Children's Home run by CareTech Community Services Limited in Dudley

Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 1 SC483662 Registered provider: CareTech Community Services Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This short-break service provides care and accommodation for up to six young people who have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. The service is privately owned and forms part of a large social care organisation.

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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 outstanding

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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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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children enjoy their short breaks and make friends easily.  Children are safe and protected from harm.  Partnership working is exceptional.  Leaders and managers are outstanding role models. They are aspirational for children and provide excellent leadership to staff.  Most records are clear and easily accessible.  Staff provide excellent support to children and their families.  Managers respond well to complaints. They reflect on practice and make improvements, when necessary.

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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 do not report or take quick enough action to report defects about electrical appliances that store food.  Restraint records require improvement.  Staff do not prepare well enough to assess identified risks when planning activities.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 18/10/2016 Full Good 23/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 21/07/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must ensure that within 24 hours 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 any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(viii)) 02/03/2018

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Recommendations

 Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  Ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risk to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph, 9.5)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy their short breaks and make friends easily. Children bond well with staff. Staff take the time to really get to know children and are sensitive to each child’s needs. They meet children’s often complex needs well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships are good between staff, the children and their families. A parent said, ‘The staff are [like] part of our family. You can see how comfortable [the child] is with staff. They bring out the best of her.’ Another parent said, ‘[The child] gets on with the staff here, she is very chatty. She does recognise other young people.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The short-break service that children receive also benefits the whole family. A parent said, ‘This is a massive help to us as we have other children and this helps us to spend time with them. The home is flexible with the dates and we don’t tend to lose days if she Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 4 is not well or we need to change. They help us out wherever possible.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff consult with children about the service and what they like and dislike about it. Staff use innovative ways to ensure that all children take part in consultation activities, regardless of their impairments. This ensures that every child has the opportunity to contribute to the day-to-day running of the home and each child’s views are considered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children are always well presented. Staff promote children’s positive self-image and help them to show off their individual personality and style. This helps children to showcase their identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences in and out of the home. Staff provide a diverse range of exciting activities for everyone. Children engage positively in their local community and have many opportunities to learn new skills while having fun. A parent talked about her child’s experiences and said, ‘[The child] loves the creative activities. She has done karaoke, been to the cinema, the farm, bowling and has good access to the community.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well presented and child-friendly. Staff are approachable and available, they always make visitors, as well as children, feel welcome. A parent said, ‘I have no concerns. The home deals with everything efficiently. It has superhero bedsheets that make the home feel more welcoming [for my child].’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff meet children’s complex health needs well. The manager provides staff with the appropriate training so that they have the skills and knowledge to do this confidently. Staff provide additional support to families and go the extra mile. For example, staff have supported parents by taking children to routine health appointments. This has helped parents when their child has refused or has become challenging. As a result, staff support children to access the healthcare that they need.

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

Children do not go missing from the home. Procedures are in place and staff know what to do should a child go missing from the home. Staff have also established links with the local community police officers so that they know about the home and the high vulnerability of the children staff care for.

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

Some children can make complaints independently. Others rely on staff, parents or carers to advocate for them. Complaints are handled well. The manager responds appropriately to the person making the complaint and undertakes a thorough investigation. The manager reflects on practice that falls short of good and implements improvements. This maintains good standards and helps to keep children safe.

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

Children are safe and protected because staff know and understand what action to take when a child is at risk. Staff use the whistle-blowing procedure to alert the manager to any concerns about staff practice . Managers are clear about the referral process to report concerns and they follow this to protect children. Investigations are conducted quickly and support is provided to staff to improve practice, when necessary. Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 5 Staff manage behaviour well and recognise when children need increased levels of support. A social worker talked about the management of behaviour and said, ‘[The child] has been accessing the service for a couple of years now. The staff do have his needs at the forefront of everything they do. They have raised the need for two-to-one staffing due to the increase in his [challenging] behaviour.’ This enables the young person to enjoy his short stay safely.

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

Staff use praise and rewards to promote good behaviour. When children present challenging behaviour, staff use redirection to de-escalate situations. A parent commented about how well staff manage her child’s behaviour and said, ‘[The child] used to rip up paper. Staff have redirected her. She also does try to bite herself sometimes. Staff know how to manage this and help her to settle down.’

