Children's Home run by Hampshire County Council in Hampshire

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 experience extremely individualised care.  Staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of the children they support.  Staff are extremely patient and concentrate on providing the best environment to enable children to communicate to staff.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children have fun and are positively occupied and stimulated.  Children are able to develop new skills in a safe and caring environment.  Staff highly value children’s views.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Children are relaxed and comfortable while using the service.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Staff have a good knowledge of how to care for children and what actions they must take to protect them.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Managers and staff work proactively and positively with others, offering professional challenge or advice when necessary.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 The manager and her team are child focused and ensure that children are able to participate fully in the running of the service.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 A requirement from the previous inspection to improve upon recruitment practice is repeated, because no new staffing appointments have been made since that inspection. Therefore, compliance with this requirement could not be fully tested at this inspection.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Other shortfalls, in relation to aspects of record-keeping, risk assessments, admissions processes, staff supervision arrangements and monitoring systems, do not have a direct impact upon the immediate safety or welfare of the children. Consequently, these areas are described within the main body of this report and addressed through making recommendations to improve the practice.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

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(2)(a)) 28/02/2017

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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 staff recognise and celebrate the achievements of the children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.7) In particular by recording when children have made progress against their targets.

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them, (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) In particular ensuring that children’s assessments and care plans provide information on all their needs and risks.

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure staff skills for safeguarding include being able to identify signs that children may be at risk, (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.12) In particular ensuring that there is oversight of all safeguarding concerns raised in order to be able to identify trends and patterns.

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure that the policy on the protection of children from abuse and neglect includes arrangements in relation to dealing with allegations involving staff in the home, e-safety and countering risks of self-harm and suicide. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.19)

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure that there are sufficient staff. This means ensuring that there are enough suitably trained staff on duty to meet the assessed needs of all of the children using the service. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must have a workforce plan which details the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction and probation and the process for managing and improving poor performance. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 When considering new placements, the registered persons must fully consider the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children and evidence their judgement supporting compatibility with existing residents. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 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, in particular poor practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) In particular they should consult with appropriate local services.

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Information about this children’s home

The setting is owned and operated jointly by a local authority children’s services department and a National Health Service Foundation Trust. This service offers short breaks for up to nine children and young people who have learning disabilities that may include sensory and physical disabilities, complex health needs or challenging behaviour.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 19/05/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/11/2015 Full Outstanding 19/05/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/01/2015 Full Good

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Good

Children experience highly personalised care. Staff know the children they care for very well. They have an excellent knowledge about each child and know their likes, dislikes, interests and preferences. As a result, children are relaxed and comfortable during their stays and receive care in the way they prefer.

p.7

Good

Comprehensive care plans reflect individual traits and personalities. Each plan of care covers all aspects of a child’s functioning. Care plans focus on the specific characteristics of each child, recognising their unique needs and identifying particular support strategies for them. This ensures that staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of the children they support.

p.7

Good

The staff focus on enabling children to communicate. Staff are extremely adept at understanding children’s cues for indicating their wants and needs when they are unable to communicate verbally. Staff are extremely patient and concentrate on providing the best environment to enable children to communicate to staff.

p.7

Good

Staff engage exceptionally well with the children. Staff are supportive and responsive, and interactions are filled with joy and laughter. Staff use touch and eye-contact effectively to provide comfort and reassurance. As a result, children are relaxed around and feel valued by staff. This promotes their self-esteem.

p.7

Good

Children have fun and are positively occupied and stimulated. Parents spoken with explained that their children ‘loved’ going to the service, with one parent commenting that their child ‘cannot wait to pack her bag to go’. Children take part in a range of activities including trips out. This ensures that children have opportunities to try new things and widens their experiences. Staff provide a stimulating and fun environment. Children are able to role-play, play games and do arts and crafts. Staff have painted all areas of the home with well-known film and book characters. They have developed resources such as ‘story bags’ to engage and stimulate children with varying needs in story time.

p.7

Good

Children are able to develop new skills in a safe and caring environment. They have been able to build on their personal care skills and as a result have developed better self-confidence and self-esteem. However, staff have not evidenced in records of the support provided to children to achieve their targets or whether they have achieved them. In some cases, children’s targets have not been reviewed for 10 months, therefore compromising the manager’s ability to monitor and demonstrate the child’s progress. Children and their families are very well supported as they are introduced to the home. Parents are provided with an opportunity to visit the service and children are able to have tea visits prior to having overnight stays. This helps them to get to know the service and staff to support a successful stay overnight. Staff support children to say good bye to the service through a chosen activity, promoting a

p.7

Good

Staff highly value children’s views. Through excellent communication skills and strategies, staff enable the children to participate in a monthly survey to obtain their feedback on different aspects of the service. This ensures that children have a real voice in the running of the provision.

p.8

Good

Children staying together are ‘matched’ well. This has supported children to develop their social skills. However, the manager does not currently evidence the decision-making around matching.

p.8

Good

Typically, staff consult children’s parents, social workers and schools to obtain as much information as possible to inform the child’s assessment and plan of care when using the service. However, the manager has had limited oversight of the assessment and care-planning process. In one instance, the child’s assessment and subsequent care plan failed to provide information on the risk of absconding, the violent nature of some of their behaviours and that some physical interventions were ineffective. This lack of information led to a serious incident occurring. Although no one was injured, the child could have come to harm. The manager has reviewed the assessment and care planning process to prevent similar incidents occurring again.

