Children's Home run by Lifetime Opportunities Limited in Lancashire

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:

 Young people live in a caring and supportive home which enables them to make good progress in all aspects of their lives.  Managers and staff are committed to ensuring all young people are safe; their practice is underpinned by a sound understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures.  Young people are supported to maintain contact with those who are significant to them as staff promote and facilitate this in line with their individual contact plans.  Young people are prepared well and supported sensitively for any significant changes to their lives or care plans by the staff and management team.  The manager has high aspirations for all young people and promotes a child centred approach within the home. This support, along with a structured training plan ensures the staff team deliver a high standard of individualised care to all young people.  Good external monitoring of the home, which incorporates the views of all

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The children's home provision is good because:

relevant agencies, ensures the home continues to develop and improve.  Parents have confidence in the care provided by the staff team. They are complimentary about the relationships which have been formed between their children and the staff, and the level of communication that they receive from the staff team regarding their children’s development and progress.  Three shortfalls have been identified within this inspection. These relate to staff supervision and appraisals, engaging more effectively with placing authorities, and obtaining consent for the Independent Visitor to view children’s case records as part of their monthly visits.

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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

5: In meeting the engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met quality standard, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff-

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Requirement Due date

a) Seek to involve each child's placing authority effectively in the child's care, in accordance with the child's relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically to ensure that the placing authority social workers have sight of, and the opportunity to sign all care plans and risk assessments that are pertinent to the child. 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must ensure that all employees receive practice - related supervision and have their fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 30/10/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the independent person who visits the children's home has been given consent to inspect the child's case records from the child and the child's placing authority prior to these being reviewed. (Regulation 44 (2)(b)) 30/10/2015

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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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Information about this children's home

The home is privately operated and registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three young people who have learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

19/03/2015 CH - Interim Improved effectiveness

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good

Young people receive a high level of individual care to meet their specific and complex needs from a committed and dedicated staff team. As a result young people benefit and progress in a number of areas, notably within education and health.

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good

Young people continue to make good progress with their education. Staff have high aspirations for young people and support them to engage in their individual education programmes. Positive and effective working relationships with education colleagues ensure a cohesive approach to learning and behaviour management is maintained for both young people. Regular communication in the form of a home to school diary ensures staff and school are kept up to date with any changing needs and developments. This promotes a cohesive and collaborative approach to meeting young people’s educational needs and provides young people with continuity of care.

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good

Young people are well supported in maintaining good general health, and health outcomes for others have been improved. For example one young person now benefits from improved physical health as all his health needs are now met by a well-co-ordinated health care package. This includes physiotherapist, occupational therapist and speech and language therapist alongside a team of medical practitioners. This cohesive approach ensures all young people’s current and emerging health needs are met quickly and efficiently.

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good

Arrangements for the administration and recording of prescribed and non- prescribed medication are good. Medication is administered by trained staff in line with young people’s individual plans and recorded appropriately, however the arrangements for storing medication within a locked filing cabinet is being reviewed further by the Registered Manager.

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good

Young people have a range of opportunities to make their opinions known about their care planning and running of their home. Regular discussion during key working sessions, and weekly young people’s meetings give them forums to share their wishes and views. Throughout these positive interactions and consultations young people are enabled and supported to identify the food they eat, and activities they wish to take part in.

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good

Young people maintain appropriate contact with their family. This is facilitated by staff who understand the importance of assisting young people to maintain attachments of significance. Staff are mindful of any restrictions of contact that are in place and consistently facilitate the placing authority’s contact plans. Family members and professionals are extremely complimentary about how staff support contact arrangements and the way families are kept up to date with their children’s progress. One professional reported: ‘The staff facilitate a good working relationship with(Name’s) parent whilst also maintaining appropriate boundaries within this, something that does have the potential to be quite complex to manage, but is managed well for all concerned.’

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good

The home is spacious, well designed and maintained to meet the specific needs of all the young people. Young people are encouraged and supported to personalise their bedroom with their photographs and personal belongings. They appear happy and at ease in their home, and have enough space to spend time together or on their own. The building is conveniently situated for access to public transport and local amenities. This means young people can access a broad range of services to meet their individual needs. Young people are supported to take part in a number of meaningful activities to increase their social interaction in the local area which assists with increasing their self-esteem.

