Children's Home run by Sheffield City Council in Sheffield

Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 1 SC066747 Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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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 home is a local authority run children’s home. The home can accommodate up to five children or young people of either gender who are between the ages of 12–18 and who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 1 November 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 09/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 05/04/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 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, the 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

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 28/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(a) and (2)(a)) 28/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1) and (2)(c)) 28/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to: respond to the health needs of children; administer basic first aid and minor illness treatment; help children to manage long-term conditions and where necessary meet specific individual health needs arising from a disability, chronic condition or other complex needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.12) In particular, the staff should receive drugs awareness and self-harm training to ensure that they have knowledge on matters that affect the young people in their care.  For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however, in doing so, homes should seek

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Recommendations

as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) In particular, ensure that all of the environment is decorated and furnished to a good standard.  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all their staff have been adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children the home is set up to care for as defined in the home’s Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.57)  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. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see

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Recommendations

the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11)

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improvement to be good

The young people benefit from the established, trusting relationships with the staff who care for them. This supports the young people to listen to guidance provided by the staff. As a result, the young people have started to make progress. This includes educational attendance, demonstrating more socially acceptable behaviour and keeping themselves safer. This progress is yet to be sustained over a long period of time. Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 5 The staff are committed to supporting the young people to make good progress. This is essential, as most young people currently have not attended all routine health checks, including visiting the dentist and having required immunisations. The looked after children’s nurse confirms that the staff have been persistent in trying to get the young people to attend essential health appointments. However, this has been unsuccessful.

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improvement to be good

The local authority is looking for new placements for those young people who have been identified as needing alternative care to meet their specific needs. The local authority did not follow the placement plan recommendations in the first instance. As a result, after some considerable time, suitable placements are still required for some young people.

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improvement to be good

The young people are consulted on several matters that affect their daily routine. These include social activities, review meetings, choice of menu and the decoration in the home. It was great to see the young people voting for the wallpaper they wanted for the hallway. Nevertheless, the young people are not routinely taking part in residents’ meetings. Alternative consultation possibilities that would enable the young people to be more involved in decisions about their care and their future have not been explored.

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improvement to be good

The decoration in the home is not to a consistently good standard. There are plans to make improvements to the hallway, small lounge areas and the kitchen. However, the environment has continued to fall short of being well maintained.

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

Positive changes have taken place to keep young people safer. These have resulted over time, leading to the young people’s risk-taking behaviours reducing. These include missing-from-home incidents and the calling for police assistance to manage disruptive, challenging and criminal behaviour.

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

The staff are fully aware of safeguarding procedures, including actively following the missing-from-home protocols.

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

The increased staffing levels at crucial times have improved the ability of the staff to provide essential support and care to the young people. This has helped the young people to more positively engage in suitable daily routines and activities, and to settle better at night.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The service has a newly appointed manager who is suitably qualified, with a wealth of experience. She has started the process to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staffing arrangements have improved since the last inspection. There is a strong core team of staff that has worked with the young people for a long period of time. The use of agency staff has reduced, with the appointment of two new permanent staff. When agency workers are used, they work with the young people frequently. This has enhanced Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 6 the staff’s ability to care and work more consistently with the young people, providing the young people with a more stable environment to live in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The young people benefit from being cared for by a well-trained staff team. The majority of the staff hold a level 3 diploma in caring for children and young people. In addition, most staff have undertaken essential training in such areas as safeguarding, first aid, medication and child development. However, not all the staff have undertaken training in drugs awareness and self-harm, and three staff require behaviour management and restraint training. This falls short of ensuring that all the staff are equipped with the skills and knowledge required to support the young people in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff gave a strong and consistent account about the good support that they receive from the management team and from each other. Great teamwork is evident, and good communication systems exist. This teamwork is supported by daily detailed shift handovers, regular staff meetings and monthly supervisions. This level of cooperation enhances the day-to-day care delivered to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Many of the requirements and recommendations made at the last interim inspection have been actioned. These include:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

 implementing practices and strategies that keep young people safer, leading to improvements in the quality of care  staff demonstrating positive role modelling that assists the young people to present more socially acceptable behaviour  notification to Ofsted of relevant matters, when required  the staff receiving annual appraisals  written information being recorded in a helpful way within the young people’s case files.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Two recommendations are still to be fully implemented. These include making improvements to the condition of the environment and extending the avenues of consultation with the young people to listen to their views and opinions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The existing monitoring systems support the manager to identify shortfalls and deficits in the care provided to the young people. These discrepancies are promptly addressed, which improves the quality of care. The home’s statement of purpose has been reviewed. However, this has not been sent to Ofsted in line with the regulations.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 7 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: SC066747 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sheffield City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

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Inspector

Debbie Foster: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC066747 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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