Children's home run by The Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children Limited in South Oxfordshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 1 SC060327 Registered provider: The Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children Limited Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The service provides short breaks for up to five young people who have learning difficulties and/or sensory impairment and/or physical disabilities. It is provided by a registered charity.

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: None

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At the interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Several new children have begun to access the service since the previous inspection. Managers use a scoring system to assess the children’s needs and risk factors, and consider their age and interests when deciding which children should stay together. Such careful consideration of compatibility has provided children with opportunities to develop their social skills and friendships. However, the managers are not currently evidencing their rationale for their assessment of the compatibility between the children who stay together, or detailing how any negative impact of the children staying together can be mitigated. Detailed and individualised support plans ensure that the children’s needs are understood and that the staff know how to best care for them. The organisation has invested in a new, innovative recording system that allows the staff to record the care provided to the children or any incidents in real time. This ensures that the children’s

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 2 records capture the children’s time at the service and provides insight for all those that work with them. Other benefits of the new system include improving communication throughout the staff team to ensure that the children receive consistent care. The risks of the children going missing are limited due to the high supervision levels. Consequently, there have been no missing from home incidents since the previous inspection. Managers have ensured that individualised protocols have been implemented for those children who are at high risk of going missing. They provide sufficient guidance on what to do when searching for the child in the event of a missing from home incident. However, guidance on how long the staff should search for children before alerting the police is ambiguous and could lead to inconsistent responses from the staff or the police not being informed in a timely manner.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Staff and managers alike take their role to safeguard the children extremely seriously. All safeguarding concerns are reported appropriately. Any issues of poor practice are investigated and dealt with quickly, with the children’s safety being at the centre of the manager’s practice. Managers carefully consider all standards of care concerns and complaints to ensure that any trends and patterns in quality of care can be identified, addressed and learned from. The managers continue to take all complaints seriously and respond to them quickly and sensitively. In general, the children’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans ensure that the staff are aware of the actions that they must take to protect the children when they are staying at the service. However, one child’s risk assessment and behaviour management plan did not explicitly advise the staff to seek medical advice in the event of the child swallowing an inappropriate object. This may lead to an inconsistent

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

response from staff and the necessary medical intervention not being obtained. Incidents of children becoming distressed or displaying challenging behaviour are managed well. Staff focus on distraction and de-escalation to support the child to become calm. However, a minority of incident reports lead the reader to believe that the staff may have used a physical intervention or restricted the child’s ability to move freely in the home and when out in the community. These incidents have not been recorded as a restraint or restriction in line with regulations. This hinders the manager’s monitoring of the staff’s practice. The environment has been refurbished with new carpets and freshly painted walls. The environment is bright and welcoming, ensuring that the children feel valued and comfortable during their stay. The statement of purpose has been amended and now contains all the information required by the regulations, including information on the methods of surveillance used

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

within the service and the management and staff structure. As a result, the children, their parents, the staff and other professionals are clear about what the service intends to provide. The managers continue to have a good oversight of all aspects of the service. They demonstrate a good knowledge of the service’s strengths and weaknesses. The managers have a development plan in place outlining areas for improvement. They have Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 3 taken time to consult with the children, their parents and the staff to inform them of the service’s priorities for the coming year. As a result, the children have a say in the management of the service and how their experiences can be improved. A workforce development plan has been created. This provides clear expectations for the staff regarding their induction, probation, supervision and training. However, it does not outline the expectations or the process for managing and improving poor performance.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The training matrix is now up to date and reflects the training that the staff have undertaken and provides the manager with oversight of the gaps in the staff knowledge. The majority of the staff have completed all the necessary mandatory training, with the exception of two members of staff. The manager is aware of this and is taking appropriate action. Training has been provided to meet children’s specific needs in areas such as epilepsy, catheterisation and peg feeding. All staff who should have completed a level 3 qualification in residential childcare, as well as those who have not, are due to complete it within the required timescales. Improvements to recruitment processes now ensure that the required checks are carried out in line with regulation. As a result, only those people deemed suitable are employed to work with the children. The service has now implemented a contract of agreement between themselves and the recruitment agencies that they employ to ensure that only

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

agency staff who have undergone the required recruitment checks in line with regulation work within the service. The service continues to experience a shortage of permanent workers. The manager described that one shift included a majority of temporary staff. The manager continues to review recruitment processes to ensure that the vacancies will be recruited to.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/05/2017 Full Good 03/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 26/07/2016 Full Requires improvement 24/11/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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What does the children’s home need to do to improve?

Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 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

13: The leadership and management standard 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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child and that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (Regulation 13(2)(c) and (2)(d)) In particular, to ensure that staff vacancies are addressed. 21/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— (a) within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— (iii) the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv) a description of the measure and its duration; (vi) the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and (b) within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)— (i) has spoken to the user about the measure; and (ii) has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and (c) within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35(3)(a)(iii)(iv)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 02/05/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 5

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. In particular, evidence the rationale of placing children together. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) In particular, record the manager’s decision-making, demonstrating their rationale for why they assess children as compatible and any actions they have taken to mitigate the impact of particular children staying together.  The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the

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Recommendations

home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28) In particular, ensure that the protocol advises staff of when to call the police.  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should cover all points referred to in paragraph 10.8. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) In particular, detail the process for managing and improving poor performance.  Staff should continually and actively assess the risks 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) In particular, ensure that a specific child’s risk assessment and behaviour management plan advises staff to seek medical advice if the child swallows an

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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

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection. Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 6 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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Chiltern Centre, Greys Road, Henley-on Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 1QR

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Inspector

Melissa McMillan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC060327 7 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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