Children's Home run by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Cornwall

Good

The children's home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Children and young people enjoy their short breaks in this home. They receive excellent care and stimulation, while having their needs met with dignity and respect. The atmosphere is positive, calm and comfortable

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff know young people well and communication between young people and staff is good. Young people are supported to make choices during their stay and express their views and feelings

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Parents highly praise the home and have full confidence in the registered manager and staff

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Staff ensure that their communication with agencies is effective in ensuring young people’s needs are met both during short breaks and in-between. Professionals report strong working relationships with the manager and staff.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The home has a committed and stable staff team, who regularly share information, challenge and support each other where appropriate

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The children's home provision is good because:

 The manager and staff work creatively to ensure young people experience fun activities in and out of the home. The budget allowance for trips and activities is not reflective of the cost entailed. Therefore such financial restrictions have the potential to impact on young people’s activity experiences in the future

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Safer recruitment procedures were not properly followed in one instance, although this has since been rectified satisfactorily

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

*32(1) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety, in particular

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Requirement Due date

(3)(d) ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

(4) an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification 25 August

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Requirement Due date

9. The enjoyment and achievement standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the enjoyment and achievement standard the registered person must ensure –

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Requirement Due date

(b) that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies. 25 September

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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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

Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home's records as 'living documents' supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis; in particular, complete meaningful reviews of young people's progress and experiences (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 58 paragraph 11.19)

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Information about this children's home

This service is provided by a Local Authority Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and offers respite care for up to four children at any one time. Children and Young people with significant health needs and learning disabilities can be provided for by a team of nursing staff and care support staff.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

06/03/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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Good

The children and young people in this short breaks home receive excellent care. Staff excel in taking time to establish meaningful and respectful relationships with young people. Consequently, young people are relaxed and happy during their stays and the environment is calm and reassuring.

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Good

Young people enjoy visiting the home and look forward to their stays. Parents are enthusiastic about the service provided and are confident their children and young people are happy there. Parents comment ‘I can put my trust in the staff’, it’s a marvellous place’ and ‘they care for my children as if they were their own.’

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Good

Staff have good links with the schools young people attend. They know the teachers well and take time to update one another; ensuring young people receive consistent care when they leave the home.

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Good

Young people each have individual, well thought out plans which meet social, emotional and health needs. Staff carefully support young people in accordance with these plans, which are regularly reviewed with parents and other professionals in the family home. How staff monitor and care for children while they sleep at night varies according to each individual child’s needs and risks. Plans take into account young people’s feelings and preferences as well as medical needs. This is a recommendation from the last inspection that is now met.

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Good

Young people are cared for by consistent staff and the home has not employed agency nursing staff for over a year. Staff in the home prefer to cover absences by working extra shifts rather than have unfamiliar nursing staff caring for young people. Shifts are typically covered by nurses and support staff together. On rare occasions, workers from the organisation’s bank of care support staff support shifts alongside nurses, to cover sickness and unforeseen circumstances.

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Good

Young people are supported to make choices during their stays with regards to meals, activities and general day to day experiences. Staff prepare young people before giving medication, by explaining the process and supporting young people to give consent. Many young people do not communicate verbally, which is not a barrier as staff know and understand well young people’s preferred forms of communication. Young people are given time and support to express themselves. One young person uses a new piece of technology which increases communication significantly. Staff are enthusiastic about this progress, and visit the school to learn how the equipment operates, to then share with the rest of the staff group. After each shift, staff meet together for half an hour to ensure everybody is fully briefed on young people’s needs and progress. Staff discuss young people resident that day and other young people who stay in the home who staff may have attended

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Good

Young people are supported to do a variety of art and craft in the home and their work is displayed throughout the home. A parent said ‘the home keeps my young person motivated with activities and stimulation.’ A volunteer from the local community comes in weekly to play music with young people. Young people also enjoy visits from the local primary school children, who have drawn and displayed pictures in the home. The garden is a place of enjoyment for young people where they have helped to plant flowers and herbs and use well looked after play equipment.

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Good

Young people enjoy trips outside of the home, this can be to the local park or further afield. Suggested activities are displayed on the wall and staff are creative with the opportunities available. They plan ideas and explore all possibilities with groups that offer free or subsidised activities. Some young people bring pocket money to the home for activities but staff are limited by a budget which the manager considers to be insufficient for activity spend. The manager and staff work hard to overcome this problem but there is a potential for the budget shortage to impact on trips that young people may enjoy.

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Good

Staff are vigilant about young people’s safety and maintain effective working relationships with all agencies to keep young people safe. In the past, staff have highlighted a gap in training needs, particularly child protection and safeguarding. Senior managers have listened and responded. Now nearly all staff have attended recent child protection training which they consider to be highly effective and to have improved their practice. Managers and staff are all booked onto further safeguarding training. Staff demonstrate that they are competent in their skills and abilities. They question each other; one staff member said ‘we keep each other on our toes.’ This makes for a transparent and safe environment for young people and staff.

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Good

Staff are highly experienced and trained to care for young people who stay in the home who have complex health needs. The manager and staff have regular contact with the lead child protection nurse and the lead safeguarding pharmacist. If errors arise with medication in or out of the home, these are carefully investigated and safeguarding measures are put into place to ensure young people are safe. For example, when medication is counted on young people’s first arrival to the home, which is a busy time, night staff will re-count medication when children are settled and asleep as an added safety precaution. The pharmacist attends team meetings and provides bespoke training to the staff.

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Good

A member of staff has recently been recruited to the home. During the recruitment process the manager failed to check on an employment gap in line with safer recruitment procedures. However, the manager immediately rectified this gap when identified during the inspection, and this error has not impacted upon young people negatively.

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Good

The manager and staff work together well with parents and other agencies to ensure that young people feel safe.

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Good

The experienced registered manager is a strong and caring leader. The home has a committed and longstanding staff team who meet together regularly to discuss all aspects of the running of the home. Team meetings are well attended, well- recorded and staff report ‘we all have a lot to say.’ Staff feel supported and are well supervised by managers. Supervision takes place regularly; some staff are supervised by different supervisors to ensure regularity of supervision but the registered manager has a detailed overview of supervision and staff progress.

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Good

One member of staff describes the team as ‘a family, we rely on each other and support each other; we all go above and beyond for the children.’ Staff enjoy working in the home and are inspired when young people smile, laugh and show reactions.

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Good

The manager and staff have good working relationships with parents, schools, nurses and other professionals. A head teacher said ‘communication is good with the school and the home; staff are consistent in attending all meetings for children.’ If the home is not invited to a meeting, staff follow up to ensure they are invited to future meetings. Some young people are due to reach 18 years of age in the near future and staff work with other agencies to ensure alternative provision is secured.

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Good

The manager has met the requirement and recommendations from the last interim inspection. The managers and staff are now confident in using the on-call system as it is fit for purpose. Staff continue to make sure the environment for young people is homely and comfortable and are regularly searching for ideas to improve further. Staff have been creative in their approach; young people have basket-ball nets in the bathroom to make bath time fun. Bedrooms are personalised with young people’s photos, material boxes with their belongings and rugs on the floor.

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Good

The manager and staff review all young people’s targets and experiences in the home every three months. The types of experiences young people have, progress made and young people’s involvement is not fully reflected in all of these case reviews. Therefore the manager seeks to further improve the recording of reviews to demonstrate in more detail the experiences young people receive and the targets young people have.

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Good

All staff bar one have the required qualification to care for young people in accordance with regulations. Although significantly out of time scale, the staff member has now submitted an application. While the manager and staff member are committed to the qualification being completed without further delay, young people’s care has not been compromised.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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