Children's Home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Lancashire

Unique reference number SC063103 Inspection date 17/12/2013 Inspector Paul Scott Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 07/03/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

The home is run by a privately owned company and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children and young people who have a learning disability.

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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 outstanding .

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Overall effectiveness

The quality of care provided by staff enables young people to make exceptionally good progress and achieve excellent outcomes. Young people benefit from strong, parent-like relationships with staff. These relationships underpin all aspects of care practice and have contributed to young people finding stability through long-term placements.

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Overall effectiveness

Staff work in a way that maximises young people's potential. Care planning and care practice is highly personalised and individually tailored towards young people's unique and specific needs. Good links with young people’s families and relevant professionals ensure young people receive the right support, help and guidance they need on a daily basis. Young people are fully involved in decisions affecting their lives and the daily running of the home. This is because staff are innovative when empowering young people to overcome barriers to communication. One independent reviewing officer (IRO) said, 'There is excellent partnership working. Staff always support (name) to have their say and when necessary will advocate on their behalf.'

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Overall effectiveness

Young people are kept safe and made to feel safe. Young people's, families and professionals confirm this. Robust systems and excellent care practice ensure the welfare and safety of young people is promoted at all times. Staff show an excellent knowledge of young people's risks and vulnerabilities and always take positive action to ensure risks are minimised and safely managed.

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Overall effectiveness

The leadership and management of the home is strong. The manager places a strong emphasis on providing a high standard of care for young people. They constantly monitor the homes performance and utilise a number of quality assurance methods to gather feedback from young people and stakeholders. This ensures they understand what they do well and can address shortfalls and further develop and improve the services and support young people receive. One area for improvement is identified. This relates to reflecting these views in regulation 33 and 34 reports.

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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

 Improve quality assurance systems, specifically ensure the gathered views of children living at the home, their parents and families and staff are reflected in regulation 33 and regulation 34 monitoring reports. (Volume 5, statutory guidance, paragraph 3.22)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Outcomes for young people are outstanding .

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit from well-planned care which is personalised to their individual and specific needs. They are supported to gain a positive understanding of their lives through creative use of life story work. This helps young people develop an understanding of their backgrounds and leads to increased stability and emotional security. As a result, placements are extremely stable and young people are making exceptional progress.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Relationships between young people and staff are exceedingly strong and are based on the values of good parenting. These principles are integral to all aspects of care. Staff utilise strong attachments with young people to make them feel valued and respected as individuals in their own right. This improves young people's self-esteem and enables them to work positively towards achieving their full potential. The effectiveness of this approach is evident in the progress young people make in achieving their personal goals.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are healthy and enjoy healthy lifestyles. They eat well balanced diets and take regular exercise through recreational activities and play. Staff ensure young people are registered with healthcare services and routine check-ups are up-to-date. Young people's specific health needs are thoroughly assessed and met through strong links with specialist services including the looked after children's nurse and the child adolescent mental health service (CAMHS). As a result, young people's known and emerging physical, emotional and psychological needs are effectively managed.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people's participation in education is very good. Staff work closely with schools and colleges to ensure young people receive consistently good support, both at home and in education. This promotes excellent attendance and opportunities for full participation. Teaching staff confirm this. One said, ‘the service has supported (name) for a number of years and has worked closely with us throughout this time. As a result, (name) has made considerable progress, both in terms of learning and behaviour. This means that they have been able to go on residential trips and supervision at lunchtimes and breaks has been significantly reduced.'

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people benefit significantly from the support they are given to build and maintain positive contact with their parents and families. Staff work closely with young people and their families to ensure contact is safe, well organised and as positive an experience as possible. As a result, young people enjoy frequent and good quality contact with key people in their lives.

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Outcomes for children and young people

The daily life in the home enables young people to develop their life skills in preparation for adult life. For example, staff teach young people how to manage their personal care and they are routinely involved in the daily running of the home, including household chores, planning healthy menus and shopping. This has led to young people taking an increased responsibility for themselves by completing daily tasks safely and independently. Staff realise the importance of good pathway planning and work in a coordinated way with leaving care workers, adult services and new placements. This has enabled young people to make a successful transition to adult care. One social worker said, 'staff are very proactive. This meant that the transition for (name) was well planned and well executed. They facilitated visits, shared pertinent information and provided the right level of support to enable (name) to move to their new placement, and continue to provide support, as

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Outcomes for children and young people

required, on the terms of young people and their new carers.'

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Quality of care

The quality of the care is outstanding .

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Quality of care

This home provides outstanding care for young people with learning disabilities. Staff have consistently high aspirations for young people and always place their individual needs at the centre of the work they do. Care planning and care practice is highly individualised and person-centred. Young people's individual needs are well documented in detailed, child-friendly care plans which are frequently reviewed and updated in partnership with young people. Staff work collaboratively with all stakeholders to put these plans into practice. This ensures young people are well supported and receive an individually tailored package of care that is designed to address their unique needs, including those arising from personal identity, background, culture and disability.

