home regularly notifies all appropriate agencies of any significant events.

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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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