Children's Home run by John-Edwards Care Homes Limited in Swindon

Unique reference number SC437171 Inspection date 02/01/2014 Inspector Wendy Anderson Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 01/08/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This children's home is registered to care for five children with learning difficulties and associated disabilities. The home is run by a private company and can offer the flexibility of short breaks in addition to long-term placements.

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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.

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Progress

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

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Progress

The overall rating for this service at its last full inspection on 1 August 2013 was outstanding. At this inspection two recommendations were made. Both of these have now been met.

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Progress

All of the homes environmental risk assessments are now signed off by the manager. This ensures that all these risk assessment are of a high quality, monitored by the manager and reflect the current provision provided by the home.

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Progress

The home now has a clear protocol in place for the use of CCTV in young people bedrooms. This includes are review of the use of CCTV at least every three months. CCTV is only used where there is a health or behavioural issue which requires monitoring throughout the night. At the previous inspection the use of CCTV had been reinstated for one young person but this was not clearly recorded in the young person’s file. This has now been rectified and includes consents from the young people’s parents, the homes manager and placing authorities. However in another young person’s file seen at this inspection although there was written consent from the parents there was no written consent from the placing authority and the use of CCTV was not detailed in the placing authority placement plan. It was however clearly detailed in the home individual plan for this young person.

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Progress

The home continues to improve the environment for the young people. This includes the provision of an additional toilet. The sensory room is now complete and provides young people with a wide range of equipment to use. There has also been additional equipment purchased for individual young people to meet their identified needs. This includes a clock which changes colour which helps the young person understand when it is time to sleep and wake. This is proving to be successful as the young person sleep pattern has improved.

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Progress

Staff continue to support young people in their chosen religion. A member of staff has developed a bullet point guide for the rest of the team which provides clear information on what behaviours and dress are required when attending certain places of worship. This has been very successful and parents have been very positive about this approach.

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Progress

The manager has recently purchased a new training plan to enhance the already comprehensive training programme for staff. This includes the work staff carry out in relation to this training programme being externally verified. The manager said that it was important to have this impartial feedback as it will only strengthen the quality and range of training the home provides which will in turn benefit the young people’s care.

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Progress

There has also been a review of the staffing levels which has led to additional staff being employed. This will free the manager from being on the duty rota and allow more time for developmental work and working with parents and external agencies.

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Progress

The home has improved its safeguarding process for young people when they are out in the community with staff. The manager has purchased Autistic alert cards for each young person that provides the young person’s name, bullet points on how to communicate with the young person and contact numbers for the home and manager. This was implemented as the manager felt due to the young people’s conditions should the member of staff they are out with be taken ill or injured and unable to communicate the young people are very vulnerable.

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Progress

The manager is currently reviewing who undertakes the Regulation 33 monitoring visit. Current it is done by the other registered individual. These reports are very detailed and thoroughly cover all the required elements. However they feel that having someone who understands the setting and the young people they care for but who is more independent will make this an even more robust system.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  ensure where specific measures, including electronic devices, are used to monitor children’s, there is a written policy that sets out how they should be used, how they promote the welfare of the children, how children will be informed of their use, how legitimate privacy of children will be protected and how children will be protected from potential abuse of such methods. In particular ensure the consent of the placing authority is sought and the use of CCTV is detailed in the placing authority's placement plans of all young people where CCTV is to be used. (NMS 10.5)

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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 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.

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