Children's Home run by Brighton and Hove City Council in Brighton and Hove

Unique reference number SC044880 Inspector Liz Driver Type of inspection Full Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Brighton & Hove City Council Registered person address Kings House Grand Avenue HOVE East Sussex BN3 2LS Responsible individual Jenny Brickell

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Registered manager

Lisa Anne Willemse / Karen Sarah Louise Rusbridge Date of last inspection 12/02/2014 2 of 11 Inspection date 29/05/2014

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Registered manager

Previous inspection good progress Enforcement action since last inspection There has been no enforcement action.

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Overall effectiveness good

Outcomes for children and young people good Quality of care good Keeping children and young people safe good Leadership and management good

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Overall effectiveness

This inspection of the home found that the service provides a good standard of care to children who have short breaks and shared care packages. Parents feel their children are happy and settled and are pleased with the standard of care.

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Overall effectiveness

Relationships between staff and children are positive, caring and supportive. Staff are knowledgeable and manage the children's complex needs and challenging behaviour. Robust and detailed systems are in place to assess, monitor and review care needs ensuring that care delivered is of a good standard. Children are provided a wealth of varied activities which promote enjoyment and learning in all aspects of their lives. The staff ensure children are able to take calculated risks but are safe during their stays at the home. Staff are well experienced in communication skills enabling children to have their choices or concerns heard.

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Overall effectiveness

A strong management team ensure the consistent practice at the home. Support to all staff is professional but understanding of the issues staff face. Staff are provided with regular supervision and training in order to provide the children with as safe and secure environment as possible to both live and stay in. The leadership and management know the strengths and weaknesses and have plans in place to 3 of 11 develop the service taking the needs of the young people and their families into account.

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Overall effectiveness

Areas the service need to focus on include; updating their statement of purpose, upgrading of the fabric of the setting including replacing carpets and increasing avenues for young people to have a voice in their life choices and care provision. 4 of 11

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Information about this children’s home

Children with a learning difficulty stay at this home that is operated by a local authority. Up to eight children can be accommodated for respite or permanent care placements.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/02/2014 Interim good progress 14/11/2013 Full good 15/03/2013 Interim good progress 02/10/2012 Full outstanding

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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

5 (2001) the registered person shall keep under review and, where appropriate, revise the statement of purpose, and notify HMCI of any such revision within 28 days (Regulation 5 (a) (b)) 31/07/2014

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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

 develop new avenues for children to communicate their views on all aspects o 5 of 11 their care and support (NMS 1.3)  ensure the home provides a comfortable and homely environment and is well maintained and decorated. (NMS 10.3) 6 of 11

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Children make significant progress as a result of spending regular periods of full time and short breaks time at this setting. Highly motivated, sensitive and caring staff provide very individualised support to children with complex learning, health and communication needs.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Children benefit from the effective multi-disciplinary working approach that enables staff to provide the right level of care. As a result children have positive outcomes in all areas including education and engagement in activities. They also make good progress in relation to improved confidence, self-esteem and a positive understanding of their abilities. Promotion of all aspects of health and well-being, highly supported by staff, ensures children have an understanding of healthy lifestyles and what this means for them. Children's health and physical needs are addressed with close consultation with parents and medical professionals ensuring continuity of care and that individual needs are met.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Attendance at school is excellent and children are progressing and achieving in line with their peers. Close working with education staff ensures continuity in social learning, behaviour management and health care while using the service.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Children enjoy an extensive variety of activities. This includes using the facilities at the home such as the garden where they can cycle, go kart, use play equipment, and within the home learn from the stimulating toys and technology such as the interactive touch screen. Children also use the local community and attend local clubs, swimming, bowling and horse riding. In holiday time the children also go on day trips to cultural sites, zoos and farms, theme parks, canoeing, cinema and shopping. All children are encouraged to take part in new experiences at their own speed. Children enjoy strong links with the local community through activities such as going to local cultural events and attending community activities.

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Outcomes for children and young people good

Children receive excellent and carefully thought out support to develop their independent living skills in conjunction with their age and understanding. Support offered to children and families when in transition and preparing to move on to adult services is excellent; with staff finding the right level of support for each individual child's needs.

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Quality of care good

7 of 11 Children are at the centre of practice at this service and this can be seen with the extremely positive relationships between staff and children. Children enjoy their time spent at this setting. Professionals are very complimentary about the service. Parents say they are happy with the service and the excellent level of care.

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Quality of care good

Placement plan detail varies depending on the care package of individual children and how often they access the service. All include how the child is to be cared for from arrival to the time they leave. The approach to planning is very good and ensures children benefit from consistent boundaries in a caring environment. Progress, especially for children who access the service frequently, is documented and celebrated, no matter how small.

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Quality of care good

Although children's views and opinions are valued and encouraged regarding their time spent at the home the service aims to implement new ways of gaining feedback from children. While some children may not be able to participate in formal meetings or key-work sessions, the staff have the skills and abilities to effectively communicate with the children. However, records do not show the extent of this and the Registered Manager is keen to develop current and new systems that will enable children to voice their views and wishes further, for example accessing the local authority disability council and establishing regular residents meetings.

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Quality of care good

Children and their families have access to information about how to raise a concern or complaint. All concerns or complaints are handled in accordance with the service's policy and professionally handled. The number of complaints received is extremely low. Staff help children to express how they are feeling with the use of information produced in pictorial formats suitable to children's communication needs.

