Children's home run by Hampshire County Council in Winchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 1 SC038690 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 provides a short-break service for young people who have learning disabilities, physical disabilities and where appropriate, those with autistic spectrum disorder. Up to five children at a time can stay overnight. The home is owned and managed by a county council.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children experience positive relationships with the staff.  Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 2  Children develop friendships with their peers.   Children are encouraged to try new things through a range of activities inside and out of the home.   Children develop their self-care skills.   The registered manager and staff have developed effective relationships with other agencies, professionals and parents.   Staff understand children’s specific vulnerabilities and take action to keep them safe.   The registered manager has a good knowledge and oversight of the service and takes action to improve the children’s experiences.

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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

 Poor systems and recording of safeguarding concerns hinders the manager’s ability to monitor safeguarding practice.  Staff do not currently evidence their decision-making around the compatibility of children placed together.  Records of physical interventions do not contain all of the details required by regulation.  Leaders and managers have not taken sufficient action to meet a recommendation made at the previous inspection about the children’s ability to move around the premises freely and safely.  The service’s location assessment does not contain information on all known risks.  Children’s personal evacuation plans do not advise staff of the room they will be staying in.  Staff employment checks do not ensure that all staff have been suitably vetted.  There has been one occasion when there were more temporary staff on shift than permanent members of staff.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Good 24/11/2015 Full Good 12/08/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 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

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure— (2)(e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. In particular, that logs of concerns are appropriately recorded and systems allow for the manager to have a clear oversight of all incidents to enable him to evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures. 18/09/2017

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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)) 18/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35 (3) (a) (iv)) 18/09/2017

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Recommendations

 Any use of mechanical restraint should follow a rigorous assessment process and, as with any restraint, be necessary and proportionate. Wherever such restraint is planned, it should be identified within a broad-ranging, robust behaviour support plan which aims to bring about the circumstances where continued use of such restraint will no longer be required. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.45) This is with specific reference to the blanket use of measures that restrict the movements of all children while they are in the house regardless of their needs and abilities.  When considering new placements, the registered manager should fully consider the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children and evidence their judgement supporting compatibility with existing residents, the staff team, statement of purpose and the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 4 regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should review the appropriateness of the home’s location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)  The registered person must ensure that there is a workforce plan in place and contains the information required by guidance. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person must ensure that any external agency staff should meet the requirements in regulation 32(4) regarding mandatory qualifications and the registered person should consider their skills, qualifications and any induction

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Recommendations

necessary before they commence work in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.16)  The registered person must ensure that no more than half the staff on duty at any one time, by day or night at the home should be from an external agency. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.17)  The responsible person must take such general fire precautions as will ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of any employees; and in relation to relevant persons who are not employees, take such general fire precautions as may reasonably be required in the circumstances of the case to ensure that the premises are safe. (The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 8(1) and (2)) In particular, they must ensure that personal emergency evacuation plans refer to the bedroom the child concerned sleeps in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience nurturing and caring relationships with staff. Interactions are supportive and responsive, founded on staff having a good knowledge of the children and how they prefer to be cared for. This reduces children’s anxieties and makes their stay enjoyable and comfortable.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions into the service are well managed. Children have opportunities to visit the service and get to know the staff and other children at their own pace. Staff meet with the child’s family and the professionals involved in their care and conduct observations at the child’s school to inform their assessment and plan of care. To ensure that children and their parents are well informed about the service, staff provide the statement of purpose and children’s guide in a format they understand. In one case, staff translated the Parents’ and Carer’s Guide into the child and their family’s first language.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are able to form friendships with their peers. Staff consider the child’s age, ability and interests when thinking about children who can stay together. This has had a Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 5 positive effect and helped children to develop their social skills and relationships with each other, building on their confidence and self-esteem. However, staff do not currently record and evidence their decision-making around the compatibility of children staying together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide the children with lots of opportunities to try new things and expand their social experiences. A variety of activities are on offer inside and outside of the service. All parents spoken to commented that the staff enable their child to do things they would not be able to do at home. This includes going to restaurants and the cinema.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Patient staff successfully encourage the children to process information, and work towards identified targets at their own pace. The child’s key worker reviews the child’s progress regularly with the manager to ensure that strategies remain effective in supporting children to reach their goal. Every achievement, however small, is celebrated and as a result, children increase in confidence. Children have successfully developed their daily living skills, such as washing and improving their ability to move around the service independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Extremely personalised care plans cover all areas of a child’s functioning. Children’s plans evidence good information-sharing with parents and professionals to ensure a consistent approach towards expectations and behaviours. As a result, children are settled and relaxed within the service. Plans provide detailed guidance to staff. In some cases, these provide step-by-step instructions informing staff on how to maximise children’s abilities to do things for themselves while advising staff on how to meet children’s needs and keep them safe. Staff regularly update plans to ensure that their approaches remain effective.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Skilled staff use various communication methods to encourage children to make choices in their daily lives and to promote their independence. Children have an opportunity after every stay to share their views on the quality of their stay, including the activities and food on offer. This rich information is used to improve their experiences at their next visit. Children often use a ‘suggestion box’ to share ideas for future activities and trips out. Staff act on these suggestions, ensuring that children feel listened to and know that their views matter.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Previous inspections have raised concerns regarding the children’s ability to move freely and safely around the premises. The registered manager has taken on board these concerns and is taking action to address them. However, some examples remain whereby their access to all areas are sometimes restricted. The previous recommendation is repeated.