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Quality of care

Staff provide young people with considerable support to express themselves. Communication difficulties are creatively overcome through a number of non-verbal communication tools. For example, policies and procedures, including how to make a complaint, have been translated into a pictorial format. Also, young people use their individual picture boards to choose meals and activities and express their feelings. As a result, young people are enabled to make informed decisions and choices about their everyday care and the day-to-day running of the home. Young people live in a healthy environment that actively promotes their physical health and emotional well-being. Health plans that detail historic, current and any known future health interventions are used as working documents. This ensures staff have an excellent understanding of young people's specific health needs and can provide the right levels of support to ensure they are met on a daily basis.

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Quality of care

Staff recognise and promote the importance of education. They work hard to develop working relationships with young people's schools and local colleges and show a genuine interest in young people's education. They attend and fully contribute to meetings and are aware of young people's day through regular discussion with teachers and use of a home-to-school communication book. They take pride in, share and celebrate young people's academic achievements. One education professionals said, 'Their interest and involvement is similar to that of parents. Staff will attend school shows and anything else that would normally be attended by parents. They are amongst the best services for participation and involvement.’

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Quality of care

Young people are encouraged to develop their individual talents and skills through purposeful, fun and enjoyable activities that are designed to build self-esteem, enhance independence and promote social inclusion. For example, a number of young people regularly attend a local youth club which provides them with the opportunity to develop their confidence, social skills and relationships with their peers. All activities are risk assessed and supervised according to young people's risks and vulnerabilities. This ensures young people's participation is not limited by their disability and they are effectively protected from harm.

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Quality of care

Young people live in a very comfortable house that is suitably designed to meet their needs. The location of the home ensures young people have good access to local places of interest, including shops, parks and community amenities. The home is very well maintained and decorated and furnished to an exceedingly high standard. Several areas, including young people's bedrooms, have been personalised to reflect young people's individual needs and tastes.

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Safeguarding children and young people

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

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Safeguarding children and young people

Staff give young people's safety the highest priority. They make good use of a range of robust safeguarding measures such as comprehensive risk assessments and systems to deal with child protection issues or complaint. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to safeguard young people and receive appropriate training to ensure they know exactly what to do to keep young people safe. This ensures young people's wellbeing and safety is effectively maintained in day to day practice.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home has effective procedures for monitoring young people. High staffing ratios ensure young people are given the supervision and support they need to keep themselves safe. Consequently, there are no incidents of young people going missing from home and they are effectively protected from bullying, intimidation and harassment.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people's behaviour is sensitively and effectively managed. Staff are trained in behaviour management, including the use of physical restraint and make good use of their training to manage young people's complex and challenging behaviour. Staff know young people well and have developed an understanding of the factors that contribute to young people becoming anxious, frustrated or upset. They use well thought out strategies, specific to young people's needs, age and level of understand. As a result, young people's behaviour has significantly improved and restraint has not been necessary since February 2013. When restraint has been used, it has been used professionally, for the right reasons and has been comprehensively recorded.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Three staff have been recruited since the last full inspection. All staff have been thoroughly checked and vetted as part of the organisations robust recruitment procedures. Visitors to the home are required to provide identification before entering the home, and are suitably monitored throughout their visit. This ensures young people are protected from unsuitable people who may pose a risk to them.

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Safeguarding children and young people

Young people live in a physically safe environment. They are well protected by a range of health and safety procedures, risk assessments and routine checks. Detailed evacuation plans that consider young people's vulnerabilities, are recorded on young people's files and are known by staff. Young people and staff are regularly involved in fire drills to ensure they know how to safely evacuate the home in the event of a fire.

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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 is well managed by a competent and experienced manager who is registered with Ofsted. The manager is currently undertaking a level five qualification which will ensure she has the right qualifications for her role. The manager is clearly child-focused and demonstrates a strong commitment to the young people in her care.

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Leadership and management

The home meets the aims and objectives of its Statement of Purpose which are to provide an exceedingly high quality service for young people with learning disabilities. Supplementary information is available in the form of a child-friendly children's guide that has been adapted to suit young people's individual communication styles. This information is available prior to admission and ensures young people, their families and professionals are clear about the services and support offered by the home.

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Leadership and management

The manager provides effective leadership and guidance for staff to ensure the service continues to develop and improve, based on its excellent track record, performance and compliance with regulation and standards. They have a clear and realistic understanding of the homes strengths and areas for development. The provider and the manager effectively monitor all aspects of the service, including quality of care and outcomes for young people. Consultation with young people and stakeholders is integral to all monitoring processes. However, regulation 33 and regulation 34 reports do not reflect these views, which are consistently positive. This is a missed opportunity to evidence the high quality care provided by the home and the excellent outcomes achieved by young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people benefit from being cared for by a suitable number of enthusiastic, experienced and qualified staff who provide young people with consistent support to meet their individual needs. The organisation has a strong commitment to staff development with all staff completing mandatory and needs led training in key areas of practice. All staff receive professional supervision and have their performance regularly appraised. As a result, staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities in delivering a high standard of safe care for vulnerable young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people's written records are securely stored, managed confidentially and provide a comprehensive picture of young people's needs, development and progress. Young people are wholly supported to view, contribute and understand their individual records. Progress and development is continuously reviewed to ensure care planning and care practice is relevant to meeting young people's needs.

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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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