Children's home run by White Lodge Centre in Runnymede

Inspection report children's home: SC013828 1 SC013828 Registered provider: White Lodge Centre Treetops

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides short-break care for up to six children and young people, who primarily have physical disabilities and/or learning disabilities. Additional children and young people will stay for tea visits only. The home is located on a multi-purpose site and is operated by a large charitable organisation managed by a board of trustees.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 2 November 2016

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because Inspection report children's home: SC013828 2  There have been delays in notifying the senior team and professionals of potential safeguarding information. Policies and procedures have not been followed or information has not been shared appropriately.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The safeguarding audit trails are weak, with actions taken not being clear.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The process for logging body maps is ineffective, with information being mislaid.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Role modelling to promote social independence, particularly around mealtimes, is limited, due to insufficient staff presence.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Care planning documentation has not been updated and does not give staff clear direction on how to support young people. Plans are not consistently informative and do not detail information in relation to individual vulnerabilities.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager’s monitoring and review systems have not identified the issues arising from this inspection. Review systems are not effective in identifying weaknesses. There is been inconsistency in the reviewing and monitoring taking place.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The care staff have not undertaken the necessary qualification within the required timescales. There are no systems in place to determine if other qualifications obtained are equivalent to this necessary qualification.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people’s individualised communication systems were not seen to be consistently used.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff are enthusiastic about their work and support young people to have an enjoyable time while on their short breaks. There are purposeful activities which help young people to reach their full potential.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff interpret young people’s behaviours well and are able to understand and step in when there are instances when young people are worried or upset. Consequently, there has been no use of physical intervention.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work in partnership with parents and schools and other professionals to ensure that a consistent approach is achieved. Parents, carers and professionals speak highly of the service offered.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people were seen to be relaxed and enjoying their time with the staff and each other.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The senior management team is committed to revising the current development plan for the home to highlight weaknesses found during inspection. Inspection report children's home: SC013828 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/11/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 09/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC013828 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet 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

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure— (2)(a)(iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm (vi) that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s procedure under Regulation 36(1) (policies for the protection of children); (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(iv)(vii)(b)) This specifically refers to ensuring processes for recording body maps are robust. 31/05/2017

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that staff— (2)(b)(iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6(2)(b)(iv)) In particular, ensure that care plans and behaviour management plans are detailed to enable staff to support children and they take into account information from professionals. 31/05/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard 31/05/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC013828 5 In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must— (2)(g) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(g)) An individual who works in the children’s home in a care role must attain or hold the required care role qualification by the relevant date. (Regulation 32(4)) 31/05/2017

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Requirement Due date

Establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children. Supply a copy of the quality of care review report to HMCI within 28 days of the date on which it was completed. (Regulation 45(2)(a)(3)(a)) 31/05/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that there is appropriate deployment of staff to promote role modelling by staff to ensure independence and social skills are developed. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that individualised communication systems are implemented in practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.24)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff engage proactively to contribute fully to the relevant plans for the child’s care on an ongoing basis (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.3). This specifically relates to demonstrating progress in targets in operation and ensuring that these are recorded consistently and regularly reviewed.

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Recommendations

 Ensure staff have the training and skills to contribute to child protection conferences. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Recommendations

 Establish whether the units completed in the candidate’s original qualification have content which corresponds with the units of the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 68, paragraph 1.2)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the training matrix is kept up to date to ensure that all necessary Inspection report children's home: SC013828 6 training is undertaken. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that development plans are strategic and focus on improving experiences for young people. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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improvement to be good

Shortfalls were identified during the inspection which had an impact on this judgement and led to a judgement of ‘requires improvement to be good’. Although this judgement was made, there are many strengths of the service: it provides young people with a positive experience; young people were seen to enjoy their stays and make reasonable progress in developing their skills and self-confidence; staff are enthusiastic and child centred in their approach; and young people show affection for the staff. The young people benefit from these good, caring relationships with committed members of staff. Young people described staff as ‘great’ and were observed to be happy and relaxed in their company. Professionals and parents think highly of the quality of the care being provided and comments included, ‘I know they are happy and safe and well looked after’, and, ‘He loves going.’ All those spoken with described the relationship with the

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improvement to be good

Individualised care is provided to the young people who access the service. However, when the service is particularly busy, staff are overstretched. This has an impact on role modelling to promote social independence, particularly at mealtimes. Due to the limited number of staff on duty during the mealtime that was observed, staff did not eat with the young people and young people were not supported to understand appropriate behaviour at this time.