p.8

Good

Children are relaxed and comfortable while using the service. Staff have an excellent insight into the signs and indicators that children are uncomfortable or upset. Staff anticipate children’s needs and are responsive, ensuring that children feel safe and secure. Staffing numbers allow for high levels of supervision and support to make sure that children have positive experiences and are kept safe.

p.8

Good

Staff have a good knowledge of how to care for children and what actions they must take to protect them. Each child has an individual and comprehensive risk- assessment, from which strategies are developed so that staff can care for them in the best way. Any issues of a child protection nature are reported appropriately. Managers work effectively with other professionals and contribute to meetings and reports appropriately, ensuring the safety of children. However, the service’s safeguarding policy does not refer to e-safety, self-harm or suicide, as required by guidance. As a result, staff are not adequately informed of what to do should these concerns arise. The manager does not have a good oversight of all safeguarding concerns that have occurred, and these are recorded in separate files. This hinders her ability to recognise trends and patterns and to take action if a concern is identified.

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Good

Children benefit from support from staff who understand their behaviours to be a form of communication and respond to them as such. Staff have a good understanding of children’s behaviour support plans and of the best approaches to distract and reassure children to reduce their anxieties. When strategies appear to lose their effectiveness, staff respond quickly to review and implement new approaches. As a result, there has been no use of physical intervention since the previous inspection, demonstrating the success of staff’s intervention.

p.9

Good

Some records of discipline do not contain all the required information. For example, some records do not explain the actions that staff took prior to using a form of discipline, or the time the measure of discipline was implemented for. No independent person has evaluated these records. This could hinder the manager’s ability to monitor staff practice.

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Good

The service’s location assessment demonstrates that staff have considered the risks that the local area may present and have taken action to minimise them. This is regularly updated and changes noted. However, there is limited evidence of consultation with other agencies or professionals to inform the assessment.

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Good

At the previous inspection, a requirement was made in relation to ensuring that a full employment history is obtained and that the reasons for a staff member leaving their previous employment with vulnerable adults or children are verified. No new staff have joined the team since the previous inspection, so the meeting of this requirement could not be appraised on this visit and is repeated.

p.9

Good

The environment is a safe one, with regular health and safety checks carried out. Each child has a personal evacuation plan, and appropriate fire safety measures are in place to keep children safe from such risks. Judgement grade

p.9

Good

The registered manager is a qualified nurse and has been registered with Ofsted for eight years. She has completed both a level 4 qualification and a level 5 diploma in leadership and management. She is experienced and competent in her role. The manager is aspirational for the service and is determined to provide the best for the children. This ethos flows throughout the staff team and, as a result, all members have a good understanding and knowledge of supporting children with complex needs.

p.10

Good

Managers and staff work proactively and positively with others, offering professional challenge or advice when necessary. They have excellent relationships with parents and have good communication with them through regular meetings, phone calls, newsletters and diaries.

p.10

Good

The manager and her team are child focused and ensure that children are able to participate fully in the running of the service. The manager ensures that children have continuous opportunities to share their views on the service they receive. The service also works closely with parents to obtain their opinions on where the service could improve. This ensures that those using the service have a say in how the service is managed and experience an improving service.

p.10

Good

The manager has a good oversight of the service and regularly carries out audits on the quality of care and the records kept by staff. As a result, she fully understands the strengths and shortfalls and is taking action to address the latter. The service’s development plan is child centred and focuses on improving children’s experiences.

p.10

Good

Monitoring visits by the independent visitor take place within required timescales. However, these vary in quality, with one visitor staying for a maximum of 40 minutes. Their subsequent reports and recommendations made have not sufficiently challenged the service and do not assist the registered manager in striving to improve and develop the home.

p.10

Good

Staff vacancies have affected the service’s ability to fulfil its statement of purpose. Management has faced difficulty in recruiting a sufficient number of nurses and healthcare workers, which has affected the ability of the service to offer overnight stays to children who primarily have a health need. To lessen the impact, children have been offered tea visits and day care, providing them with some continuity of support. Although managers are taking action to address this, their strategies have not yet been successful in recruiting new staff.

p.10

Good

The manager is committed to developing her staff. She has assisted three team leaders to enrol on a level 5 qualification. Staff receive regular supervision and team meetings to reflect on their performance and training to ensure that they have the skills necessary to provide good care to children. However, in one case it was not evidenced that the poor assessment and care planning by a member of staff had been addressed with them. This may result in developmental needs being missed and does not aid the manager in developing this staff member or improving the quality of the care that they are providing to the children.

p.11

Good

The workforce development plan provides a good overview of the management of and expectations for the staff. However, it does not detail the timeframes for the induction of new members of staff into the service, the timeframe for probation and how poor performance will be managed, as required by guidance. All staff who are required to have completed the level three qualification have done so, ensuring that they have the skills necessary to provide good care to the children.

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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’. 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

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What the inspection judgements mean

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 harmed or at risk of harm or that 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 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

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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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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