Children's Home run by Aspris Children’s Services Limited in Herefordshire

Unique reference number SC402426 Inspection date 09/01/2014 Inspector Suzanne Young Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Date of last inspection 28/02/2013 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Brief description of the service

This service accommodates up to five young people with behavioural and/ or emotional difficulties. The home is owned by a private company. It is one of three homes centred around the company's own school which young people usually attend.

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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 home impacts positively on young people’s lives. Young people are making good progress in relation to their starting points which is underpinned by high quality support from staff within the home. Care planning is personalised and meets the needs of each young person in the home.

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Overall effectiveness

Instances of negative behaviour, including running away, are minimal. This is because staff have developed good relationships with young people and promote positive behaviour.

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Overall effectiveness

Young people feel safe and happy living in the home. They are able to contribute to the running of the home by planning meals and activities and have been involved in purchasing pictures and cushions for communal areas.

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Overall effectiveness

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and weakness of the home. Systems in place to review the quality of care for young people inform the practice within the home and drive improvement to improve the outcomes for young people

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Overall effectiveness

Placing social workers and parents have a positive working relationship with the home. One placing social worker commented, ‘Staff work with me really well’ and a parent of a young person stated ‘I can’t fault them.’

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Overall effectiveness

As a result of this inspection, two recommendations have been made regarding young people’s access to the Children’s Rights Director and consent to medication.

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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 the young people's guide includes how they can contact the Children's Right's Director (NMS 13.5)  ensure each young person has written permission from a person with parental responsibility for staff to administer first aid and non prescription medication. (Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 5)

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making good progress in all areas of their development. They have good outcomes with regard to their health, education and emotional wellbeing.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are in good health. They attend health appointments and are beginning to take responsibility for their own health. For instance, young people choose to eat healthy food and engage in various activities such as trampolining, bike riding and playing football. Young people do not engage in risk-taking behaviours such as misusing alcohol and drugs. As a result, young people are leading healthier lifestyles.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are making good progress in their education. They are attend the organisation’s own school and have excellent school attendance. Young people who have previously had very poor school attendance are now attending school on a regular basis. Young people are beginning to develop independence skills which are individualised and appropriate to their age and abilities. For instance, young people aged over 16 can have increased unsupervised time out of the home, become involved in washing and cooking and have a fixed budget plan. One placing social worker stated ‘Independent skills are conducted at a level to suit the young person.’ This helps young people to develop the day-to-day skills required for independent living and as a result, make good progress in readiness for independence.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are developing in their confidence and self-esteem. This is developed and maintained through positive relationships with staff. As a result young people are developing a positive self-view. Young people feel happy living in the home. Two young people said staff were, ‘Great’ and gave them ‘10 out of 10’.

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Outcomes for children and young people

Young people are able to contribute to the running of the home by planning meals and activities during the weekly young people’s meetings. They are also able to personalise their bedrooms and have a say in the décor of living areas in the home. The home has recently been redecorated and young people have helped choose the pictures and colours of rugs and cushions in the living room.

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Quality of care

Young people enjoy positive and constructive relationships with staff. They are aware that staff act in their best interests. As a result, this helps them to feel secure within the home. Young people say they know how to complain and feel comfortable in making a complaint.

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Quality of care

New admissions into the home are carefully considered. Impact assessments are conducted prior to any young person moving into the home. As a result, the interests of existing young people in the home are fully taken into account. Staff provide young people with a good level of personalised care. Placement plans are tailored to meet the specific needs of each young person and are of a high quality. These identify objectives and include risk assessments. Behavioural strategies are developed which are individual to each young person and enable staff to appropriately manage their behaviour. As a result, young people’s negative behaviour has reduced.

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Quality of care

Staff promote the health and educational needs of young people through close partnership working with other professionals. For instance, staff stay with the young people in the organisation’s own school to support them while they are participating in education. Staff also work closely with the in-house therapy team to support young people’s health needs. All young people have consent obtained for staff to administer medical treatment. This does not, however, include consent to administer non-prescription medication. This could potentially compromise both staff and young people.

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Quality of care

Staff identify and promote young people’s cultural and religious through individual care planning. Staff consider young people’s diverse needs during team meetings and positively address these in daily living through key worker sessions. All staff have received training in equality and diversity to enable them to recognised and support the individual requirements of young people.

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Quality of care

The home is a large building which has been furnished to a good level and made homely and comfortable. It is appropriately located and maintained to a high standard. All young people have their own en-suite bedrooms which they can personalise to their own tastes.

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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

Young people say they feel safe living in the home. They feel staff would listen and respond quickly if they expressed any concerns. Young people do not go missing from the home. There has only been one instance of a young person running away in the last year. Bullying incidents are very low. Disagreements between young people are dealt with swiftly before these can escalate into anything more serious. Staff receive regular safeguarding training and know how to access the local safeguarding children board procedures. This helps ensure they can respond appropriately if they are concerned about the safety or wellbeing of any young person.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The use of physical intervention and sanctions are low because staff promote young people’s positive behaviour. These are appropriate and demonstrate a good level of scrutiny by the manager. As a result, good and trusting relationships are able to develop between staff and young people. One parent commented, ‘Staff deal with behavioural issues well. I am very happy.’

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Safeguarding children and young people

Risk assessments are completed and reviewed monthly for each young person. Staff read young people’s risk assessments and any changes are discussed in team meetings and in handover sessions. As a result, staff have a good knowledge of each young person to safely manage their behaviour.

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Safeguarding children and young people

The home environment is safe and secure. Risk assessments, health and safety checks and fire checks are completed regularly. Young people participate in fire drills to ensure they can evacuate the home in an emergency. Each young person has an individual personal emergency evacuation plan which identifies any actions staff need to take to safeguard them in the event of a fire. The organisation has clear procedures for the recruitment of staff which prevents unsuitable people from being recruited.

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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 home is managed well by an experienced and long standing manager. There are no statutory requirements or recommendations from the previous interim inspection. The home has a development plan in place which is reviewed annually. The manager monitors the activities of the home monthly to ensure continued good quality of care is maintained and to drive improvement. As a result, she has a good understanding of the strengths and weakness of the home.

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Leadership and management

The home has a Statement of Purpose and young people's guide which is user friendly and gives clear information regarding the home. The young people's guide, however, does not contain the contact details of the Children’s Rights Director which could compromise young people’s access to independent advice and help.

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Leadership and management

The home is fully staffed and sufficient to meet the needs of the young people. Staff feel supported by the manager. They receive regular supervision and participate in fortnightly team meetings. One member of staff commented that the support from the manager was ‘brilliant’. Staff have access to a comprehensive training programme compiled of both face-to-face and on-line training. As a result, staff are well supported and are up to date with legislative developments to enable them to meet the needs of the young people in the home.

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Leadership and management

The manager and staff team have developed good working relationships with placing social workers and parents. One parent commented, ‘Staff regularly phone, email and text me.’ Good partnership working between the home and others involved in young people’s lives help ensure good outcomes are achieved for young people.

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Leadership and management

Young people’s development and progress are well recorded and contribute to an understanding of the young person’s life.

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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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