Children's Home run by New Forest Care Limited in Hampshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 1 SC068046 Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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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 registered to care for one young person who has emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The young person living at the home may attend the organisation’s school. The home is located within easy reach of community resources and services.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 to 29 November 2017

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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: not judged

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is making good progress while living at the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 2  Staff work closely with the young person, which enables him to form positive relationships.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person has very good attendance at school and makes good progress.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff give effective support to enable the young person to address his physical and emotional healthcare needs.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is enabled to take part in a wide variety of activities and has formed positive friendships with peers.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers have developed robust and effective relationships with external stakeholders and this has had a positive impact on the plans and care delivered.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young person is learning a wide variety of life and social skills, which will benefit him in the future.

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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

 Information about safeguarding measures and management of risk has not all been shared well internally.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There has been some inconsistency in the staffing of the home, which has affected the young person placed there.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The independent visitor to the home has undertaken other duties which conflict with her independence.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/03/2017 Interim Not judged 20/12/2016 Interim Not judged 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/12/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 3

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Recommendations

 The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in the home where children are listened to, respected and involved in both the development of the home and decisions about the home. ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 42, paragraph 9.8) In particular, ensure the guidance for staff on use of their personal mobile phones to interact with young people duly safeguards both parties.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should monitor and review the patterns and trends of turnover of staff, whether agency or directly employed, and be able understand and where possible, address any negative trends. ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 54, paragraph 10.19)

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Recommendations

 As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 Qualification requirements for staff are listed in Annex A. ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 61, paragraph 13.6)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the

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Recommendations

home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 65, paragraph 15.4).

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Recommendations

 Where the independent person is an employee of those carrying on the children’s home, they must be employed solely for the purpose of quality assurance within the home(s). ( ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ , page 65, paragraph 15.7) In particular, ensure that any other duties Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 4 the independent visitors fulfil do not conflict with this role.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is making good progress and developing essential life and social skills while living at the home, which will promote opportunities and life chances into adulthood. Detailed care plans provide practical up-to-date information and guidance to staff. Staff regularly review and update these to reflect current information, targets and objectives that the young person is working towards.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has very good attendance at school and makes good academic progress within his abilities. Staff work closely with education, sharing daily updates and information, which supports the consistent and joined-up approach followed by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person manages his physical and emotional health needs with support and encouragement from staff. This includes regular therapy sessions that assist in exploring previous trauma and developing positive strategies and ways to manage feelings and emotions. Staff encourage the young person to lead a healthy lifestyles through a balanced diet and regular exercise and activity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has very good relationships with key staff and seeks their support and guidance at times of anxiety and challenge. The very good and supportive relationships with staff have enabled the young person to go through some of the most challenging experiences in his life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff hold regular and meaningful one-to-one sessions with the young person, which afford him opportunities to explore issues that are important to him. The sessions provide essential personal education about risk, how to keep safe and help him to explore how to maintain positive friendships and relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is supported and encouraged to maintain positive contact with friends and family. Staff are thorough and robust in preparing, supporting and facilitating this, resulting in carefully planned and managed contact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support the young person to develop hobbies and interests outside of the home. He has flourished through these activities and formed new friendships and relationships. Staff also encouraged strategies that have helped him to self-regulate and manage anxiety and emotion positively. Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 5 The young person has developed independence skills relevant to his life after the home. He plans, shops for and prepares meals, does laundry and assists with basic household chores.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is able to talk to staff about his wishes, feelings and aspirations and the highs and lows of each day. He has personalised his bedroom and the communal living spaces. He has choice about his menus and activities.

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improvement to be good

The young person feels safe and secure at the home; he has formed relationships of trust with staff and seeks their support and guidance when worried or upset. Staff assist him to explore ways to manage his emotions and to develop strategies and skills to enable them to work through the challenges faced.

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improvement to be good

Staff complete detailed risk assessments, which explore known risks; this enables staff to support the young person to take age-appropriate risks with clear parameters and rules. Staff have not completed pre-admission risk assessments specific to this home prior to the young person’s arrival; he had been accommodated by the organisation for some years prior to this move.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow detailed and clear behaviour support plans that detail triggers to behaviour, how they present themselves and how to support the young person. Trained staff use physical intervention on occasions when a young person is in crisis. Records detail information about the incidents and strategies used. Detailed reflective debriefs are completed with the young person after an incident, but these are recorded as one-to-one sessions and not stored with the incident records.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s achievements are celebrated through a variety of rewards and treats, such as certificates, outings and praise. Sanctions and consequences are linked to the cause or behaviour but the record does not show whether the young person’s views were sought. The manager states that views are explored in one-to-one sessions but the record does not currently reflect this.

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improvement to be good

There have been no safeguarding concerns or referrals in the home since the previous inspection, but there is clear policy and procedure to follow if it is required. There have been no episodes of missing, but systems and plans are in place for this eventuality.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is well maintained and managed and required checks are completed within timescales.

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improvement to be good

Staff access safeguarding training, which includes all of the current themes and required Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 6 responses if staff are concerned.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment processes meet the required standard but risk assessment completed centrally by HR during this process were not shared with the manager in the home, creating a layer of unknown risk as the manager cannot manage risk he is unaware off.

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improvement to be good

Staff use their own personal mobile phones for business use while at work; the policy regarding the use of personal mobile phones both advises staff not to share their number with children and indicates that they reasonably might. This neither guides them well, nor acknowledges the safeguarding ramifications of staff and children having the potential to contact each other outside of staff shifts.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager, who has very good knowledge of the young person in his care, manages the home effectively. He has a very good relationship with the young person. He utilises a variety of systems and process to ensure that he has a good understanding of the effectiveness of the home. The ethos of the home is to provide individualised support to the sole young person living there. Because of this, the young person has made good progress and developed essential skills.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has formed good, effective working relationships with professionals outside of the home and this has had a positive impact on plans. He has also formed positive relationships with others in the community and voluntary organisations, which benefits the home and the young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a high turnover of staff in the home since it reopened. This risks impacting negatively on the young person residing here, but the manager has been a welcome constant throughout this period, and the young person is settled and making good progress. The staff team is currently settled and the manager is positive about the home’s new found stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are well supported by the manager in the home. The regular reflective team meetings provide ample opportunities to review and reflect on practice. Staff access regular effective supervision but the quality of records for these are inconsistent. Staff new to the home complete a robust induction process in which they shadow staff, complete the induction booklet and undertake training. Staff are offered a wide variety of face-to-face and online training. The manager has also reviewed additional topics in the monthly meetings. Not all staff have achieved the required qualification within the set timeframe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager undertakes a review of the quality of care in the home but it lacks evaluation and analysis. It does not detail the home’s strengths and weaknesses and what is required to improve identified weaknesses within a timeframe. The home’s development plan details what the home does, but does not detail what the manager plans to implement to improve the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 7 An independent visitor attends the home each month and provides a critical overview of the home. She is employed in wider role by the organisation and, on occasions, carries out other tasks on behalf of the home, which conflict with her independence.

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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 differences 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: SC068046 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: New Forest Care Ltd, West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton SO45 6AA

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Inspector

Amanda Maxwell, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC068046 9 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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