Children's home run by Essex County Council in Chelmsford

Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 1 SC068929 Registered provider: Essex 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

This home is run by the local authority and provides short breaks for children who have disabilities. It is registered to provide respite care for up to eight children who have learning disabilities and who may also have additional physical and health needs.

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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: 22 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The environment did not present as a welcoming and homely environment.  The staff do not fully understand the risks associated with restraint used in the home.  Managers are not consistently or effectively monitoring some key areas of the home.  The records of supervision of the staff do not indicate that they are reflective in order to improve practice.  Not all concerns are recorded as complaints and subsequently investigated.  Records of medication are not accurate and do not reflect the medication stored in the home.  The staff do not help some children to maintain healthy diets.  Risk assessments, care plans and behaviour management plans are not up to date.  Some children do not have personal emergency evacuation plans.  Some recruitment files do not reflect that robust procedures have been followed.  There are not enough staff on duty to meet the assessed needs of all the children.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The children benefit from committed, caring and supportive staff.  Children enjoy a range of well-organised activities.  Children’s independence is promoted.  Children were observed to be happy and content.  The staff are supportive of each other.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 07/11/2016 Full Outstanding 18/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 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 health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This is in particular regard to ensuring that children eat and maintain healthy diets. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that the environment is clean and tidy and that the gardens are maintained and safe for children. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans and if necessary make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that risk assessments are up to date. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered 08/09/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 4 person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children to aspire to their full potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (a)(1))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that care and behaviour management plans are up to date. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling and recording of medicines into the children’s home. (Regulation 23(1)) 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, records need to reflect that staff receive practice- related supervision. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 08/09/2017

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Recommendations

 The home’s policies and procedures around the protection of children should reflect any requirements of other relevant legislation. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.22) In particular regard to ensuring where appropriate that all children have a personal evacuation plan.  Staff need to demonstrate that they fully understand the risks associated with any restraint used in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.56) In particular, holds used for individual children are recorded in behaviour management plans and risk assessments.  A home should have enough staff on duty to meet the assessed needs of all children in the home, and that those staff can respond to emergency placements, where accepted. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 51, paragraph 10.1)

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Recommendations

 A record of supervision should be kept for staff. The record should evidence that Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 5 supervision is delivered in line with regulation (33(4)(b)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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improvement to be good

There have been three emergency placements to the service, one of which has since moved on. Two of the children who currently live at the home are waiting for permanent placements. These placements have affected the short breaks that are being offered to those children who use the service. The home has been through an unsettled time due to these placements, which have resulted in an increase in agency staff being used and staff working back-to-back shifts. The registered manager understands the shortfalls and the improvements that are required.

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improvement to be good

The children live in a home which is large and spacious, with several outdoor areas. The visit found that some areas, both communal spaces and the children’s bedrooms, required cleaning; for example, there was food on the floor of the children’s bedrooms. Outside of the home, the gardens are not maintained, there were hazards, including a toy with sharp edges that was immediately removed, and swing chairs that were not adequately secured. Overall, the environment did not present as a welcoming and homely environment.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children progress well from their starting points. Through discussions with staff and observations made of shift planning and handover meetings, staff consider that the reasons for the improvements are due to the strong bonds and warm relationships they develop with the children. Some children have reduced their aggressive behaviours, which was echoed by a social worker, who said: ‘He [the child] is now able to sit at a table and eat, which he could not do before; his behaviour has got better, and there has been a reduction in incidents.’

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improvement to be good

The support that the staff provide results in improvements to children’s learning and achievements. All children have an education placement and attend school every day each term. Staff help children to maintain their attainment by ensuring that they are fully aware of their educational programmes through good communication between the home, parents and the teachers. The use of communication books aids this process.

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improvement to be good

Activities are well organised and provide a range of opportunities to extend children’s learning, skills and interests. The children were observed to show excitement in relation to an up and coming trip to the seaside. The staff were observed making robust plans for the trip.

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improvement to be good

Children’s independence is promoted and supported effectively. Children’s skills develop in line with the constraints and risks they pose to themselves and others. Independence programmes and goals help the staff to assess how well a child can keep themselves safe in the community and how well they develop life skills, such as washing and Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 6 cooking. Some of the children enjoy helping the staff with everyday tasks and will help cook meals where appropriate. However, the children’s files are not reflective of this in that they are lacking in up-to-date plans and risk assessments.

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improvement to be good

Medication procedures in relation to prescribed and non-prescribed medication are concise and clear. However, on one occasion, where a child has a large amount of medication, the records do not reflect the actual amounts of medication stored in the service. Without accurate figures, it cannot be ascertained whether medication is correctly administered. Parents sign consent forms for children accessing the short-break service on each admission. This provides the service with up-to-date information about each child.

