Children's Home run by Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 1 SC425786 Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for seven young people and adults, who live in the home, and for a further two children who stay under short-break arrangements. Facilities are in place to meet the needs of children and young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities. The children’s home is operated by a local charitable foundation. The children’s home is also registered with the Care Quality Commission.

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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: 9 November 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people thrive as a result of the nurturing environment of the home.  Staff have high ambitions for the young people, and for the young people to make considerable progress.  The staff’s use of a wide range of communication tools enables the young people’s wishes and feelings to be understood and acted upon. As a result, young people’s views contribute to their daily care.  Staff understand the young people’s needs very well and provide highly personalised and individualised care of a good quality.  Young people enjoy a wealth of stimulating activities that enhance their overall experiences.  Parents, carers and professionals are highly complimentary about the staff’s care of the young people.  Staff successfully encourage young people to maintain regular family contact.  Young people are at the centre of everything in the home. Their health and well-being is at the core of all thinking and decision-making.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Good inter-agency and partnership working ensure that young people have access to all of the services that they require to maximise their progress and outcomes.  Leaders and managers are highly visible in the home and support an enthusiastic and committed staff team.  The registered manager has high expectations of the staff team. Bespoke staff training and regular feedback questionnaires further enhance the 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

 Young people do not always benefit from living in a home environment that is homely. The annexed respite bedrooms are not well maintained.  Young people do not always benefit from regular key-work sessions.  The home’s annual fire risk assessment does not take into account the new young person’s bedroom on the ground floor.  Not all young people’s progress targets are regularly recorded and reviewed.  Any system of restraint or deprivation of liberty by way of physical adaptations Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 3 in the home environment, for the purpose of safeguarding, must receive placing authority written consent.  Wheelchair users cannot access the upstairs living areas and the sensory room has been dismantled. This has reduced the young people’s living space.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/11/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good 31/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 4

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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 registered person may only use devices for the monitoring and surveillance of children if – the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring and surveillance (Regulation 24(1)(b)).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when a young person has bespoke safeguarding arrangements in place, signed consents from the placing authority must be in the young person’s case file. 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must – take adequate precautions against the risk of fire (Regulation 25(1)(a)).

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the home’s annual fire risk assessment takes account of the new ground-floor bedroom. 30/06/2018

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Recommendations

 Children’s homes should be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). This is in particular reference to the kitchen flooring and the maintenance and decoration of the home’s respite annexe.  The children’s home’s staff should seek to identify and provide appropriate opportunities for children to develop themselves as part of the home’s plan for their care (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.4). In particular, ensure that goals and targets are set for all young people and these are regularly reviewed and revised when appropriate.  Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided (‘Guide

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Recommendations

to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 5 paragraph 4.11). In particular, ensure all young people benefit from regular key-work sessions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress in the home. Staff encourage young people and provide effective support for them, which helps them to develop their skills. For example, holding a toothbrush, using public transport, improving communication and better walking skills are small steps, but significant milestones for these young people. An independent reviewing officer wrote, ‘[X’s] significant progress has been maintained and [X’s] ability to express herself continues to increase.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people in the home are non-verbal. Staff are highly attuned to young people’s individual communication styles. Staff receive relevant training in alternative communication systems and use this knowledge very effectively. Young people are encouraged to communicate their meal choices, activity preferences and feelings. Staff act on these wishes and feelings, ensuring that young people’s care is dynamic and adaptable. The staff’s use of communication materials helps to ensure that young people understand their daily plans. Young people are helped to understand what they do ‘now’ and what will happen ‘next’. This helps young people settle into their routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are prepared for their futures. Young people engage in informal independence training. With staff support, they learn to make their beds, do their laundry, gain self-care skills and prepare their meals. Young people are successfully encouraged to access the community, for example going shopping and visiting the hairdressers. This enhances young people’s life skills and they gain confidence in their own abilities. An independent reviewing officer praised staff’s dedication, saying, ‘Staff have shown a good level of insight into [X’s] needs and it has been positive to see how staff are constantly thinking about how to develop and promote [X’s] independence.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the young people’s individual needs very well. Young people participate in their monthly key-work sessions and their wishes and feelings contribute to their overall care. Not all key-work sessions are held monthly; this reduces the number of opportunities that young people have to express their views. Monthly reports, combined with comprehensive daily staff handovers and a detailed communication book, ensure that staff provide care that is tailored to each young person’s needs. Staff encourage young people and their families to meet at the home. This enables young people to maintain important relationships in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from a wide range of activities and experiences to suit their individual preferences and needs. Young people contribute to choosing activities through monthly residents’ meetings, and have chosen to go bowling, and visit the theatre and working farms. A parent said, ‘[X] gets to do activities and days out that I can’t do with her on my own.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 6 The large, detached home is set in a rural location. The open-plan downstairs living area provides young people with a communal environment where they can relax, watch television and take their meals. Bedrooms are personalised, which adds to young people’s sense of ownership. Young people benefit from a large garden with high-quality apparatus. Adapted swings, a trampoline, a ‘fairy woodland’ and an indoor hot tub enhance young people’s overall experiences. The home’s pleasant environment is suitably adapted to the young people’s needs. Hoists, modified bathrooms and beds, and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

a range of specialist adaptations make the young people’s routines easier. Currently, wheelchair users cannot access the first-floor living area or the sensory room. Leaders and managers are taking steps to rectify this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All young people receive education that meets their needs. Staff work in partnership with the young people’s schools. Shared strategies for care provide young people with consistent structures that support their development and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