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

The high staff ratios, clear risk management strategies and highly individualised care planning protects children from harm. Children’s demeanour while staying at the service indicates that they feel comfortable and demonstrates their positive relationships with staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 6 Since the previous inspection, there have been no child protection concerns. Staff are aware of what to do if a safeguarding concern occurs and their knowledge has been reinforced by a recent visit from the local authority designated officer. The manager has introduced a new log in each child’s folder to record any safeguarding concerns, which provides a chronology to monitor incidents. However, poor recording within this document hinders the manager’s monitoring. There is currently no centralised record of safeguarding incidents as these are recorded within each child’s folder. This also hinders

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

the manager’s ability to identify patterns and evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures.

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

Children have individual and comprehensive risk assessments, from which strategies are developed so that staff can care for them in the best way. Effective risk management strategies and high supervision levels have resulted in no incidents of going missing since the previous inspection. If a missing incident were to occur, there are appropriate procedures in place for staff to follow.

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

Staff have a good understanding and insight into the reasons why children present challenging behaviour and know how best to support them. They are experienced and skilled in distracting and de-escalating children’s behaviour and supporting them to calm and express their feelings more positively. As a result, there have been no sanctions since the previous inspection and only three physical interventions. However, records of physical interventions do not include the length of time of the intervention. This omission reduces the registered manager’s ability to monitor staff’s accurate use of behaviour management strategies and whether these are safe and effective.

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

All internal health and safety checks are completed regularly to protect children and staff from the risk of harm. However, children’s personal emergency evacuation plans do not specify the room that a child sleeps in – which could be crucial for staff to know if unfamiliar with the home and to inform emergency services of an incident requiring their support.

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

The location risk assessment comments on the advantages of the home’s physical location but it does not clearly identify all of the potential risks. For example, it refers to local crime but does not state what the risk is and how this could affect the safety of the children using the service. The assessment lacks consultation with other relevant professionals to ensure that all known risks are considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since April 2016. He has appropriate experience and qualifications, including a level 5 qualification in management. The registered manager has developed effective relationships with children’s parents and professionals to reliably inform children’s plans of care. Parents were complimentary about the registered manager and their children’s stay at the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The service is child-focused. The registered manager knows the children very well and Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 7 he is committed to ensuring that children have positive experiences, are able to learn new skills and have a voice. New strategies have been implemented to support children to work towards defined goals and to track their progress. The registered manager’s focus on children’s participation has enabled him to make improvements to the service and enhance children’s experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External independent monitoring reports have improved and are now suitably challenging of practice. The registered manager uses these reports, along with a range of resources, to monitor the quality of the service and the care provided. He has a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the service. However, the development plan lacks detail and it is not clear when it was reviewed and whether progress has been made towards some of its proposed actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has remained stable, providing continuity as well as a predictable environment. This reduces children’s anxieties and promotes a positive stay. However, on one occasion, the service was directed to admit a child in an emergency for a period of seven nights. Consequently, this caused disruption for some families, with a number of planned stays cancelled. During this period, an insufficient number of permanent staff resulted in one shift having a majority of temporary staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff recruitment records show gaps in respect of full employment histories and verification, where possible, of the reasons that candidates have left previous employment involving work with children or vulnerable adults. The registered manager is unsure of whether temporary staff have undergone the recruitment checks required by regulation. The recruitment practice seen and described falls short of safer recruitment practice and a requirement is made to rectify this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff stated that the registered manager is supportive and approachable. Regular supervision ensures that staff are able to reflect on their practice and developmental needs to identify actions to improve the quality of care within the home. All staff who are required to complete the necessary level 3 diploma for residential childcare have done so, to ensure that they have the basic knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children they support. However, the service’s workforce development plan does not contain all the information required by guidance. As a result, the service’s expectations around staff’s induction, probation, supervision and training are not clearly explained.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 8 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC038690 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

Melissa McMillan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC038690 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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