Children's Home run by ROC Northwest 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 are safe and protected within the home.  Regularly reviewed and updated risk assessments, which are understood and implemented by the staff team, ensure young people are kept safe.  Staff provide good quality care and maintain clear boundaries and routines for young people, in line with their individual placement plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessments.  Young people maintain contact with those who are significant to them because staff encourage, support and facilitate this.  Positive and regular communication with the manager ensure staff are kept up to date with the progress young people make, their emerging needs and the plans which are in place to address these.  Family members report staff are skilled at building positive relationships with young people and that staff understand their needs well.

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The children's home provision is good because:

 Good external monitoring of the home which incorporates the views of all relevant parties ensures the home continues to develop and improve.  An experienced and suitability qualified manager provide staff with relevant training, support and supervision to enable them to meet the needs of the young people.  The Statement of Purpose does not identify that internal doors within the home will be secured to prevent young people leaving through the front door without staff supervision.  Young people’s physical health is not fully promoted because actions identified in young people’s statutory health care assessments are not always met.  Records relating to physical restraints are not always clear and legible.

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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

10 The Health and well-being standard In order to meet the health and wellbeing quality standard the registered person must ensure that staff help each child to –

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Requirement Due date

(i) achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child's relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, that all health appointments and immunisations identified within statutory health care assessments are undertaken within the prescribed time frames. 28/08/2015

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children's home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1, and ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (1)(5)) 28/08/2015

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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 all staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording, and that information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This is with specific reference to improving the quality of handwriting within restraint records. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 62 paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children's home

This children's home is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care and accommodation for no more than two children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, physical disabilities and learning disabilities.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

24/02/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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Good

A strong feature of the home is the warm, affectionate relationships between staff and young people. They develop and enjoy positive relationships with staff and form positive attachments with them. These close, supportive and affectionate relationships are reciprocated by staff. One staff member said, ‘I love the young people, they are great. I miss them a lot when I am not here.’

p.6

Good

Young people benefit from good quality of care. They benefit from clear and boundaries and routines which are consistently applied in line with their individual placement plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessments. As a consequence, these vulnerable and complex young people appear happy, relaxed and confident, both in the home and out in the community.

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Good

Young people continue to make good progress with their education. Positive and effective working relationships with education colleagues ensure a cohesive approach to learning and behaviour management. 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.

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Good

Young people are generally well supported in maintaining good health. They are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians and have access to a range of health care services to meet their individual needs. Staff support and encourage young people to engage with specialist health care professionals such as cardiologist and paediatricians who specialise in epilepsy. This ensures any known or emerging health needs can be identified and quickly addressed. Young people are supported to have statutory health assessments. However, staff have not taken consistent action to ensure the actions resulting from these assessments are fully addressed, for example immunisations.

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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’s plans and recorded appropriately. Some shortfalls were noted during this inspection regards the storage of controlled medication. The manager took immediate action by acquiring a suitable medication cabinet ensuring future arrangements are sufficiently robust.

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Good

Young people have the opportunity to be involved in a range of activities both in the home and in the community. For example, young people have been supported in attending weekly community groups where they have been participated in completing sponsored walks. Also, young people are encouraged to develop their skills and staff make good use of activities for this purpose. For example, young people have had swimming lessons which have enabled them to improve their swimming skills.

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Good

Managers and staff have reviewed young people’s behaviour management plans and now adopt a positive approach to behaviour management. They encourage young people to behave appropriately and offer rewards when they do this. Individual targets are set and young people are encouraged and supported to work towards achieving ‘Smiley Faces’, for these. Once they achieve their targets for the day they can then exchange these for a treat, such as a toy, which they can chose themselves from the ‘Dippy Box.’ This has proven to be effective for one young person in particular whose behaviour has improved significantly. Where appropriate, sanctions are used to discourage young people from inappropriate behaviours. Efficient evaluation of the effectiveness of the rewards and sanctions ensure the use of these continue to be effective in helping young people modify their behaviour.

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Good

Young people have a range of opportunities to make their opinions known about all aspects of their care planning and running of their home. Regular informal discussions and observations, fortnightly key working sessions and weekly young people’s meetings give them forums to share their wishes and views. Throughout these positive interactions young people are enabled and supported to identify the meals, snacks and activities they wish to take part in.

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Good

Young people are supported to increase their levels of independence, in line with their age, level of understanding and capabilities. They are encouraged and involved in the preparation of simple meals, including their breakfast, and cleaning up after themselves, for example. This improves young people’s skills and confidence and equips them to undertake increasingly complex activities with reduced support.

