Children's Home run by Action for Children in Surrey

Unique reference number SC013743 Inspection date 16/12/2013 Inspector Emeline Evans / Gavin Thomas Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

p.1

Date of last inspection 21/05/2013 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 home is run by a charitable organisation and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 19 children; 15 children with learning disabilities and up to four places for children with a physical disability. Young people are accommodated in four separate houses; three of which offer residential services and one provides three places for short break care only.

p.3

The inspection judgements and what they mean

Good progress The children’s home has demonstrated continued improvement in quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the large majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Satisfactory progress The children’s home has maintained quality of care and outcomes for children and young people and where appropriate has addressed all requirements and the majority of recommendations that were raised at the previous inspection. Inadequate progress The children’s home has failed to address one or more requirements and/or has not met the majority of recommendations and/or the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people have declined since the last full inspection.

p.3

Progress

Since their previous inspection the service is judged to be making satisfactory progress .

p.3

Progress

The home was judged as adequate at the last inspection in May 2013 with five statutory requirements and seven recommendations for improvement. The home has maintained the good quality of care and outcomes for young people.

p.3

Progress

Since the last inspection, two managers have been successfully registered with Ofsted. The manager's and staff team are positive about changes and are progressing in identifying and reflecting on current practice and development needs of the service. This positive approach is ensuring the home is maintaining its quality of care for the young people. There is now a comprehensive development plan in operation which enables the managers to reflect on the progress in the home.

p.3

Progress

The management team has complied with the requirement made at the last inspection with regard to recruitment practice. There is now full and satisfactory information available within the home for contracted staff, which details all the necessary information. Where a member of staff has lived outside the United Kingdom, further checks are undertaken to establish their suitability to work with children. This now evidences the processes undertaken for the recruitment of staff and their suitability to work with children and young people. However, at the time of inspection information relating to agency staff used within the home was not recent. Although, the home has received confirmation of checks routinely carried out by the agencies, the individual staff information contained within the home is out of date. Therefore, it is not possible to fully ascertain that the selection of agency staff consistently follows good practice.

p.3

Progress

The home was asked to improve the recording of any measure of control or restraint in the home. All recording is now in line with regulations; this has been addressed with the staff team to ensure compliance. The system cross-references to all incidents in the home. However, records detailing physical intervention lack detail in some instances. This specifically relates to the intervention used. This lack of detail does not enable trends and patterns to be fully explored.

p.4

Progress

Since the last inspection, the behaviour management policy in the home has been reviewed and specific behaviour management strategies have now been formally agreed by parents and social workers. In addition, there are guidelines for individual children. However, all the available information has not been fully incorporated into the home’s behaviour management policy. Therefore, a recommendation has been made to ensure all staff are fully aware of the correct procedures.

p.4

Progress

The manager’s review Schedule 6 matters on a regular basis and this involves routine consultation with the young people and parents. This ensures any shortfalls in the care of young people are recognised and addressed. The management team now produces a six monthly review and uses this process of monitoring to identify patterns to further improve the quality of care. Regulation 33 visits have taken place to form an opinion on the standard of care. However, there have been significant delays in these reports being received into Ofsted. Managers are now clear on the process of reporting notifiable events and these are now sent to the appropriate authorities without delay.

p.4

Progress

Comprehensive risk assessments of the whole of the young people’s environment have been carried; these fully identify any potential sources of harm. Any areas of maintenance have been addressed and as an interim measure, risk assessments have been updated to ensure staff are aware of outstanding issues.

p.4

Progress

Following the last inspection, the children’s guide has been reviewed. This includes a range of information, which is easily assessable to the young people. In addition, work has been completed on complaints procedures for young people, which enables young people to be supported to raise concerns or complaints in their preferred method of communication.

p.4

Progress

There is a real commitment from the management and staff team to further raise the standard of care provided to the young people within the service. They have clear vision and realistic aspirations for the service and in achieving positive outcomes for the young people. Young people have a good relationship with the care staff and they respond well to the praise and encouragement received. The care provided for the young people is good and young people benefit from this child-centred approach. One recommendation has been re-stated; this is in relation to ensuring all staff have had their performance individually appraised. This shortfall is a reflection on the managers commitment to the young people and an investment in creating ‘workshops’ for staff to reflect on their current practice.

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

p.5

Recommendations

 ensure the home has a clear written policy on managing behaviour, which includes supporting positive behaviour, de-escalation of conflicts, discipline, control and restraint, that all staff understand and apply at all times (NMS 3.3)  ensure that sufficient information (written or electronic) is retained at the home, demonstrating that the recruitment and selection of staff consistently follows good practice, this specifically relates to agency staff (NMS 16.2)  to continue to evidence that all staff have their performance individually and formally appraised at least annually (NMS 19.6)  accelerate the submission times for Regulation 33 reports being made available to Ofsted (Volume 5, statutory guidance paragraph 3.13)  ensure all records are consistently clear and of a high quality, this specifically relates to records relating to physical interventions. (NMS 22)

p.5

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.6

About this inspection

The report details the progress made by the provider since the last full inspection, identifies any further strengths, any areas for improvement and makes judgements as outlined in the Inspection of children’s homes – framework for inspection.

p.6