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improvement to be good

Young people are involved in everyday decisions and this is an area the staff have continued to explore and improve upon. Young people are given opportunities to fully express their views and choices regarding activities and food. Care planning and referral information reflects the use of different forms of communication methods for each young person. Some basic communication methods were seen to be in place, for example visual menus and pictures. However, young people’s individualised communication systems were not seen to be used or discussed at handover. In care planning information, for example, for one young person it stated he responds to visual timetables; these were not seen to be available or used. This does not provide young people with the necessary tools to be able to fully communicate and express their choices. Young people stay at the home on a planned basis and consideration is given to

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improvement to be good

enabling them to enjoy their short breaks with the same young people. This provides continuity and helps young people to form positive attachments with each other during Inspection report children's home: SC013828 7 their stays. Young people were seen to enjoy each other’s company and to have fun. Some young people make good progress. For example, they learn fundamental self-help skills, such as dressing independently and managing their personal hygiene. Others become more able to accept transitions and live away from their homes, which for some young people is a huge step towards becoming more independent. These developing skills mean that they are more able to live with others and accept the compromises needed to do this. There is evidence of change and improvement for young people because of the actions of the staff and the home’s encouraging approach. However, although young people’s progress is discussed at their reviews and targets for the young

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improvement to be good

people are identified in the home’s outcome information, in recent months there has been inconsistent reporting of progress when young people visit. Targets are not clearly tracked and monitored and the variable recording inhibits regular review to ensure that targets are still appropriate and achievable. This lack of monitoring means that young people may not have opportunities to develop or maintain skills. Since the last inspection, staff have worked to manage a number of transitions into the service and they work well with other professionals and parents in successful transitions out from the home. The home provides individualised admission arrangements which include the young person visiting the service to meet staff and joining in with activities before building up to an overnight stay; this helps to develop their confidence and trust in the staff. This relieves anxiety, both for parents and the young people, and prepares

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improvement to be good

young people emotionally, as some find these processes difficult to comprehend. The staff team works to ensure that the well-being of the young people is paramount and at the centre of all decisions made. Parents spoken with during the inspection were very positive about the transition and induction process and how it prepared both the young people and also them.

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improvement to be good

Young people demonstrate that they feel safe while in the home through their relaxed and trusting behaviour. Relatives and professionals have confidence that young people are safe. The senior managers have made effective links with the safeguarding team in the local authority. During discussion, staff demonstrated understanding that young people’s learning disabilities make them highly vulnerable. However, during the inspection, safeguarding information was scrutinised which showed that the child protection policy had not been followed fully in all cases. Audit trails were weak and unable to demonstrate if matters had been addressed or shared with the necessary professionals. Safeguarding information was not easy to locate and had not been shared with senior managers or formally referred on to children’s social care and/or the designated officer for advice. In addition, body maps could not be located to determine

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improvement to be good

the cause of bruising in one case. The process currently in operation does not enable body maps to be tracked or logged when completed; information could be and has been mislaid, and therefore not shared with external professionals. More can be done to ensure young people are kept safe.

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improvement to be good

In other cases dating back a few months, suspicions of harm have been promptly and Inspection report children's home: SC013828 8 appropriately shared with external safeguarding agencies. Staff attend any relevant professionals meetings and will share appropriate information about young people’s well- being. This demonstrates effective partnership working. However, current practices and recording require reviewing.

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improvement to be good

Young people are kept safe through supervision by sufficient numbers of staff. Young people who access the service are not currently assessed as being at high risk in the areas of self-harm, going missing or child sexual exploitation. Staff are aware of the policies and have received information to enable them to act on concerns. Some young people do display self-injurious behaviours; there are clear strategies in place to reduce the occurrence of these behaviours. Staff intervene and seek advice as necessary from professionals.

