Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC463852 Inspector David Morgan Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Horizon Care and Education Group Limited Registered person address Venture House 12 Prospect Business Park, Longford Road CANNOCK Staffordshire WS11 0LG Responsible individual Mark Dyson Registered manager Justin Michael Evans Date of last inspection 15/01/2014 2 of 5 Inspection date 18/09/2014

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

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This inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection Ofsted judge that it has improved effectiveness .

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This inspection

At the last inspection in January 2014, the service was judged to be operating at a good standard. The overall judgement this time is that the service has achieved improved effectiveness and only three minor recommendations are made. This is a substantial achievement in light of ongoing staffing difficulties and the temporary absence of the registered manager earlier in the year.

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This inspection

The service is able to demonstrate a clear commitment to the needs of the children, which has led to improved outcomes. Children are happy in the home and feel secure. In addition, there are many examples of improved practice that directly benefit children. Children continue to experience a high standard of health care; high levels of school attendance and attainment, and carefully managed admissions.

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This inspection

Due to unforeseeable events, the service briefly found itself in the position of having to use external staff for the first time. This naturally created challenges for some children in particular and resulted in deteriorating behaviours. This difficult situation was acknowledged by all concerned and appropriate alternative staff engaged with an emphasis on maximising continuity. This proved to be successful and is clearly demonstrated in recent patterns of improved behaviour.

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This inspection

Staff demonstrate a high level of understanding of the children's needs in line with the therapeutic aims of the service. This understanding informs their decisions and guides their interactions with children. Consequently, children make steady progress in understanding their own feelings. Of particular note is that the service can now demonstrate the progress each child is making in various aspects of their emotional resilience and adjusts the work of staff accordingly.

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This inspection

There have been minimal safeguarding incidents since the last inspection. Those 3 of 5 that have arisen have been addressed promptly and rigorously with other agencies. There is close contact with the police and only minor absences have occurred posing minimal risk to the children. Children feel safe enough to make complaints and regularly record their feelings about the home. One said, ‘It's all good; nothing but good.’ Another child gave the service ten out of ten.

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This inspection

Issues are investigated well although clearer feedback to staff is desirable after they have been the subject of allegations. Substantial improvements have been made to the risk assessment documents since the last inspection so that risks are more clearly calculated and progress is easily seen. This benefits professionals and the graphs are also appreciated by children.

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This inspection

Improvements that arose from these processes led, for example, to children benefitting from greater safety in vehicles and fewer and less intrusive physical interventions. This helps to ensure they benefit as much as possible from social and recreational opportunities.

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This inspection

On the other hand, the system for all staff to promptly read new documents (such as risk assessments and the draft environmental assessment) is not sufficiently robust. This delay marginally increases the likelihood of misapplication of the necessary control measures. A proportionate approach is taken to risks and children enjoy a wide range of exciting activities, including a recent camping trip to Snowdon and to theme parks. All safety measures are carefully monitored and kept up to date, including those for fire safety. These serve to keep staff and children safe but young people could learn more from participation in fire drills.

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This inspection

The manager has implemented the previous inspection's requirement and three recommendations thoroughly. In addition to the improvements noted above, the manager now also ensures that his own monitoring is more than a description of recent events. Quarterly reports now clearly show his evaluation of patterns and trends and how they correlate with changes to children's care plans. This is a particularly robust system that facilitates improvements for children. Monitoring on behalf of the company is now undertaken by an independent company to comply with the new regulations. Further improvements are planned as part of a clear development plan. 4 of 5

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Information about this children’s home

This a newly registered home for three children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It specialises in preparing children and young people for foster care.

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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

 apply the emergency escape plan so that all staff and children know what to do in an emergency. This is with regard to ensuring all staff undertake regular unannounced fire drills that use different ‘emergency’ scenarios (NMS 10.9)  ensure that a clear and comprehensive summary of any allegations made against a particular member of staff, including details of how the allegation was followed up and resolved, a record of any action taken and the decisions reached, is kept on the person’s confidential file and a copy is provided to the person as soon as the investigation is concluded (NMS 20.7)  implement effective procedures for controlling the activities of the home. This is with regard to such procedures ensuring that staff read new documents promptly. (NMS 21.1) Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Recommendations

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What inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspections we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection.

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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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