Children's Home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Middlesbrough

Unique reference number SC454266 Inspection date 21/11/2013 Inspector Steve Pearson Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 13/12/2012 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is provided by a private company and is registered to care for up to four young people with emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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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 behaviour of young people was turbulent in the first few months of the home's existence. Since then there has been recruitment of new staff and a new manager. The team is now contributing very effectively to helping young people achieve positive outcomes. In particular, they make significant progress in education and health.

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Overall effectiveness

The home is fully staffed by a permanent team and this brings good levels of consistency and continuity. The staff are supported well and receive good levels of training. However, they unable to develop skills and knowledge quickly enough as they do not enrol to gain qualifications within their first six months of employment.

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Overall effectiveness

The design of some parts of the building is limiting the comfort of the staff and young people. Some records are insufficiently clear which prevents the staff from being adequately informed. Monitoring of the quality of care is not sufficiently comprehensive and so shortfalls are less likely to be identified.

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Overall effectiveness

There is a strong spirit of support among the staff team and the Registered Manager leads them well. All staff receive regular support from regular formal supervision and staff meetings. Staffing levels are good and arranged through a well-designed staffing roster. Young people speak highly of the quality of care and of the positive impact it has had for them. However, the registered provider’s arrangements for distributing Ofsted’s pre-inspection surveys are weak.

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Overall effectiveness

As a result of this inspection one requirement and four recommendations are made.

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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) establish and maintain a system for monitoring the matters set out in Schedule 6 at appropriate intervals. In particular this must include the monitoring of accidents and injuries sustained by young people; illnesses of young people; young people's risk assessments; and first aid provided to young people. (Regulation 34 (1) Schedule 6)) 01/01/2014

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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 all children can communicate their views on all aspects of their care and support. In particular this relates to enabling children to complete pre-inspection surveys sent to the registered provider by Ofsted (NMS 1.3)  ensure the home’s design promotes children’s wellbeing. In particular this relates to the availability of toilets for young people and the provision of natural ventilation in a staff sleep-in room (NMS 10.2)  ensure all new staff are working towards the level 3 Children & Young People's Workforce Diploma within 6 months of confirmation of employment (NMS 18.5)  ensure information about each young person is recorded clearly. In particular this relates to young people's risk assessments which should clearly explain how the staff are expected to reduce the risks associated with each hazard. (NMS 22.5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make significant progress within a short period of time after being admitted to the home. They soon start to feel settled and secure and start to adjust to their new personal circumstances.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people are healthy and some have made significant progress since admission to the home. One young person summed this up saying, 'My teeth are a lot better now that I live here.' Young people are knowledgeable about sexual health because all the staff have received relevant training to guide them.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people make significant progress in their education. One of them said, 'Before I lived here I didn't go to school. Now I go all the time and am doing well.' Another said, 'I'm doing better in education now compared to before I lived here. The staff make sure we get into a routine of going to school.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people also make good progress in their social skills. They take part in local community activities where they meet others of a similar age. Where they have had strained relationships with their families prior to admission, these then improve over time.

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Outcomes for children and young people

All young people also develop useful skills which will be helpful when they are older and living independently. Young people learn skills associated with preparing and cooking meals, laundering clothes and budgeting money.

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Quality of care

Young people have a significant say in how the home is run and in the content of their own care plans. For example, one of them said, 'We meet every week to discuss things and make suggestions. The staff listen and do things for us if possible. Last week we asked to go to a show and tonight we're going there.'

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Quality of care

Support for young people to express their views is not sufficiently robust. As a result of weaknesses in administration arrangements, young people did not receive pre- inspection surveys which Ofsted sent to the registered provider. Ofsted made a follow-up call to the registered provider but young people still did not receive the surveys.

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Quality of care

In the first few months of operation, young people's behaviour was challenging. They put themselves at risk and some offending occurred. Over the past six months, admission arrangements have been more carefully controlled and young people's behaviour is now much more settled. One young person summed this up saying, 'I like it here and feel settled because the staff have time for us and listen to us.'

