Children's Home run by Cornwall Council in Cornwall

Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 1 SC040491 Registered provider: Cornwall 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

This home provides short breaks for children and young people. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children and/or young people who have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities and/or sensory impairments. The home is managed and owned by the local authority.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection

A compliance notice was issued at the last full inspection in relation to Regulation 12, the protection of children standard. This notice was issued due to the inadequate safeguarding practice which was identified during the last full inspection on the 26 and 27 April 2017. Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Leaders, managers and staff have been provided with valuable safeguarding training which was targeted at their specific needs. This has supported the entire team to develop its safeguarding knowledge.  Young people are provided with positive and enjoyable experiences while attending the short breaks service.

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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

 The supervision provided to staff members requires further development in order to ensure that it robustly supports staff practice.  Leaders and managers must ensure that they have the correct consent in place in order to gain personal information regarding young people.  Leaders and managers must ensure that staff are provided with clarity regarding which manager or senior staff member to contact during anti-social hours in case of an emergency or significant incident.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/04/2017 Full Inadequate 23/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/12/2016 Full Good 27/01/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 3

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Recommendations

 A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). Specifically, leaders and managers must continue to develop good-quality supervision. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards April 2015’, page 61, paragraph 13.4)  The specific responsibilities of the home towards supporting the health and well- being of each child should be agreed with the placing authority and recorded in the child’s placement plan. It is the joint responsibility of the registered person and the placing authority that this is agreed at the time of placement. Specifically, consent to obtain medical information from outside agencies must be gained from parents or carers. (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards April 2015’, page 34, paragraph 7.7)

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Recommendations

 Those with a leadership and/or management role should be visible and accessible to staff and able to deliver their leadership and/or management responsibilities. Any registered manager employed in the home should have sufficient capacity to ensure that the quality standards are met for each child in the home. Specifically, there must be a clear out-of-hours system in place to ensure that staff are able to contact a manager or senior staff member in the event of an emergency or a significant incident (‘Guide to children’s homes regulations including the quality standards April 2015’, page 52, paragraph 10.7)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people are provided with a good standard of care at the home. The home provides a warm and welcoming environment, and is maintained to a high standard. Young people are supported to enjoy a number of experiences, including special fun days arranged at the home, baking, and sensory play. They also have access to a large garden which is well equipped with sensory and play items. Creative approaches are being developed to promote choice for young people with limited communication methods. For example, one young person is now having their bed sides taken down to enable them to move safely unaided out of their bed. This enables the young person to have a greater amount of choice. Visual aids are also provided to help young people choose the foods which they would like to eat, and free time is led by young people rather than being overly structured. Communication regarding the needs of young people is effective between staff. This

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

ensures that young people’s needs are central to care planning and, most importantly, Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 4 ensures that these needs are met.

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improvement to be good

A number of concerns were identified during the last inspection regarding the poor standard of safeguarding practice of leaders, managers, and staff members. This led to an overall inadequate judgement, and a compliance notice being issued. Since the inspection in April, a great deal of support has been provided to all staff members. A good standard of safeguarding training has been provided, and there are clear support plans in place in order to ensure that all staff members understand their safeguarding responsibilities. Furthermore, a recent safeguarding issue which occurred prior to this inspection was handled very robustly by leaders and managers. The compliance notice issued has, therefore, been met. Leaders and managers have acted on all of the shortfalls identified by Ofsted at the last inspection, in respect of the need to improve safeguarding practice throughout the team. However, further time is needed in order to ensure that this knowledge has been

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improvement to be good

embedded into the ethos of the home. At the last inspection, there was an issue regarding a young person not being given their medication, or being changed out of their school uniform during their first visit to the home. There is a new system in place to ensure that, when young people are new to the home, important information is shared effectively, although this is yet to be used. There has been one medication error since the last inspection, regarding the quantity of one young person’s medication held by the home. Leaders and managers responded to this effectively be revising the medication policy and developing a leaflet regarding the home’s handling and administering of medication for parents.

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

Leaders, and managers have actively sought to address all of the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. A great deal of support and guidance has been provided by senior management also. This has raised the standard of safeguarding practice at the home. Team meetings are effective forums for information sharing, and encourage staff to reflect on areas for improvement. Care planning discussions for young people are also taking place on a regular basis, which is good practice. Overall, care planning documentation is of a good standard, and required amendments identified at the last inspection have been made. This ensures that staff are provided with clear guidance in respect of how to meet the complex needs of young people. As identified at the last inspection, leaders and managers have developed good-quality risk- assessment systems. These ensure that young people are safe while also being provided

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

with varied opportunities. Leaders and managers are now undertaking practice observations which are designed to Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 5 support staff, recognise good practice, and to identify any areas for improvement. This is good practice, and is a further mechanism for leaders and managers to raise the standard of care at the home. Further areas for development include the need for leaders and managers to develop supervision processes which ensure that staff are robustly supported to meet all the needs of young people. A number of changes have already been made and are being embedded into all supervision sessions. Leaders and managers are not ensuring that they have the correct consent in place in order to gain personal information regarding young people. Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff are provided with clarity regarding which senior staff member to contact during anti-social hours, in case of an emergency or significant incident.

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Information about this inspection

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: SC040491 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Truro, Cornwall TR1 3AY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Tony Phillips-Jones

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Inspector

Polly Soper, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC040491 7 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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