Children's home run by Nottinghamshire County Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 1 SC044291 Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Registered provider: Nottinghamshire County Council

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children’s home, and it is registered to care for three young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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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 good

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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: 14 February 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Effective multi-agency working provides young people with the support and services that they need. The quality of multi-agency working is a strength of the home.  Young people receive high-quality, individualised care. The help and support that young people need to become safer is provided. Staff understand what actions they should take if they have any concerns about the safety and well- being of young people.  Young people benefit from living in an environment with clear boundaries and routines. When young people struggle to abide by boundaries, staff remain consistent in their approach.  Young people benefit from good relationships with staff who care for them, and this has helped them to make some progress from difficult starting points.  The manager is ambitious for improvement. She uses a variety of monitoring systems to enable her to understand the impact of the service and the difference that it is making to young people’s lives. This leads to improvements

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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

 Staff’s use of mobile phones on duty detracts from the care and attention that they show young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/08/2016 Full Requires improvement 06/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulation including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20) In particular, this relates to implementation of the policy around staff use of mobile phones.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This home provides a secure and safe base for all the young people living there. Some young people living at this home have complex needs, and come from highly disadvantaged and chaotic backgrounds. Staff make every effort to help young people to stabilise their lives. Staff ensure that young people have detailed and busy routines so that they use their time productively. The quality of the care that staff provide is very high. Every avenue of support is accessed, a range of services are offered and young people benefit from effective multi-agency working.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

For some young people, this is successful and they make noticeable progress. However, for others, despite intense levels of high-quality help and support, the impact of this support is limited. At times there are progress, engagement and development. However, they struggle to engage consistently with their routines and there are periods of risk-taking activity. Their engagement with staff and with specialist support services can fluctuate and is not always consistent. Staff work tirelessly to give young people every opportunity to succeed. A mental health professional said: ‘Staff here are doing as good a job as it’s possible to do. These guys are doing an amazing job. My young person is consistently pushing the boundaries and staff don’t give in.’ Leaders and managers regularly review whether the placement continues to meet young people’s needs and work with multi-agency partners to consider alternatives, if this is appropriate.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff understand the crucial importance of education to the futures of young people. Some young people have experienced significant educational disruption which has resulted in some of them becoming resistant to education. Some young people have a fluctuating engagement with education placements and can struggle to engage regularly, and this limits their life chances. The staff have persevered and young people have full education timetables in place. Staff work closely with multi-agency education partners to ensure that the educational activities best meet young people’s needs and interests. Attendance at Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 4 education is usually good. Staff recognise, for example, that morning time can often be a struggle for some young people, yet there is a clear expectation that young people will get up and go to education. This approach is usually successful. Most

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young people are on course to achieve qualifications. The young people are benefiting from a home that has a positive culture and ethos of educational achievement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people make progress with their healthcare. They begin to pay attention to their personal hygiene, such as by showering and taking more care with their appearance. Young people are registered with doctors and dentists, and are supported to attend health appointments by staff. One area in which young people are not making as much progress is with their misuse of drugs and alcohol. There is intense support from staff and healthcare providers for young people who use alcohol or drugs. They receive regular and structured individual work to help them to address these issues. This helps to ensure that young people have access to all the information that they need about the impact on themselves and others of using drugs or alcohol. Despite the intense support from staff and multi-agency partners, this has not had the desired effect, as yet.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have regular contact with their friends and families, when this is appropriate. This enables them to maintain links with their home communities and further develop their relationships. Staff also maintain good relationships with family members and young people’s friends so, if there are concerns about the whereabouts of young people, the staff can use information from friends and family to help to keep young people safe and share information with the local police. This forms part of the home’s risk management plans and works effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s views and opinions are listened to and respected. However, staff’s use of mobile phones while working detracts from the attention that they can give young people. Young people know how to make complaints if they are unhappy. They have the opportunity to influence menu choices, to agree activities and to express any concerns that they may have regarding the running of the home to the manager or staff team at any time. They are regularly visited by a range professionals involved in their care, such as social workers, youth offending officers, and drugs and alcohol specialists. These measures ensure that the home has developed a culture of transparency and accountability.

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

Young people are safely cared for and, for the majority of the time, have positive relationships with staff whom they are able to talk to in times of distress or anxiety. A social worker said about staff, ‘My young person sees them as a place of safety.’ The staff and management team have a very thorough understanding of the risks affecting young people. There are some examples of very resourceful, carefully balanced and sensitive safeguarding practice. For example, staff have worked with family members to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of the risks facing young people. Consequently, young people are better protected when Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 5 displaying high-risk behaviours.

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

Safeguarding practice is robust. Staff and managers work very closely with their multi-agency partners to keep young people safe. There are regular strategy or risk management meetings where plans and assessments are shared, so all multi-agency partners are aware of risks and have the opportunity to have input into care planning. Effective information sharing and management of risk help to keep young people safer.

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

There are high expectations of standards of behaviour. Staff are consistent in their application of clear boundaries and rules, meaning that young people know where they stand. When staff enforce these boundaries, young people can occasionally push back against them, resulting in damage to the home, verbal threats or intimidating behaviour. Because staff have a good understanding of young people’s needs and their triggers, they can usually quickly bring these situations back under control. There have been no instances in which physical intervention has been used to manage a young person’s behaviour since before the last inspection. Sanctions are used effectively to help young people to understand the impact of their behaviour. Young people are always given the opportunity to engage in restorative work, such as by helping the handy person with jobs around the home and garden, instead of paying a financial penalty. This approach also helps young people to

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

After a long period of very few occasions of young people going missing from care, recently there has been an increase. The manager and staff understand the dangers to young people when they go missing from care. Effective action is taken and key organisations, such as the police, are informed immediately. The staff will search for the young person and contact known associates. When young people are returned to the home, they receive a warm welcome. The staff seek to understand the reasons behind going missing and arrange a return interview with someone independent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s manager is enthusiastic and committed to the home. She has high ambitions for staff, young people and the functioning of the home. She recognises the importance of prioritising spending time with staff and young people. The manager’s monitoring systems drive forward continued improvement, and the impact of the management team’s hard work is evident. This benefits young people, as they live in a home in which the management team and staff are constantly considering ways to improve.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The quality of multi-agency working is a key strength of the home. Professional’s time their appointments with young people to best fit in with the young person’s routine. For example, during the inspection, a ‘return from missing’ interview and a youth offending appointment were undertaken prior to school starting, as professionals know that this is the best time to catch young people in the house. Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 6 Staff help to ensure that young people are up and ready. This demonstrates effective and close multi-agency working to try to achieve the best results for young people. Social workers comment on excellent communication and information sharing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Care and support are being provided by a consistent, competent staff team. Where there are gaps in staffing, the manager uses regular agency workers who are known to young people. This helps to maintain consistency. Staff members report that they receive regular and good-quality supervision. They say that they feel supported by managers. Supervision focuses upon the care of young people and the development of the worker, and includes training and the responsibilities of the role. It gives staff the opportunity to reflect on their practice and consider ways in which care for young people can improve further. Most staff have completed mandatory training, and the identified gaps are being addressed promptly. Staff also benefit from attendance at their team meetings by the child and adolescent mental health service, which provides guidance about young people’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement and recommendation that were made at the last inspection have been satisfactorily addressed, resulting in young people experiencing better and safer care in relation to their healthcare needs. Record keeping has also improved, there is better consistency between records and managers analyse records in more depth.

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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 whom 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: SC044291 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Bridgford House, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 7UN

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Inspector(s)

Catherine Honey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC044291 8 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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