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Quality of care

The staff provide a healthy environment. Food is varied and nutritional. Young people say, 'The food is good and we can make a snack if we are hungry.' Specialist agencies provide them with emotional support where necessary. All the staff are trained to support young people in achieving sexual health. Robust arrangements are also in place to enable them to have good physical, optical and dental health.

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Quality of care

Young people are able to take part in a wide range of activities and in the summer holidays some of them experienced a holiday abroad. One of the young people summed up the activities by saying, 'There's usually something on every night. It’s good because it stops us getting bored.' The Registered Manager and staff are effective in supporting young people to attend and achieve in education. The home has a computer, reading books and educational posters and information. Young people have a desk and chair in their bedroom to enable them to do school work.

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Quality of care

The house is homely, clean and comfortable. However, the facilities in the home do not provide young people and staff with sufficient comfort; the young people's toilet is located in the same bathroom as their bath and shower. They are enabled to use the staff facilities if another young person is taking a bath or shower, but this is not ideal. Additionally, one of the bedrooms in which the staff sleep has poor ventilation which limits their comfort.

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Quality of care

Young people are cared for in accordance with their individual residential plan. Each plan is clear and up-to-date. Consequently, the staff are able to be clear about how their needs should be met. The home operates a key work system to help ensure documentation relating to each young person is current and accurate. The team of staff adhere to principles of equality and diversity. They provide young people with a range of information about other cultures. One young person said, 'The staff are fair…there are no favourites…they listen to us.'

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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

The Registered Manager and staff are effective in promoting positive behaviour. They reward good behaviour rather than punish negative behaviour and this ethos is effective. Young people rarely go missing and when they do, the staff are proactive in helping them to return safely and quickly. The staff receive regular training in how to respond to challenging behaviour. This includes training in how to restrain young people safely where they have lost control and where welfare is at risk.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people are safe and feel safe. This was summarised by one young person who said, 'I feel safe here and there isn't any bullying.'

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Safeguarding children and young people

The premises are also kept safe. Professional technicians regularly service the electrical equipment, gas appliances and equipment for preventing, detecting and extinguishing fires. The Registered Manager and staff assess the likelihood of hazards that may affect young people and others in the home. They conduct regular fire drills when young people are asleep and occasionally when they are asleep. This helps young people be fully prepared.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Appropriate recruitment arrangements are in place which help to ensure that staff employed to work with children are suitable.

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Leadership and management

The leadership and management of the children's home are adequate . This is the first inspection of the children's home since it became registered with Ofsted in December 2012.

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Leadership and management

The home has a clear Statement of Purpose which sets out all the necessary information about the home and how it operates. Young people also have a children's guide which sets out the information in a child-friendly format. One young person summed this up saying, 'I got a guidebook to the home when I first came here and it was useful. It has lots of information in it.'

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Leadership and management

The home is managed effectively and efficiently. The Registered Manager is fully qualified and experienced. Senior staff are in place to cover for the Registered Manager when they are absent. The staff receive training in a comprehensive range of subjects related to the care of young people. However, they are not supported to gain knowledge and skills through qualifications quickly enough. Specifically, a significant proportion of the team have not enrolled to study the level 3 Children and Young People's Workforce Diploma within six months of starting employment at the home.

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Leadership and management

The home is well-resourced and this helps to ensure young people's needs are met. The Registered Manager has a detailed annual development plan in place which identifies clear improvement targets for the next 12 months.

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Leadership and management

In line with legislation, an external person visits the home every month to monitor the quality of care provided. The reports arising from these visits are detailed and comprehensive. The visitor always seeks the views of young people and their parents. They make recommendations where necessary and assess compliance with these at their next visit.

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Leadership and management

The Registered Manager also monitors the quality of care and submits summary reports to Ofsted every six months. These reports are not sufficiently comprehensive as they do not cover all the matters required by legislation.

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Leadership and management

Records about young people, the staff and the home are generally clear and up-to- date. This helps the home demonstrate accountability for the care delivered and it enables the staff to be clear about young people's needs. The staff are not being sufficiently informed about how they can reduce the risks that may affect young people. This is because no clear link between the hazards that young people face and what the staff must do to reduce risks further is in place.

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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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