Children's home run by North Tyneside Council in North Tyneside

Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 1 SC408072 Registered provider: North Tyneside Council

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The children‟s home provides care and accommodation for four children and young people who have learning disabilities. A local authority operates the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted on 16 February 2018.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/06/2017 Full Good 24/01/2017 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 2 13/06/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/03/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 3

p.1

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b) and (2)(c)(i)(ii)) 05/07/2018

p.3

Recommendations

 The Statement of Purpose is of particular importance to this Standard (regulation 6(2)(a) and (b)(i)). Homes are required to develop and keep under review a “Statement of Purpose” (regulation 16 and schedule 1). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 14, paragraph 3.5) In particular, include arrangements in place for the monitoring and surveillance of children.  The children‟s guide must be accessible at all times. In particular, it must be explained to all children, regardless of level of understanding, and in an accessible format. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  Children who cannot or choose not to verbalise, have the right to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and respected in the same way as other children. In particular, creative ideas require further exploration to ensure the

p.3

Recommendations

voice of the child is heard in their daily lives and as such enhances their overall experiences of living at the home. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 4 including the quality standards‟, page 24, paragraph 4.25)  The registered person should make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 55, paragraph 10.24) In particular, ensuring that external visits are carried out on a monthly basis and internal auditing is visible on all records pertaining to a child‟s care.  A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulation 33(4)(b). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the

p.3

Recommendations

quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.3) In particular, safeguarding should be added as a stand-alone item to ensure that it is discussed on each occasion.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff team manages transitions in and out of the home well, demonstrating a commitment to ensuring that plans are followed and are in the best interests of children. In particular, children receive continued support in transition into adulthood safely including when moving on placements are not always ready on time. The complex needs of children who reside at the home are met through the provision of familiar staff, especially during transition stages.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children develop warm relationships with staff who provide consistent and clear boundaries. Children who have autistic spectrum disorders and other learning difficulties respond well to good routines that are implemented by staff.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend school and enjoy a range of indoor and outdoor activities. Daily home-to-school diaries enable information to be passed back and forth, which helps in maintaining consistency for children.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This close working relationship with schools is replicated with health professionals, ensuring that children‟s health needs are met. The staff use sensitivity and persistence in their approach, ensuring that all children access dental appointments. Information is shared on specific health issues with paediatricians and psychiatrists, enabling medication to be monitored and reviewed. This supports behaviour management and sleeping patterns.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are listened to and their views are taken on board when interpreted. However, staff are not creatively ensuring that children are routinely involved in all aspects of their care. Additionally, the home has an excellent „children‟s guide‟ in an appropriate communication format, but it is not being shared as a communication and Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 5 information tool with children and is not easily accessible.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Monthly targets are recorded for children, ensuring that small steps are taken, mainly in the completion of personal care tasks. These are well recorded and identify clear progress for children. A social worker said, „Both of my children are doing excellently and at a recent review the independent reviewing officer was really pleased. It was recognised that [Name], was doing fantastic.‟

p.5

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

Risk assessments and positive behaviour-support plans are effective. Collaborative working with multi-agency partners, parents and caregivers results in children being safeguarded from harm.

p.5

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

The staff team‟s knowledge of the profound needs of children who have autistic spectrum disorders enables well-written care plans to be in place. They are uncomplicated and promote consistency of practice, ensuring that staff support children to maintain their safety inside and outside the home.

p.5

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

The staff team provides close supervision for individual children respectively, in accordance with their plans and levels of ability. The intimate care needs of children are met sensitively and their rights to privacy are respected. The staff support children who are non-verbal with their preferred choice of communication but always promote the use of their voice to encourage speech. Individual sounds and tones expressed by children with communication difficulties are known by a skilled staff team. This supports swift action that promotes safe care.

p.5

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

Physical intervention is rarely required; however, staff are trained and skilled in responding when children are in danger of harming themselves unintentionally. Interventions are very well recorded, and all agencies and parents are made aware of them routinely. This supports overall care planning and changes if required to risk management. The children‟s well-being is at the centre of care practice.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has been in post since 16 February 2018. She took over from a temporary manager who had been in control effectively for several months and has recently been appointed as deputy manager. The registered manager gained experience of managing the home on a temporary basis approximately two years ago. Their combined knowledge and understanding of the service and its strengths and developmental areas have supported the improvements identified on inspection.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has introduced structure to the team and clarity to team leader roles. A social worker said, „Since the new manager has come into the service all social workers involved with the home have commented on communication improvements. I feel that as a result we are seeing better outcomes for the children.‟ Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 6 All of the staff have now had supervision and their annual appraisals. The staff team members‟ morale has improved and supports their undoubted commitment to the children. However, supervision would be improved if safeguarding was added as a stand- alone agenda point. This would reinforce understanding of practice and create a safeguarding culture in the home.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal and external monitoring systems are not consistently applied. Audits are not routinely carried out by the registered manager and team leaders and added to children‟s files. Independent monitoring visitors are not successfully accessing the views of professionals, parents and most importantly children. Additionally, monthly visits are not completed in calendar months, which impacts on management oversight and creates confusion when analysing and evaluating data.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Intercom systems in the home are no longer used and therefore the descriptive information in the home‟s statement of purpose should be removed. This provides a distorted view of the home‟s surveillance and monitoring of children.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is very clean and tidy but is in need of general repair and alterations. The registered manager and responsible individual are aware of this and plans to improve the living environment overall are currently under discussion.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and leadership team are committed to improving outcomes for children, and endeavour to provide a high level of care. The local authority has demonstrated its commitment in the recruitment of staff. The home is now fully staffed, with the vast majority of staff having the recognised qualification. Appropriate plans are in place to ensure that the remaining staff to complete the qualification within the expected timescales.

p.6

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.

p.6

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: SC408072 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: North Tyneside Council

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 16 The Silverlink North, Newcastle upon Tyne NE27 0BY

p.7

Inspector

Michael Dack: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC408072 8 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.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8