Children's home run by Hampshire County Council in Winchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 1 SC039214 Registered provider: Hampshire County Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is a local authority children’s home that offers short-break care and support for up to 13 children who have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities. There are four beds that are specifically allocated for children who have complex health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 17 October 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 The management team constantly considers what the experiences of short breaks are like for particular children and make changes to improve them. Managers and staff seek the views of children and young people, including from complaints, and they then act on them to better meet their needs and wishes. Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 2  Staff work well with families to improve children’s experiences and promote their well-being. One parent commented that she and her daughter’s key worker ‘sing from the same hymn sheet’ when they attend meetings about her care.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff patiently encourage children to try new experiences, such as different food, often with success after months or even years of reassurance and support.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people who move on from the home are supported to make the transition emotionally and practically, with staff ready and willing to pass on, their substantial experience and knowledge of those young people to new providers.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 A robust response to emergency placement needs to be developed that does not require the home to act outside its statement of purpose and disrupt the care of children booked for short breaks.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers should ensure that when targets are achieved they are replaced by more relevant ones in a timely fashion.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff should use the processes in place to ensure that the home has obtained required consents in all circumstances and monitors significant incidents effectively.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/04/2016 Full Good 17/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 27/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 3

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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

The registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5)) 30/06/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they agree with the placing authority (usually the child’s parents/carers), and, if appropriate, the child’s school, an approach to meeting any relevant education targets while the child is in the short break setting. Short breaks can present an opportunity for the child to enjoy and achieve new things (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29 paragraph 5.22). This includes devising new targets in a timely way when current ones have either been achieved or are not being attained.

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Recommendations

 Each child should have permission for staff to administer first aid and non- prescription medication from a person with parental responsibility for them recorded in their relevant plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35 paragraph 7.14)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A number of parents spoken to during the inspection said that their children ‘love going to the home’. This is largely due to the level of attention staff provide and to the range of activities open to them on short-breaks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Activities include trips to the seaside, local parks, cinema and adventure parks but, as staff point out, those carried on in the home are just as valuable. Examples include gardening, music sessions and pizza making. Some are new experiences for individual children and, when they enjoy them, this gives parents more confidence to try the same activities as a family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff follow the preferences of children and young people by asking parents on Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 4 admission what their children like to do, offering choices and obtaining feedback after events, either verbally, using communication aids or recording observations made. A great deal is done to obtain and record the views of all children, which are then taken into consideration in planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff respond well to occasions when children or young people demonstrate dissatisfaction with what is happening, thinking through with parents how matters can be improved and changing arrangements so that those children are happier.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The team’s determination to seek and provide the best for children and young people extends to assisting as much as possible with preparations to move on from the home. One member of staff said, regarding a young person she has known since he was three, ‘we are keen to give him the best start to be a young adult and hand over all we know. We want him to enjoy the experience of moving on.’ This is evidenced in a copy of the home’s care plan being provided to the proposed new setting and offers to communicate with them on anything they wish to know. The worker is preparing a book of photographs from the last 14 years to help mark the transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Whole families benefit from the service provided by the home, not just because short breaks provide respite but also due to the support of staff who work with parents to help children be more independent and to enjoy a wider range of experiences. A particular example is encouraging children to have a broader diet than they have previously tolerated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Many parents describe the home as providing a ‘lifeline’ and it is unsurprising therefore that when scheduled breaks are cancelled this causes considerable stress, not only to the child due to stay but to the rest of their family as well. Unfortunately, this occurred for several weeks when the local authority placed two young people, in succession, as emergencies while they sought alternative provision. This meant that the home operated outside its statement of purpose as conditions for accepting such placements were not met. Consequently, children already booked for short breaks were adversely affected through cancellations, significant disruption of activities designed to help achieve targets and/or necessary changes in arrangements, such as the bedrooms they normally sleep in. Others had their admission process delayed. It also became apparent that the home’s staff could not meet the needs of one of the young people and senior managers drafted

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, the home has had a considerable amount of refurbishment, including completing long-needed repairs, repainting of the exterior and removal of unsightly bars across some first floor windows to prevent them from opening too far (replaced by less obtrusive internal restraints). The garden has benefited from play surfaces and equipment being cleaned, repainted or replaced. Children have been involved in painting benches and large animal figures, in choosing bird feeders and planting vegetables and herbs. In this way, they have not only had their enjoyment of the extensive garden improved, but care of their environment demonstrates to others that their experience of it is important. Through their involvement in this, children see themselves as being able to affect their surroundings and thus improve their own lives. Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 5 Decorators were repainting the entire interior of the home during the inspection,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

unfortunately without sufficient notice for children and young people to be involved in choosing the colours to be used. Prior to this, staff had individualised bedrooms by putting up pictures, wall stickers and new lampshades on themes that they had consulted children on; these include woodlands, planets and football.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The home has had no child protection concerns or occasions when children have gone missing since the last inspection. Nevertheless, staff spoken to are aware of the procedures to follow should either arise. There is guidance readily available, and this was referred to by them in discussion about potential scenarios. The manager has also introduced a ‘safeguarding chronology’ form, which ensures that staff take appropriate steps and record them. In addition, there have been no instances of children requiring physical intervention or sanctions; perhaps because of this, some staff were not certain how these should be logged for monitoring, in addition to being written up in daily records.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