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good

Young people are increasingly safe as a result of the care that is afforded to them by managers and staff. Staff receive regular safeguarding training and demonstrate through discussion that they have a clear understanding of the safeguarding procedures, particularly the home’s whistle blowing policy. There have been no safeguarding concerns or allegations against staff and no issues regarding bullying since the last inspection. In addition, the provider's robust recruitment and employment arrangements help ensure that staff who are recruited to work with young people are suitable. Furthermore a range of health and safety checks are routinely carried out to ensure young people and staff live in a physically safe environment.

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good

Staff provide young people with a high level of close support and supervision, in recognition of the young people’s high level of need. As a consequence young people are not reported missing from home and are less likely to be exposed to any unnecessary risks.

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good

Young people’s known and emerging behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities are fully recorded in thorough risk assessments. Changes in behaviour are quickly identified and are routinely shared with the staff team and the relevant documents updated regularly to reflect these. While the staff team are kept up to date with these changes through the updated risk assessments, these are not shared with the placing authority to ensure they are in agreement with the care practice which is being implemented within the home.

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good

Physical intervention is used as a last resort by trained staff when young people are not able to regulate their emotional responses. Debriefs following the incident with staff and young people enable the young person to reflect on their behaviour and staff the opportunity to evaluate their care practice to continue to develop this. As a consequence physical interventions have reduced since the last inspection.

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good

The Registered Manager, who has been in post since December 2012, continues to manage the home effectively. She has a strong commitment to the young people in her care and has high expectations of her staff team. Her leadership qualities are complemented by a unit manager who shares her strong child focused ethos. The dedicated staff team also ensure young people continue to make progress in line with their abilities which supports young people live happy and healthy lives.

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good

The home is sufficiently staffed to ensure young people’s individual needs are met and they are kept safe. Recent shortfalls in staffing have been covered by existing staff to provide continuity of care to all young people. Young people are well supported and prepared to meet new members of staff, using social stories and visual aids. This ensures positive working relationships for young people and staff are developed and maintained quickly. This approach ensures that the home and staff provide a safe, homely, nurturing environment which supports young people to grow and flourish, as well as have the confidence to experience new opportunities, which are outlined in the home’s recently updated Statement of Purpose.

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good

Effective external monitoring ensures the home continues to improve the experiences and progress of all young people. An independent person undertakes regulation 44 visits and reports monthly and provides these to Ofsted within the prescribed time frames. Young people and partner agency’s views are sought within this monitoring; which ensures a thorough assessment and evaluation is undertaken to demonstrate the impact that the staff are having on all young people. This ensures the quality of care remains under regular scrutiny and review, and the managers and staff continue to develop the services with the home for all young people. The home’s notification system is good. The Registered Manager fully cooperates with partner agencies, such as the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), police, placing authorities and Ofsted as required as and when any significant event occurs.

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good

Partner agencies are complimentary about the level of care, support and communication received from the manager and staff team. Staff work closely with social workers and health and education professionals, to promote positive outcomes for young people. An education colleague commented about the significant improvement one young person has made in relation to their behaviour and learning. They attribute this to the staff’s proactive and effective working relationships with the young person and themselves. She noted, ‘(Name’s) listening skills have dramatically improved as they are now attending school regularly and are able to listen and communicate much better. Their fine motor skills have also improved as staff are supporting them with this at home.’

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good

Case records reflect young people’s everyday lives and the work that is undertaken by the staff team. Records reflect young peoples’ needs, strengths and vulnerabilities, as well as highlighting their achievements and future plans. While all information is stored securely, this has been shared with the Independent Visitor whom undertakes the regulation 44 visits without the consent of the young person or the placing authority.

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good

The majority of staff are qualified and experienced. Plans are in place for others to complete the required qualification on the successful completion of their probationary periods. Staff talk positively about working at the home and said they feel well supported to deliver a high standard of good quality care by the management team, as a result of the support and training they receive. While some staff have received regular supervision and had an annual appraisal of their work, others have not been afforded this. As such the manager has missed some opportunities to monitor staff performance and check on their development and care of young people.

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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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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