Children's Home, Residential special school run by Staffordshire County Council in Staffordshire

Unique reference number SC415138 Inspector Rachel Ruth Britten Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Staffordshire County Council Registered person address Staffordshire County Council, Wedgwood Buildings Tipping Street STAFFORD ST16 2DH Responsible individual Richard Ronald Hancock Registered manager Sarah Jane Lunn Date of last inspection 12/12/2014 2 of 6 Inspection date 13/03/2015

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Previous inspection outstanding Enforcement action since last inspection none

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This inspection

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

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This inspection

Children and young people with learning and physical disabilities continue to receive very high quality care and support on a short-breaks basis. A number of young people are leaving the service after many years because they have reached eighteen. These young people have had a fond farewell and have taken away memorabilia of their time here. A number of children are beginning to use the service. They are benefitting from well thought out programmes of introduction to the setting before having their first overnight or weekend stays. Recent reports from the setting's monthly visitor provide clear evidence that children and young people are achieving their targets. For example, one young person achieved one of his targets, 'to clear pots away from the table after his meal'. He initiated clearing his breakfast dishes away and washed them without being given any verbal prompts. ‘He was given lots of praise for completing these tasks without having to be given

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This inspection

The service's Registered Manager is resuming fulltime leadership following many months off. She is a highly skilled and motivated leader who is quick to identify some shortfalls in monitoring during her absence. She is making renewed efforts to assure the quality of children’s risk assessments, behaviour plans and targets. This supports staff to push children and young people as much as possible to try new things and maximise their progress. However, details of how risks are managed when equipment is not working are not clearly recorded to ensure consistent practice in every case. For example, a mattress alarm designed to alert staff if a child has a seizure during the night is not currently working. Staff and parents have agreed that the child's night time monitoring checks are conducted using visual checks and a baby monitor. However, the risk assessment on file does not make this clear enough.

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This inspection

There are renewed efforts underway to obtain feedback and consult with children, 3 of 6 young people, parents, and carers. For example, an electronic button selection machine has been placed in the entrance for children and young people to answer the question, 'how much have you enjoyed your stay?’ Parents and carers continue to thank the service regularly for the good quality care children and young people receive. However, a number of complaints have been received about the organisation of short breaks and about specific lapses in care quality. Complaint records do not show all the action taken in response to each complaint. The records are not looked at regularly enough to remind managers of the actions they need to take to drive investigations forward quickly. Nevertheless, short breaks dates are now being provided earlier and take account of parents' date requests. All parents are being surveyed to seek their views about the complaints process.

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This inspection

The Registered Manager stated: 'we need to get our focus back on what is important.' She is recruiting to fill staff vacancies. She is renewing her drive with partner agencies to plan reviews so that children and young people can attend and participate. She is ensuring that the new children's guide, which has been planned for many months, is produced and used. She is monitoring staff and children's files. In so doing, she has found instances where staff are not acting on the decisions made in children's reviews or revising children's targets to push their achievements and progress. She has also found that staff are not communicating directly with parents and carers often enough, through home visits and phone calls. The upward trend in complaints may be indicative of these issues. A renewed focus on training, support and supervision is addressing these identified shortfalls. 4 of 6

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Information about this children’s home

This resource centre provides short-break care for up to six young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities and/or sensory impairments. The service is managed by a local authority.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2014 Full outstanding 28/02/2014 Interim good progress 08/01/2014 Full outstanding 21/03/2013 Interim good progress

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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

(2001) ensure that a written record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of the investigation. (Regulation 24 (5) 16/04/2015

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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 that each child's placement plan is monitored by a key person within the home who ensures that the requirements of the plan are implemented in the day-to-day care of that child (NMS 25.2)  ensure that there is regular monitoring of all records kept by the home to ensure compliance with the home's policies, to identify concerns about 5 of 6 specific incidents and to identify patterns and trends. Immediate action is taken to address any issues raised by this monitoring. (NMS 21.2) 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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