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Quality of care good

All staff have high aspirations and expectations for children in their care and support educational placements with strong communication between schools and the service. The communication through individual books, regular visits and multi professional meetings with representatives from the service and school ensures consistency of care and approach, lessening the stresses that transitions can cause.

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Quality of care good

Children are supported with their individual needs, including ethnicity; these are woven through their time spent at the home. Staff and parents/carers work together to ensure time spent at the home meets the children's needs and enables them to get the best out of their time spent away from their own family.

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Quality of care good

There is a comprehensive and thorough system to ensure safe receiving, administering and disposal of all medicines. Systems that check and monitor medication administration, so errors can be identified and addressed, have resulted in enhanced procedures being put in place that have resulted in a decrease of errors occurring. There are very detailed and up-to-date health plans in place for complex health needs such as epilepsy. Staff are very well trained in case of an emergency, and are able to administer emergency medication if necessary. 8 of 11 Staff support children to integrate into the wider community. The children thoroughly enjoy all the activities they participate in. Staff place the well-being of all children at the centre of their practices, consistently and professionally. Communication methods vary according to individual children's needs. Picture and new technology enable children to express their views and wishes and make choices. This also enables

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Quality of care good

children to participate in their reviews.

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Quality of care good

Accommodation at the home is of a generally good standard but some areas are in need of repair. Carpets are looking tired and some communal areas need repainting. Strip lighting does not present as homely and bedrooms could be better personalised. Overall children's needs are met at the setting with good resources such as a sensory room and play room. Staff respect children's privacy and ensure their dignity is maintained, especially when carrying intimate care needs.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Staff understand children's individual needs and vulnerabilities and do all they can to protect them from abuse and harm. Staff are confident in processes, such as whistleblowing, to follow should they be concerned for a child's safety or welfare and keep comprehensive logs where appropriate. Clear procedures provide a framework for the staff to act on if they need to share concerns with safeguarding agencies. Any issues that have arisen are robustly dealt with and investigated to the highest level to ensure the safety of the children while staying at the home. Overall the service acts quickly and consistently to investigate allegations or suspicion of harm in a way that provides effective protection and support for the children and the person who is subject to the allegation. The service works closely and effectively with the local child protection agency.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Positive and proactive behaviour management strategies are consistently applied. Staff are fully trained in the home's approved behaviour management restraint techniques and apply them only when necessary. The vast majority of physical interventions are soft and only carried out to prevent children from harming themselves. Staff are skilled at picking up on and acting on non-verbal clues from children indicating how they are feeling. Staff give children space and time out in a constructive manner to enable them to calm down. This is used as a positive alternative to restraint, which is not always appropriate to use with children using the service. Records of interventions are well maintained.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Children do not go missing from care but staff are aware what to do should this happen. The home has clear protocols in place to deal with a child going missing including profiles of each child. Supervision levels are high which lessens the risk of a child going missing. Adaptations to areas around at the setting do not restrict children's liberty; such as the enclosed garden area.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Children may struggle to understand what bullying is, so the staff ensure that 9 of 11 behaviour which may cause distress is carefully managed and that all the children are protected.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

Children's physical safety is protected by risk assessments with regards to the premises, fire and activities. The approach to risk management means that young people are able to take part in activities and outings with the support they need. Children are supported in taking part in regular fire drills, and fire equipment is checked on a routine basis. The recording of the effectiveness of fire evacuation drills is consistent.

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Keeping children and young people safe good

The setting's recruitment policy was not looked at during this inspection although the setting follows the local authority recruitment procedures. Recruitment procedures are looked by local agencies at as part of safeguarding investigations.

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Leadership and management good

The leadership and management of this service is strong and effective. The Registered Manager, in post for six months has over 20 years experience of working in the learning disability field in addition to suitable qualifications that enable her to fulfil her role. She is supported by an equally experienced and qualified social worker whose role is that of the operations manager. Together they know the service's strengths and weaknesses and have ambitious plans in place to move the service forward in response to the changing needs of families of children with disabilities.

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Leadership and management good

The manager routinely makes good use of a range of rigorous monitoring activities relating to the quality of care, which results in improved outcomes for children. The targets for development of the service are necessary if the service is to meet the needs of future children and their families.

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Leadership and management good

Children are cared for by an enthusiastic and effective care staff team, led by strong senior care staff who lead shifts on a daily basis ensuring consistency of care. Staff undertake a comprehensive training package including individualised health care training alongside their mandatory training. Further areas for development are identified through regular supervision and appraisals. Staffing levels are good. Recruitment of permanent staff has seen a decrease in the number of agency staff used. Any agency staff are regularly used by the service and so they know the children and can meet their needs. New staff benefit from the induction package, while other more established staff have recognised qualifications. They are positive about their roles and say they ‘really enjoy’ their work, which is reflected in their longevity of service.

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Leadership and management good

The service meets the aims and objectives as set out in the Statement of Purpose, although it needs updating and submitting to Ofsted. Staff understand the ethos of the service and keep diversity and anti-discriminatory practice central to their work. The children's guide provides clear information in friendly and suitable formats. 10 of 11 Children's records are continuing to be monitored for quality and effectiveness. The management ensure the notifications are sent in and that all relevant parties are notified. Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Leadership and management good

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Judgement Description

Outstanding A service of exceptional quality that significantly exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Good A service of high quality that exceeds minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Adequate A service that only meets minimum requirements.

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Judgement Description

Inadequate A service that does not meet minimum requirements.

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Information 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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Information 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 framework of inspection for children's homes.

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