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improvement to be good

Observations and brief discussions with the children were conducted throughout the visit. Children were friendly and appeared to be happy and content. One child was delighted to have visitors and was full of joy when talking about her day; another child was very articulate and was able to recall information he had learned from a conversation in the morning. However, one child was observed to be unsupervised for a period of time, one child had a very large portion of food next to his bed, which does not maintain a healthy diet and another child appeared to have spent most of his day in front of the television. He did, however, have a big smile on his face. The manager and staff team’s interactions with all of the children were observed to be caring and supportive.

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improvement to be good

There have been three emergency placements, since the last inspection two of which are waiting for permanent placements. While the two children currently placed used to access the short-break service on admission, no up-to-date assessment has been carried out to identify and record the child’s needs. This does not provide staff with an up-to- date picture on how to care for the children.

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improvement to be good

Sanctions are not used due to the level of understanding of the children. The staff keep records of the physical interventions that they use, which are clear. Records are monitored by the registered manager and the independent visitor. However, the use of some holds for particular children is not recorded in the behaviour management plans, risk assessments and care plans. The staff spoken to regarding this were not consistent in why this particular approach was being taken.

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improvement to be good

Children live in a safe environment, and health and safety checks are regularly undertaken. However, managers do not monitor the accuracy of records of health and safety checks sufficiently well. Some children do not have emergency evacuation plans, up-to-date risk assessments or behaviour management plans on their files.

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improvement to be good

Notifications of significant events are notified to Ofsted. The manager monitors the incident records and all incidents requiring notification are correctly made. This provides Ofsted with current information about incidents at the home. There have been no Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 7 safeguarding incidents since the last inspection.

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improvement to be good

The standards of recruitment practice followed vary, and files are disorganised. The record of how an internal applicant has been recruited had no assessment of why the candidate is suitable to move posts. Another file indicated that large gaps of unemployment had not been explored. This lack of documentation does not demonstrate that robust procedures are consistently followed.

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

The home has a registered manager who is experienced and appropriately qualified. However, since her appointment, there has been no deputy manager in post, which has weakened the management team. The emergency admissions, which are full-time placements, have had an impact on the staffing in the home. The lack of staffing at the home is considerable. The registered manager needs to cover the shifts, on many occasions working late shifts, sleeping in followed by early shifts. As a result, she has been unable to perform the management duties required to identify areas for improvement due to the demands on her time to undertake shift work.

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

The manager has a sound understanding of children and their needs. The manager and the staff have the needs of children at the centre of their practice. Although there is monitoring of records and practice in the home, this is not effective. The manager is aware of the shortfalls in the updating of records such as the care plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessments; however, due to the needs of the current children in placement, staff have to work extra shifts. As a result, the records have not been updated. A lack of management oversight of practice limits the ability of the managers to identify areas of improvement for staff, particularly at times when staff are under pressure.

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

Through observations or meetings and discussions with staff, it was evident that all staff were working over and above their normal weekly hours. Staff are covering shifts back to back, which included the manager. Staff spoke about how they felt that the new manager was ‘drowning’, yet ‘kept smiling’, and found the changes hard due to the emergency placements being on a permanent basis. Although the staff voiced their opinions with regards to working excessive hours, those consulted spoke of feeling very supportive of each other, of being a strong, committed team and wanting to maintain familiarity and continuity of care for the children.

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

All of the staff have mandatory training, including safeguarding, in addition to individualised training relating to individual children’s identified needs. The staff have annual appraisals and receive regular supervision; however, records of supervision sessions are brief and do not demonstrate that the supervisor supports and discusses reflective practice. This does not provide the staff with the support and guidance that they need or ensure that there is robust oversight of staff’s practice. All eligible permanent staff have completed or are enrolled in the level 3 diploma for residential childcare. Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 8 Parents are aware of their right to complain. There has been one formal complaint since the last inspection, which was fully investigated by the registered manager. The service has a ‘Grumble book' which had a concern in regard to healthy eating. Although the

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

manager responded to the parent and spoke to the staff, it was not fully investigated. This concern was reviewed as part of the inspection and raised serious concerns in regard to healthy eating, and on occasion children having an excessive amount of snacks such as crisps. This does not promote healthy eating nor does it demonstrate that concerns raised by parents are fully investigated.

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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: SC068929 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Chelmsford CM1 1QH

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Osagioduwa Igbinovia

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Inspector(s)

Cathy Russell, social care inspector Kristen Judd, regional inspection manager Inspection report children’s home: SC068929 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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