Children's Home run by Bromley Healthcare Community Interest Company in Bromley

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:

 The home provides young people with a warm and welcoming environment; young people are happy and relaxed during their stay.  Young people make good progress in all areas of their development, with staff helping them to develop independence skills appropriate to their understanding.  Staff are skilled in working effectively with young people who have profound and multiple disabilities, complex medical needs and learning disabilities.  Young people receive highly personalised and sensitive care that meets their needs during their short break.  Parents are confident of the care provided and praise the relationship staff have with young people.  Young people engage in fun and creative activities in the local and wider community.  Staff communication with young people is effective. Young people are able to make choices and share their views using a number of different communication aids.  Young people have innovative and creative care plans that reflect their voice

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The children’s home provision is good because:

and their preferences on how they are cared for.  Partnership working and care planning ensures good matching of young people, enabling stable friendships and enduring relationships.  Managers have revised policies and procedures to reflect new legislation. However, to fully meet regulations, further revision is required.  Management monitoring of the home is not in line with guidance and regulations. External monitoring of the home is effective, but is not robust in monitoring the safety of young people and the promotion of their well-being.

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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

12. The protection of children standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard with particular to reference to the reviewing and revision of policies and procedures the registered person must ensure: (e) that the effectiveness of the home‟s child protection policies is monitored regularly. 19/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent‟s person‟s opinion as to whether- (a) children are effectively safeguarded; and (b) the conduct of the home promotes children‟s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4) (a) (b)) 19/12/2015

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating- (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and (5) The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2) (b) (5)) 19/12/2015

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation: Ensure the policy for the protection of children from abuse and neglect includes arrangements in relation to dealing with allegations involving management in the home. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 44, paragraph 9.19)

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Information about this children's home

This home is run by a healthcare trust, and provides short break services for children and young people aged five to 17 years. Children and young people who Use the service may present a variety of complex needs, including sensory impairment, physical and learning disabilities and challenging behaviour.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26/02/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Good

The quality of care young people receive from the staff is good. Care is highly personal and individualised, using the home‟s creative and innovative „My plans‟. Discussions with parents, carers and other professionals are integral to the development of these care plans. They give staff clear and informative information on how best to care for young people in a holistic way. A parent comments, „The „My plans‟ are fantastic, l helped to devise X plan and when he was offered a half- term holiday, l took his plan, the club thanked me and said the plan alone gave them a full picture of him and his needs, even before they met him. „My plan‟ is his voice in my absence and the staff readily make changes to it whether they come from me or his school.‟

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Good

Young people form good relationships with staff, who demonstrate a positive understanding of how to communicate and share humour with them. As a result, they trust the staff team and have lots of fun. A parent says, „The staff know and love my daughter, she has fun, gets her hair and nails done, she sees it as a sleepover in the same way all young girls have with friends.‟ Another parent comments, „The best thing about the home is that the staff have been there for a long time, you know them well and for my son it is home-from-home.‟

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Good

The staff plan overnight and weekend stays to enable young people to experience a warm, rewarding and fun break. Staff organise and match visits to coincide with identified friendships. They is good communication with parents and schools to aid this process. A young person said, „l always come with my friends and we are able to say what activities we would like to do together.‟ Young people have access to a wide range of stimulating, creative and fun activities. The service is well equipped with play materials to meet their needs; soft play, sensory and messy playrooms are particular popular. Lifts and portable hoists means all areas of the service are accessible to young people.

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Good

Young people frequently access the local community and take trips to local parks, restaurants, the circus, petting farms and shopping centres. Photographs of activities are on display throughout the building.

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Good

Staff are very familiar with and understand the, often, complex health care needs of young people and they ensure they meet well all their medical and health needs. Comprehensive information and effective working relationships with medical and social care professionals ensure plans are up to date and relevant. This is particularly essential for those young people living with profound disabilities or receiving palliative care. Staff receive training in moving and handling to promote the safe and dignified care of young people who have disability issues.

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Good

Young people make good progress from their starting points and achieve goals due to realistic target setting by the staff to ensure young people gain maximum benefits. Targets are individualised, highly personalised and agreed with the young people and their parents; this ensures that progress contributes not only to developmental improvements, but is a rewarding and new experience. A parent comments, „The staff have been instrumental in helping X learn how to walk, they have helped him adjust to using his boots and now he gains a lot of pleasure and fun from just walking up and down the corridor on his short break. We live in a very small flat and he is unable to achieve this experience at home. The joy in his face when he walks is indescribable.‟

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Good

Parents overwhelmingly speak highly about the warm welcome, the excellent progress their children make and the confidence they have in the service.

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Good

The managers diligently seek the views of young people and parents in the day-to day running and the decision-making processes of the home. Young people exercise choice in activities, meals and routines, using a variety of communication methods. They are encouraged to use Picture Exchange Communication and this has helped them to contribute their ideas. A small but effective parents‟ group are engaged in looking at information and contributing to the planning and development of the service.