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improvement to be good

Staff have an appropriate understanding of behaviour management, and look to de- escalate situations as much as they can. Positive behaviour is promoted and reinforced through praise and encouragement. Sanctions are not used and instead staff use restorative approaches to enable young people to understand the impact of certain behaviours. There have been no incidents of restraint since the last inspection and incidents involving challenging behaviour are recorded to enable any patterns to be considered.

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improvement to be good

Care planning documentation is not consistently informative in relation to young people’s individual vulnerabilities and the plans in operation do not give clear direction on how to support young people. Information and reports from professionals are not included in the ‘all about me’ documentation. This means staff may not be informed of all relevant safeguarding information required to keep young people safe. Following incidents within the service of challenging behaviours, behaviour support plans are not always updated, or at times are not in place. Again, this means staff may not be aware of what these risks are or any strategies to minimise them. Care planning documentation does not provide sufficient information to enable staff to care for the young people safely. Key workers are given responsibility for attending child protection conferences, but report they are not confident in this area. They have not been given the skills to contribute to

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improvement to be good

these and to ensure they share appropriate information with the rest of the staff team.

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improvement to be good

Staff employed at the home are subject to the organisation’s recruitment and vetting procedures. There is clear management oversight during this process. This helps to prevent unsuitable people from being recruited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has recently resigned from the post and an interim manager from the senior team has stepped into the role on a temporary basis while the organisation recruits to the position permanently. Although a handover took place, there has been a lack of oversight and, in recent months, some areas have not been monitored, for instance the care plans, behaviour management plans and safeguarding information. Monitoring and review systems have not been used to make continuous improvements in the home. The lack of monitoring means current strengths and Inspection report children's home: SC013828 9 weaknesses are not being fully explored. There has been a focus instead on ensuring young people are safe and shifts are appropriately covered and this has led to the shortfalls identified within the safeguarding section of this report.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The senior managers recognised and took action to address some of the shortfalls identified during this inspection; they are enthusiastic and child centred in their approach. They have high expectations and convey this to the staff team to ensure individualised care is achieved. Equality and diversity are fully celebrated and achieved, with the view cascaded down that all the young people will have the same experiences as any other child. This ensures the aims and objectives within the statement of purpose are achieved. Staff report they have been well supported since the registered manager left and receive regular supervision. They are clear that the management team is both approachable and encouraging. The development plan in operation requires review, and is based on past aims and has not looked at other areas of development within the home; it is not sufficiently strategic and could focus more fully on continuing to improve

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home is adequately staffed and resourced to meet the needs of the young people accessing the service. Staff will cover any shifts among themselves or use bank staff to ensure consistency. A number of new staff have joined the staff team; they all work closely together and there is a happy atmosphere, with a sense that they are helping each other and making sure young people are at the centre of their work. There are various training opportunities for staff to further develop their skills in supporting the young people. However, the training matrix has not been updated, so it is difficult to determine if refresher training for some staff is due. A number of staff have been enrolled to complete the necessary level 3 qualification. However, not all staff have achieved this within the required timescale and some have yet to be enrolled. There are also staff members who completed a level 3 qualification before working in this

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

organisation. However, the management team has yet to establish whether the units completed correspond with the necessary childcare qualification and if there are any gaps in their qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There are regular independent visits to monitor the conduct of the home. A new organisation has very recently been appointed to undertake these visits. The most recent report is challenging, with a focus on the conduct of the home and how it promotes well- being for the young people. Internal monitoring has not recently been undertaken as reported on above. In addition, reports have not been sent into Ofsted as required; these are also required to be completed to enable internal monitoring to be effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The management and the staff team work with other agencies to ensure the safety and welfare of the young people. These agencies include professionals within health, education and social care departments. This inter-agency working ensures that there is a holistic approach in meeting the specific needs of young people.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children's home: SC013828 10 Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: SC013828 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: White Lodge Centre, White Lodge, Holloway Hill, Lyne, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 0AE

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Inspector(s)

Emeline Evans: social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC013828 12 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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

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