After a visit to the home, a social worker said, ‘It’s a lovely service with great resources and now that I have seen it, I can recommend it to other parents in the future.’

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

Staff’s knowledge of young people is very good. Comprehensive care plans and risk assessments, combined with the staff’s vigilance, awareness and one-to-one supervision of young people, ensure that they are kept safe in, and out, of the home. Young people do not go missing from the home. Staff are risk aware, but not risk averse. Detailed, community activity risk assessments enable young people to safely take full advantage of a wealth of community experiences.

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

Staff understand very well how to respond to young people’s needs and behaviours. The knowledgeable staff are able to identify at an early stage whether young people’s behaviour may be escalating. The home operates a non-restraint policy. Staff successfully utilise young people’s individual positive behaviour support strategies to help reduce challenging behaviours. Staff use redirection techniques effectively, for example a young person’s favourite foot-spa session to settle and calm behaviour, or another young person’s preferred ‘sock puppet’ game to de-escalate challenging behaviour.

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

Robust staff recruitment processes are in place. This helps to protect young people from exposure to unsafe people working in the home. All staff receive training in child protection and safeguarding vulnerable young people. The staff receive mandatory training as well as bespoke training that includes specialisms such as moving and handling, autism and feeding techniques. This promotes the young people’s welfare and safety.

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

Managers ensure that the home is maintained to a good standard. The home has actioned previous recommendations to upgrade bathrooms and flooring. However, the kitchen floor remains worn and the annexed respite bedrooms are not of the same well- maintained standard seen in the main home. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 7 The home’s premises are appropriately secure, offering a safe environment for young people. However, there is no formal written consent on one young person’s file in relation to a particular specialist bed adaptation that has been provided to safeguard the young person. Every young person has a personal emergency evacuation plan so that staff know how to help them in the event of a fire. Young people participate in regular fire evacuation drills. This ensures that young people are familiar with the procedures should an emergency occur. All safety equipment is in place in the home and regular

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

compliance checks are carried out. However, the recently added downstairs bedroom has not been included in the home’s annual fire risk assessment. The registered manager is aware of this, and is actively addressing this shortfall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders, managers and staff place the needs of young people at the heart of practice. During the inspection, the registered manager said, ‘We are completely and utterly child centred.’ Examples were evident during the inspection. If young people are admitted to hospital, the dedicated staff will prioritise young people’s welfare and stay overnight with them. As a result, young people are more settled because they are reassured by the staff’s presence. When a young person was struggling with mealtimes at school, staff attended school to support the young person and school staff with feeding routines. A member of school staff complimented the home’s staff, saying, ‘Thank you, you have gone above and beyond to help [X].’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager plays an active role in the home and is highly visible. She prioritises the home’s continuing development and drives the service forward. Thorough monitoring processes ensure that the registered manager has good oversight of the home and the care it provides for young people. She displays a comprehensive appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. The registered manager welcomes regular questionnaire feedback from parents, carers and professionals. A professional wrote, ‘The home continues to be a very friendly and loving environment, young people thrive with the warm, caring, and approachable staff.’ Regular quality of care reviews and the independent visitor’s monthly reports add to the registered manager’s quality audit.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers invest in the staff team. The registered manager actively encourages staff to gain further qualifications such as the level 5 diploma in leadership and management. Bespoke training is given prominence, and focuses on the needs of the young people who are in the home. A professional described staff as having ‘high levels of skills and professionalism’. Additional specialist training enables staff to provide enhanced tailored care that meets the complex needs of young people. For example, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and dieticians regularly visit the home to provide staff with hands-on training and advice. This helps to meet the young people’s health needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Young people benefit from the resourceful registered manager’s engagement with Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 8 charitable organisations. Two local organisations have named the home as their ‘charity of the year’. All charitable donations received contribute to young people’s specialist equipment and activities that enhance their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A parent said, ‘The whole team are amazing.’ Another parent summed up staff’s care of young people, ‘ We are truly privileged and humbled to have you all as part of [X’s] life, you support not just [X] but us as a family.’

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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: SC425786 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Strode Park House, Lower Herne Road, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7NE

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Inspector

Victoria Jones: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 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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