Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Hesley Group Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 1 SC008015 Registered provider: Hesley Services Limited

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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 is a residential special school owned by a private company. It is registered as a children’s home and offers care and accommodation for up to 32 children and young people who have learning disabilities.

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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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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Newly admitted children and young people settle quickly due to careful planning and introduction to the home.  Children and young people benefit from well-structured daily routines and make progress in different areas of their development.  Children and young people have many opportunities to express their wishes and feelings and get involved with the running of the home.  Staff keep children and young people safe and protected.  Leaders and managers have a good understanding of areas for development to make continued improvements for children and young people.

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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

 Many staff have left during this inspection period, leading to inconsistency of care for children and young people.  Pathway plans are not received from all placing authorities, and young people do not have enough time to prepare for their move from the home.  There has been a rise in medication administration errors, and new medication management procedures are still to be embedded in practice.  The full extent of young people’s independence living skills is unknown so are not fed into the placing authority’s assessment for adult provision.  Improvements are required in staff supervisions to give time to speak about practice to help make sessions more reflective.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/11/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(e)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that arrangements are in place to plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14(2)(b)(iii)) Specifically, ensure the receipt of pathway plans so timely planning can take place to allow enough time to prepare young people for their move from the home. 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular, the registered person must ensure that medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(b)(c)) 31/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 31/03/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 4

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Recommendations

 As the home will have a day-to-day understanding of young people’s capabilities and needs, children’s homes staff will have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 18, paragraph 3.28). Specifically, look at developing an independence plan to demonstrate young people’s ability to care for themselves to feed into the placing authority’s assessment for adult provision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people make good progress in respect of their education, behaviour and social skills. They benefit from the well-structured daily routines. Newly refurbished accommodation is comfortable and homely, incorporating children’s and young people’s interests into the decor. This prevents their environment from looking institutionalised. One young person said: ‘I like my bedroom. I have everything I need in there.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Several new children and young people have begun living at the home since the last inspection. The management team, with clinical input, reviews the viability of a placement with the aim of keeping all children and young people safe. Their move into the home is carefully planned and children and young people settle quickly with little disruption to existing residents.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people benefit from direct access to specialist clinical help. This extends to the staff team that has regular consultation with the multi-disciplinary team. Regular meetings are reflected in children’s and young people’s care plans and provide a holistic approach to ensure continued progress in all areas of their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children and young people have excellent attendance at the on-site school and make good educational progress towards achieving their goals and targets. There is effective collaborative working between the residential and school staff and the multi- disciplinary team. For one child, the staff team’s planned approach led to improved confidence, resulting in an increase in his school attendance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people enjoy a variety of social and recreational activities. Individual programmes outline the weekly diary of events so children and young people have a clear plan to follow. They benefit from the large grounds and have access to on-site amenities and activities in the community. This promotes good physical health and social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage healthy eating, and children and young people enjoy balanced, home- cooked meals and careful weight management. Consideration is given to their special Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 5 dietary needs, such as those relating to culture and religion. For example, there are carefully prepared halal meals for those children and young people practising their Muslim faith.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have a voice to make decisions and choices. Some attend the home’s young person’s council, are involved in their planning and attend their multi- disciplinary review meetings. Bedrooms are personalised, taking into consideration the child’s or young person’s needs. For example, some are unable to tolerate too much decoration, whereas other bedrooms reflect the child’s or young person’s interests. Children and young people know how to complain, and managers promptly investigate and take action to resolve their concerns. One parent said: ‘I feel listened to and [name of young person] is also listened to.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to develop independent living skills, such as cooking and cleaning. However, although this work is completed, the paperwork does not provide a full picture of young people’s ability to care for themselves. Young people would benefit from having this information fed into the placing authority’s assessment for adult provision. Lack of pathway planning has also lead to some young people not having enough time to prepare for their transition to their adult home. This is particularly important for those young people who need time to adjust.

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

Staff know how to keep children and young people safe, and individualised risk assessment and management plans are working documents with strategies for staff to follow. These are regularly updated when new behaviours or risks arise, keeping staff fully up to date. Children and young people have high levels of supervision so do not go missing.

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

Children and young people are vulnerable, and staff receive ongoing safeguarding training, which covers whistleblowing procedures. Consequently, staff notify managers of improper staff practice. Leaders take prompt and thorough action, including suspending staff until the full investigation is completed. Effective links with the designated officer for the local authority provide managers with safeguarding advice and guidance. This keeps children and young people safe and enables timely outcomes and quick resolutions to concerns.

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

The high turnover of staff has resulted in some children and young people being unsettled, particularly those that struggle with change. This has adversely affected some children’s and young people’s behaviour. However, staff have good de-escalation skills, resulting in a reduced need for physical intervention. Physical restraint is only used to keep children and young people safe, particularly those that have self-injurious behaviour. Staff’s recording of incidents is detailed and provides managers with a clear oversight of the actions taken. Staff use different strategies, and these have been effective in reducing the number of outbursts.

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

Children and young people live in a safe environment, and individual homes are Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 6 effectively adapted when physical risks are identified. Children and young people receive a newly produced ‘My keeping safe guide’, giving age-appropriate advice about how they can get help and support. This educates children and young people about how to keep themselves safe and who to contact.

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

Despite improved medication administration procedures and staff training, there has been an increase in medication errors since the last inspection, leading to safeguarding concerns. As a result, managers have made further improvements in medication management. However, these are not embedded in staff practice to stop further errors from recurring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has extensive experience in residential care and has worked at the home for many years, progressing through her roles. She has been registered since 2014 and provides effective leadership and oversight. She has the relevant skills, experience and qualifications to undertake the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The strong leadership team that has a clear and shared understanding of the home’s ethos and objectives provides support. Leaders and managers demonstrate a sound understanding of the areas for development to make continued improvements for children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The high turnover of staff has resulted in inconsistency of care for children and young people. To address this shortfall, an improvement has been made in respect of the recruitment and retention of staff. Organised events attract more people and provide potential candidates with information about the home. The employment of a rota manager and implementation of a value-based recruitment process offer more rigorous and safe selection of staff. However, the home is yet to see the impact of these new arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

New staff receive a full induction and ongoing training as well as on-site advice and support from the multi-disciplinary team and in-house epilepsy specialist. Managers provide staff with supervision every two months, which usually lasts for less than an hour. It is mainly task focused, is not reflective and does not explore wider issues, such as culture and sexuality. Although staff did not complain about the quality of their supervision, it has resulted in staff having limited time to speak about practice issues to help with their personal development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular audits by care managers, the responsible individual, independent visitor and external commissioning teams offer internal and external scrutiny of the care provided. The manager takes prompt action to meet the recommendations and action plans from these audits to improve the service. Consultation with stakeholders inform the quality of care review and staff provide important feedback. Parents and professionals are complimentary about the service, particularly in respect of communication and information provided by staff. One parent said: ‘[Name of young person] has no speech so the staff communicate daily with me to tell me what he has been doing.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 7

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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: SC008015 8

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hesley Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hesley Hall Coach House, Hesley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN11 9HH

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Inspectors

Tina Ruffles, social care inspector Rachel Holden, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC008015 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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