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Good

Contact is actively promoted to increase young people’s sense of identity. Staff carefully assess the suitability of contact to ensure it is safe and well planned. They maintain positive working relationships with family members to promote good information sharing and ensure young people are supported to maintain keep in touch with those people who are important to them.

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Good

Young people live in a large, comfortable home. There is enough space for both communal activity and privacy. The building is situated in an area convenient for public transport and local amenities. This means young people can access a broad range of services to meet their individual needs and engage regularly in their chosen activities. Judgement grade

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Good

Young people are kept safe. Staff are well supported and receive good training. They fully understand young people’s needs and are confident in their delivery of good levels of care. Young people’s strengths, vulnerabilities and triggers are highlighted within their individual care plans and risk assessments. These plans are understood by the staff team who routinely implement them. Plans are regularly reviewed by leaders and managers who systematically update them and share relevant information with young people’s social workers. This ensures young people’s welfare is central to the services and support they receive.

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Good

Staff provide young people with a high level of close support and supervision. This is due to 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 or vulnerabilities.

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Good

Physical restraint has been used when young people are unable to self-manage and regulate their emotional responses. All staff are appropriately trained in the use of physical restraint, and when it has been used it is as a last resort to prevent young people harming themselves or others. A record of each restraint is maintained. This contains the necessary information including the method of intervention, the duration of the incident, who was involved and details of debriefs with young people and staff. Although, the manager has recognised and attempted to address shortfalls in the legibility of some restraint records, a number of these some continue to be unreadable due to the poor quality of handwriting. This means young people may be unable to read these records when they are supported to access their files.

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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. 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 safe and 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

The home is managed by a new manager who joined the company on 30 March 2015. She has recently been interviewed by Ofsted and is currently awaiting confirmation of her Registered Manager status. She is holds a suitable qualification and has the necessary experience to successfully manage this home, which she does with the assistance of her deputy manager.

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Good

The manager keeps abreast of changes in legislation and practice and understands the recent legislative changes to the regulations, Quality Standards and inspection framework. She routinely shares her knowledge with staff to ensure care practice is current and that staff continue to provide good quality care and support to all young people in line with the home’s Statement of Purpose.

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Good

The one recommendation from the previous inspection has been suitably addressed. A process for assessing referrals has been introduced. However, the effectiveness of these has not yet been tested because there have been no new admissions to the home since the last inspection.

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Good

The manager ensures there is regular written consultation with placing authorities, families, neighbours and young people about the home. One parent commented, ‘I am very proud of (Name’s) progress. I have peace of mind knowing he is very happy and enjoys the activities he attends. (Name’s) manners are super and I feel very confident he will continue with his excellent progress.’ When concerns or shortfalls are identified though consultation, the manager has been proactive in seeking out further information to address the concern and improve young people’s care.

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Good

A number of new staff have joined the team and bring with them a range of new and different skills. There are good arrangements in place to ensure these staff can gain the relevant qualification for their role, to further support them in their work with young people. New staff are well supported by established team members who are experienced and suitably qualified.

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Good

There are sufficient staffing levels in the home. During the inspection young people were seen to be happy engaging in lots of conversation and interaction with staff. Staff talk positively about working at the home and say they feel well supported by managers in their delivery of high quality care. Regular team meetings, monthly supervisions and relevant training ensure staff are kept up to date with young people’s changing needs. This ensures young people consistently receive the levels of support relevant to their individual needs.

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Good

Staff work closely with social workers and other professionals, such as those in health and education, to promote positive outcomes for young people. An education colleague commented about the significant improvements young people make in relation to behaviour and learning. They say this is brought about by staff's proactive and effective working relationship with the school. He noted, 'The staff are excellent in ensuring good school attendance and ensuring (name) is well behaved. They have been proactive in working with us, visiting us in school, and welcoming us into the home to ensure we are all doing the same thing.’

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Good

Monthly visits by an external visitor are undertaken to ensure independent scrutiny of the quality of care provided by staff in the home. The visitor consults with young people, staff and partner agencies to obtain their views about the quality of care provided by staff. Any shortfalls identified as part of this process is routinely addressed to ensure the home is operating appropriately and meeting young people's needs.

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Good

Managers have a good understanding of the strengths and needs of the service. A working development plan is in place and used to address shortfalls and improve the experiences of children living at the home. For example, young people have recently been involved in developing their sensory garden, which continues to be work in progress.

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Good

The Statement of Purpose and children’s guide provide information about the home’s aims and objectives, for children, young people, their families and placing authorities. However, this document does not fully reflect current practice. For example, it does not refer to the risk assessed practice of locking the front door to prevent young people from leaving the home without staff permission. Also, it makes reference to family members being consulted as part of fortnightly key working sessions, which is not put into practice at this time.

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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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