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Good

Staff are secure in their knowledge and experience of safeguarding and the local authority‟s policies and procedures to protect young people. They have access to child protection and disability training and have comprehensive individual training needs analysis together with review dates.

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Good

Behaviour support plans are only used for the more high risk and challenging young people. Staff work closely with parents and schools to ensure a shared information approach with excellent guidance on triggers to behaviours and intervention techniques. A parent says, „They follow the same plan that X knows at home and in school and this consistency is very important to help her manage her challenging and complex behaviour.‟ Continual review and revision of protocols ensures the safe care of young people remains the focus of the home, in particular the procedures for personal care and moving and handling. Young people‟s plans set out their specific needs and how best to meet them. Staff are caring and committed to promoting young people‟s dignity, privacy, and culture when delivering care.

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Good

The relationship between young people and the staff team is good. Staff are fully aware of the complex needs of the young people and the safeguarding risks they may face in the home and the wider community. High staff ratios minimise the risk of bullying and negative interactions.

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Good

Quality risk assessments and high levels of staff supervision when out in the community ensure that young people do not go missing and the management of potential risks. However, review of some policies has not taken place to ensure they are up to date and continue to promote good quality safeguarding practices. For example, the policies do not include arrangements for dealing with allegations involving management in the home and information on issues, including child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and female genital mutilation.

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Good

A robust recruitment procedure ensures the careful vetting of staff before they start work in the home; this together with the service policy on the non-use of agency staff ensures the safety and protection of vulnerable young people.

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Good

Young people benefit from a careful admission procedure and the effective identification on how the service will best meet their short break needs. Matching procedures for each short break is comprehensive. Young people‟s introduction to the service is gradual and conducted at their pace. A parent comments, „They always try to manage the short break to ensure that friends are grouped together.‟ This helps staff to manage and promote positive behaviour in a consistent way, resulting in young people feeling safe and secure during their stay.

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Good

The home is warm and visually welcoming and equipped to meet the needs of young people with disabilities. Staff maintain specialist equipment safely and all young people have personal emergency evacuation plans. All relevant health and safety checks are in place and the building is physically safe and secure.

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Good

The Registered Manger is a highly qualified and experienced practitioner and manager with an extensive background in working with young people with disabilities. She is professionally qualified Registered Nurse Learning Disabilities and has a Diploma in Management Studies. She has continued her professional development while in post. She is also an intermediate trainer in physical intervention and safeguarding.

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Good

The leadership and management team are passionate about the service they offer and strive to continuously develop and build on the good quality service they already provide. To further improve the quality of service development and continued progress for young people, managers have introduced a number of new initiatives. These include the implementation of a family intervention service, working with the Maudsley Hospital looking at parent and child interactions to better focus the support they offer, and a revision of safeguarding procedures to better meet the more complex metal health needs of young people using the service.

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Good

The young people benefit from a stable, committed, experienced and qualified staff team. All staff have a minimum of level 3 qualification, with many having more advanced nursing and social care qualifications. Managers provide the team with good support and effective supervision which plays a key role in looking at developing new ways of working with young people. They have good access to training opportunities and annual appraisal. Group supervisions by the health authority‟s lead nurse for safeguarding, are used to review child protection plans and any other safeguarding concerns for young people. This promotes good practice and safe care.

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Good

Good staff patterns together with their commitment to the young people mitigates against the use of agency staff. This ensures only competent staff carry out the complex health and care needs of young people. A member of staff comments, „The manager continually seeks to develop the staff and increase our knowledge and experience. The support offered to me means l am always happy to come to work.‟ Another member of staff says, „I feel privileged to work in an environment that provides a safe place for our young people to grow and develop. The managers are always available and approachable, we work as one team.‟

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Good

Partnership working with other professionals is highly effective, in particular school, health professionals and local authority social workers. The service continues to receive referrals from surrounding boroughs and this is an initiative promoted by the Registered Manager to ensure the continued viability of the service. Social workers are complimentary of the service and the difference it makes to the lives of young people. A social work manager comments, „Staff are very good at supporting and helping young people to learn independent skills, targets set are realistic and achievable. Communication from the service is excellent.‟

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Good

The home‟s statement of purpose is clear, well written and adequately reflects the ethos of the child focused service. Parents receive a comprehensive handbook on the service covering a range is issues. The children‟s guide is an effective summary provided in different formats to enable young people to access it.

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Good

The internal monitoring of the service is good and the manager uses information gained to target areas for development and improvement. However, the reporting format used does not consistently take into account and evidence the views and opinions of young people, their parents and other professionals. Monthly independent monitoring systems for the service are of a good standard and give an adequate reflection on what is currently happening in the home. However, reports fail to comment specifically on the home‟s ability to effectively safeguard young people and promote their well-being.

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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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