Children's Home run by New Forest Care Limited in Hampshire

Good

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

p.2

The children's home provision is good because:

 Young people grow in confidence and build their self-esteem, enabling them to make positive changes in their lives.  Staff are patient and persistent and help young people to recognise their own strengths.  Young people learn to manage their behaviour, engage in education and develop their independence skills.  Staff provide individualised care and involve young people in care planning.  Young people are safeguarded well. All safeguarding concerns are managed effectively and reported to relevant external professionals.  Staff and their managers have a good understanding of young people’s needs and their high-risk behaviours.  Young people receive consistent guidance and care across all aspects of their lives.

p.3

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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 within the given timescales.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children's home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). (Regulation 32(1) and 32(2)(a)) 12/12/2016

p.4

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered persons must ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help young people recognise the impact of their behaviour, and are recorded as such. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered persons must ensure that, as part of the performance management process, poor performance is addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the

p.4

Recommendations

quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5) In particular, staff appraisals and supervisions should reflect staff’s poor performance and how this is being addressed.  The registered persons must ensure that staff are familiar with the home's policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4). In particular, staff and managers should record true and accurate accounts.

p.4

Information about this children's home

The children’s home provides residential care and accommodation for four young people who have autistic spectrum disorders. The home offers an integrated service that includes therapy, education and care. The home is one of a number operated by a private provider.

p.5

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.5

Recent inspection history

24/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness

p.5

Recent inspection history

24/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.5

Good

Young people grow in confidence and build on their self-esteem, enabling them to make positive changes. As a result, young people learn to manage their behaviour, engage in education and develop their independence skills. Staff are patient and persistent and help young people to recognise their strengths, to feel valued and realise that change is possible. Young people trust and confide in staff and share their experiences with them. As a result, young people feel listened to and appreciated. Staff provide individualised care and involve young people in their care planning. Consequently, young people are engaging in the support provided to them and are making progress. Staff put in place relevant targets and provide practical support and encouragement to maximise young people’s learning and ability to achieve their goals. As a result, young people are developing their daily living skills and taking more responsibility for themselves. Young people’s personal hygiene has

p.6

Good

improved. They are learning to prepare meals, manage their finances and go out into the community independently. From their starting points, young people’s participation in education has improved. Prior to the summer holiday, a young person who had not attended full-time education for some time had achieved and sustained excellent attendance. Staff support another young person to attend college and they stay with him during his lessons. Without this additional support, the young person would not be able to benefit from all the opportunities made available to him. Young people are able to develop their resilience and a more positive self-view. They attend weekly sessions with the organisation’s therapists, during which they are able to reflect on their histories and behaviours in a safe space. As a result, they feel more confident and able to take on new challenges, resulting in improvements in their behaviour and interactions with others.

p.6

Good

Young people benefit from close attention to their health needs. Staff support them to lead healthy lifestyles, and they receive specialist guidance and intervention when necessary. Managers and staff ensure that the care provided evolves with the individuals’ changing needs and risks. The home facilitates six-weekly meetings with all professionals involved in the young person’s care to monitor young people’s progress. This ensures that all professionals take collective responsibility for the young person’s risk management plan. As a result, staff regularly revise their plan of care to ensure that they continue to effectively support young people to develop. Young people improve their relationships with family members and others who are important to them. Staff recognise the value of young people’s relationships with their parents and siblings and have facilitated contact to make this possible. They work closely with young people’s families and in one case have supported a young

p.6

Good

person to increase his visits home and to be able to stay overnight without staff support. One young person has recently moved on to adult care. Staff worked closely with the local authority to find a suitable provision that would provide the level of support necessary to care for the young person and keep him safe. Staff provide good support and guidance about the emotional impact of moving into alternative provision. This supports young people at a time of change and prepares them to move on successfully. The manager has ensured that improvements have been made to the environment to make it lighter, cleaner and more homely. As a result, young people feel more comfortable and valued.

p.7

Good

Young people’s safety is at the heart of practice. Risk assessments are thorough and are scrutinised regularly by a multi-disciplinary team. As a result, risk assessments are proactive and preventative and inform staff of the action that they must take to keep the young person and others safe. Staff support young people who have highly complex needs and risks. They consult regularly with other professionals and have worked closely with the child and adolescent mental health teams to promote young people’s liberties and rights while ensuring that plans are in place to reduce the risks to individuals and others. Young people are suitably safeguarded. All safeguarding concerns are reported to the relevant external professionals. Managers and staff are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and carry out investigations appropriately. There has been one incident of a young person going missing since the previous inspection.