There is a log for incidents that the manager is keen should contain even ‘low-level events’. He explained that despite particular behaviours being the norm for some children, such as kicking out at people as they walk by, staff should see these as barriers to the child’s involvement in wider society and making relationships with others. He commented ‘recording them is the first step to thinking about the reasons for the behaviour and to addressing them’. This demonstrates a desire to improve children’s and young people’s lives and not accept behaviours as inevitable.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

In an isolated incident, one young person’s health plan was not adhered to. This gave rise to a complaint and the manager and member of staff involved both acknowledged the error. In this way, the matter was resolved and the parent is confident that the home will not repeat it. She commented that ‘otherwise the staff are absolutely brilliant’, confirmed by other parents and the professionals spoken to, who were unanimous that children and young people are kept very safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

An emergency evacuation of the home during the inspection, due to a false alarm, was conducted quickly and efficiently. Records demonstrate that checks and drills are methodically carried out in accordance with regulation, contributing to the safety of all who live and work in the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff have an in-depth knowledge of the children and young people they work with, some borne of the experience of caring for them over a decade or more. They demonstrated an awareness of the individual child’s preferences, strategies that work or don’t work well with them, targets being worked towards and how they are doing at school. During observations made, staff were attentive to children’s communication, verbally or behaviourally and assisted them to achieve what they wanted to do. Staff gave reassurance and praise as well as encouragement for children to do things for themselves, where this was appropriate.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff did not obtain full consents for one of the young people placed in an emergency, a Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 6 particular oversight being a failure to seek permission to administer first aid or agree emergency treatment, if required.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Given the known risks of those young people placed outside of the home’s policy on admissions, the manager took the decision to cancel short breaks, or otherwise change arrangements based on the need to safeguard other children. Although this was not easy to convey to families, it was done in such a way as to explain the rationale and the reasons were understood by parents.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Since the young people placed in emergency have moved on, staff have now rescheduled missed stays.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has many years’ experience of working in and managing residential settings. He has qualifications assessed as being equivalent to the level 5 training required by regulation. He demonstrated excellent leadership of the team under the very testing circumstances of the emergency admission of the young people who were inappropriate for the home. This included dealing with volatile situations and seeking to assist highly distressed young people who had the capacity for inflicting harm. A member of staff commented ‘our manager was supportive and gave good advice’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Despite the impact on staff and the disruption of the home at this time, the team took the lead of the manager and his deputy in seeking the best interests of the young people placed with them and advocating for them. Staff challenged transition arrangements when they did not allow for workers from the new home to spend time with one of the young people before he moved and the planning improved as a result.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The frequency of supervision for staff was maintained during this and at other times. Those members of the team spoken to confirmed that this meets their needs, and that appraisals via an online system are undertaken yearly, although not all were confident about using it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Placement planning is excellent, with clear descriptions of the circumstances of children and young people, and how staff should provide their care. This is especially detailed when giving guidance regarding inappropriate behaviours, so that staff know how to respond in the most effective ways. Plans include sections on how issues of culture, race and other characteristics have been taken account of and how children’s views have been incorporated. This ensures that staff give attention to these matters and those plans read demonstrate that they do so effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

This is just one example of the ethos developed in the home of children being given a voice in their care and being central to how decisions and plans are made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager is committed to learning from complaints and any other occasions that children are seen to be dissatisfied with the service. He has written a policy that includes the need to treat children’s and young people’s demonstrations that they are unhappy, particularly those who have limited capacity to communicate verbally or with Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 7 communication aids, as complaints. He assists staff to differentiate between children showing they are unhappy about something, like having to go to bed, and when they are complaining about how they are being treated, such as a preference for same-sex carers not being respected. Three of this type of event have been recorded in the complaints log and resulted in changes in planning and provision of care. This is excellent practice, enhancing young people’s experience of short breaks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home received a number of complaints about the cancellation of short breaks, which were handled appropriately, even though it was not possible to change the situation. The manager’s replies included informing complainants of what other steps they could take, if not satisfied, in accordance with the complaints policy. On the one occasion this was followed up by the respondent; the responsible individual at that time did not signpost the third stage of the procedure. Another parent who made a complaint commented, ‘It was upheld, but it does not mean anything as it could happen again.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Case recording is purposeful and demonstrates the work that staff undertake. This includes a write-up of a discussion with the manager of an adult provision about the care of a young person who had left the home over a year ago. This evidenced the home’s commitment to the well-being of young people well after they have any direct responsibility for them. It is also seen in the visit made by the deputy manager to a young person who is now in a permanent placement, having been previously admitted to the home as an emergency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Some records do not give sufficient information for a reader who is not aware of the circumstances to understand what is being conveyed, such as the discontinuation of counting of remaining tablets in a young person’s medical records without explanation, or are not full enough, such as records of health and safety checks. This means that someone coming to the records at a later date will not have the information to know what happened or why decisions were made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and his team have fostered remarkably strong relationships with families, which means that they work very effectively together for the benefit of children and young people. Even those particularly adversely affected by the need to cancel short- break stays were extremely complimentary about the home. One described it as ‘a desperate situation for us’ but said the manager ‘was very helpful when the cancellation was taking place, keeping us informed of how things were going – a star for him!’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Professionals agree that communication is a particular strength of the home; one described being ‘well briefed by staff’ who provided him with a wealth of useful information, including the signs a young person used that were individual to him.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has addressed all requirements and recommendations of the last inspection report effectively.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 8 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: SC039214 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hampshire County Council, The Castle, Winchester SO23 8UG

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Inspector

Chris Peel, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC039214 10 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

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Inspector

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Inspector

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