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

Only trained staff use physical intervention to keep children safe. Such incidents happen rarely, with only three occurring since the last full inspection in October 2016. Following an incident of physical intervention, staff record any marks or injuries a child has. However, it is not clear whether these were sustained during the physical intervention or at a different time. This makes it difficult to establish whether the child was injured as a result of the physical intervention.

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

Staff do not routinely complete a risk assessment before children attend community activities. As a result, factors that may affect the outing are not considered. For example, clothing, weather conditions and any medication required during the outing are not planned for in advance. Consequently, some activities are not well planned and this has the potential to cause difficulties for children and staff.

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

The manager ensures that the home is free from most hazards. However, the fridge temperatures have not been maintained to a suitable level. No action has been taken to rectify this and ensure that the fridge is able to store food at the correct temperature.

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

The manager has safely recruited three new staff since the last inspection. The required suitability checks are completed to ensure that all candidates are safe to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The home is excellently managed by an efficient and dedicated management team. The manager was registered in July 2017. Prior to being the manager, she was the deputy at the home and so has been able to provide continuity for children and for staff. Most of the staff hold a suitable qualification in caring for children or are expected to complete the level 3 diploma in caring for children within the required timescale.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager and her team are highly thought-of. A parent told the independent visitor, ‘The manager and the team are brilliant. They call and update me. Communication is really good.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 6 The manager creates a culture of high aspiration and positivity. She has high expectations of staff to improve children’s lives and experiences. Staff feel well supported by the manager and can see new initiatives being implemented, such as staff employee of the month and a new rota system. This provides a better work-life balance for staff and encourages high performance, while at the same time continuing to meet the needs of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager strives to improve practice and regularly reflects on the home’s performance. The manager knows and understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home because the manager seeks out and acts on feedback from staff, social workers, children and parents. Partnership working is exceptional. The manager goes the extra mile in working alongside parents. Her manner is open and transparent when working with them. For example, the manager welcomes advice that may improve ways of working. This gives confidence to the parent in making them feel part of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager consults the team and takes its views into account when developing the service. A staff member said, Since [name of manager] has been the manager there have been dramatic positive changes. She listens to the staff and she welcomes suggestions. For example, I suggested that the epilepsy care plans should be more detailed. The manager agreed and this issue was discussed at the team meeting, in detail, and the staff team collectively agreed what should be in the new plans. As a result, staff feel valued and make positive contributions that improve the quality of care for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Leaders and managers are outstanding role models. They lead by example. The ethos of the statement of purpose is embedded in the staff’s delivery of care. This strong value- base is cascaded from higher leaders down and across all staff levels. Everyone is valued and treated equally. As a result, staff remain dedicated, passionate and committed to providing good standards of quality care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All staff are supervised regularly, receive a thorough induction and are suitably trained to support children with complex needs. One member of staff is yet to receive an annual appraisal. The manager arranged for this to be undertaken during the inspection. A staff member said, ‘I have regular supervision, which is monthly. There are good training opportunities and staff are given time for training.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has met the two requirements and one recommendation made at the last inspection. The sensitivity on the door-guards has now been adapted. This means that if young people are loud the doors will not automatically shut but will still shut on the sound of the fire alarm. There is a risk assessment in place that highlights the issues with the activation of the doors when the noise levels go up. The occupational health nurse assessed the use of the sleep system that enables children to be positioned correctly in their bed. It was agreed that it was not necessary, therefore it is no longer used. However, the manager has reviewed a sleep system for another child and improved the guidance. This now ensures that staff are fully aware of how to use the system correctly. Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 7 The manager has improved children’s care plans. She has put action plans in place that

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

help the key worker to monitor the quality of information contained in the files more effectively. Staff commented that this change has been very beneficial to them, helping them to provide personalised care to children. The manager completes a review of the quality of care and sends bi-annual reports to Ofsted in a timely manner. The manager is also kept informed monthly by the independent visitor’s report. This assists the home to maintain good standards of care.

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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: SC483662 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: CareTech Community Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: CareTech Community Services Limited, 5th Floor Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Michelle Spruce, social care inspector Anne-Marie Parker, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC483662 9 achieve excellence in the care of children, 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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