p.7

Good

Staff were responsive and followed the home’s missing person policy, and the young person returned home safely. The staff team was clear on the reasons why the young person went missing, enabling staff to ensure that preventative strategies were put in place to prevent future incidents. Staff focus on praising and rewarding positive behaviour. The home’s ‘banding system’ has been successful in supporting young people to display behaviour that is more positive. Staff consistently review their practice and use previous experiences to inform new strategies and develop young people’s positive behaviour management plans. Good communication between staff and managers ensures that young people receive consistent messages. Staff encourage young people to reflect on their feelings and to develop an understanding of their emotions. Through therapeutic interventions and reflective conversations, young people learn to appropriately

p.7

Good

regulate their emotions. This is particularly notable in young people's ability to manage their anger, and there has been a significant reduction in incidents requiring physical intervention. One young person commented that he feels more able to ‘control [his] anger’ and ‘calm straight down instead of kicking off’. Records of physical intervention are recorded in line with regulation. Some sanctions implemented by staff are not restorative in nature. The manager has taken action to address staff’s implementation of sanctions. However, records show that staff are confused about what a sanction is and where this should be recorded. Feedback from staff received in the home’s annual questionnaire for staff advises that some staff want clearer guidance on the use of sanctions. The ambiguity about sanctions may lead to staff implementing them or recording them inappropriately, and this is more difficult to monitor.

p.8

Good

The home’s safer recruitment policy is not sufficiently robust to ensure that only safe adults work with children. A recommendation was made at the home’s previous full and interim inspections to ensure that the registered persons verify the reasons why a prospective employee left their previous employment with children or vulnerable adults. A review of two recruitments files found that no attempt had been made to do this. This does not reflect safer recruitment practice or the requirements of the regulation. The home environment is a safe one, with regular health and safety checks carried out. However, the recordings of fire drills do not detail who was present during the drill. Consequently, the manager cannot evidence whether young people or members of staff have completed a fire drill and have the knowledge and experience to ensure that they are prepared for an emergency. Judgement grade

p.8

Requires improvement

The manager holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management and has a wealth of experience in residential care. He was registered with Ofsted in 2015. The manager has a good knowledge of the young people he supports and effectively advocates and challenges placing authorities on their behalf to ensure that young people receive the support that they need to reach their potential. Staff and their managers have a good understanding of young people’s needs and their high-risk behaviours. They work closely with other professionals to ensure that effective risk management strategies are put in place, while enabling them to develop their independence. The manager has close links with young people’s educational establishments and the organisation’s therapist and registered mental health nurse. He uses these relationships effectively to encourage his staff team to reflect on its practice and strategies of support for young people. This ensures that young people receive

p.9

Requires improvement

effective and consistent guidance and care. The home’s statement of purpose is thorough, outlining how the service provides and cares for young people. It includes essential policies and procedures of the homes within the organisation and specifies the credentials of the leadership and management team and the training completed by staff. Staff feedback during the home’s annual consultation was very positive and portrays a supportive manager. Staff receive regular training in areas such as health and safety, first aid and physical intervention. They also are receiving refresher training on the home’s practice, to improve and build on their interactions with young people. All relevant staff have completed or are in the process of completing their level 3 diploma. This will ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge to care for young people. The manager has a good oversight of the service and communicates his

p.9

Requires improvement

expectations to staff regularly through team meetings and the communication book. However, some of the manager’s own recordings do not provide an account of the actions he has taken to prevent poor practice. For example, there is no evidence to demonstrate the steps that he had taken to address poor practice by a member of staff who had recorded a physical restraint that they had not witnessed and that was found not to have happened. This could lead to further inaccurate records being produced and would hinder the manager’s monitoring and ability to demonstrate a true and accurate record of the care provided to young people. Further to these concerns, the manager has regularly written the statement ‘this is a consequence of behaviour displayed and not a sanction’ in sanction records. On discussion with the manager, he advised that he did not feel that the sanction was appropriate and, on these occasions, the sanction did not go ahead. However, the

p.9

Requires improvement

manager did not record this in the sanction record, leading the reader to believe that the sanction occurred. This does not provide a true and exact account and is confusing for those viewing the records and monitoring practice. Staff receive regular supervision. However, supervision records contain limited exploration of the quality of care provided to young people, staff’s relationship with them and ways in which they could better support young people to keep them safe and to progress. Discussions about staff training and development focused on courses not attended rather than on what additional training would benefit them and the young people they support. Staff members’ appraisals do not provide an accurate picture of performance. An appraisal for a member of staff did not mention the disciplinary action that they had been subject to during the appraisal period. This could result in developmental needs being missed and does not aid the

p.10

Requires improvement

manager in developing his staff or improving the quality of care provided to young people.

p.10

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’.

p.11

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 children looked after 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

p.11

What the inspection judgements mean

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

p.11

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 that 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 whom 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

p.12

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 .

p.12

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,

p.13

Information about this inspection

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

p.13

Information about this inspection

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

p.13

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

p.13