Children's home run by City of York Council

Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 1 SC034940 Registered provider: City of York 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

The home offers short breaks in a residential setting to children who have disabilities, and are aged five to 18 years. The short breaks are usually part of planned packages of care that are designed both to enable children to experience a wide range of social and leisure activities, and to support their families and carers in providing for their long-term care at home.

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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: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/07/2017 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 2 06/07/2016 Full Good 29/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 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 person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 45(1)(2)(a)(b)(5)) 30/04/2019

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Recommendations

 Regulation 23 requires the registered person to ensure that they make suitable arrangements to manage, administer and dispose of any medication. These are fundamentally the same sorts of arrangements as a good parent would make but are subject to additional safeguards. Where the home has questions or concerns about a child‟s medication, they should approach an expert such as a General Medical Practitioner, community pharmacist or designated nurse for looked-after children („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 35, paragraph 7.15). In particular, to complete the planned medication administration competency assessments for staff to ensure the safe administration and recording of medication.  Staff should be familiar with the home‟s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that

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Recommendations

distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 4 about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.4). In particular, to ensure that staff consistently complete daily recording forms to identify the progress made against children and young people‟s targets.  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 the results of their views being listened to and acted upon („Guide the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 22, paragraph 4.11). In

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Recommendations

particular, to ensure that staff demonstrate and record how children and young people‟s views are being sought.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people enjoy their short breaks. Those who are just beginning to use the service have carefully planned introductions. This enables them to adapt quickly to the environment. Parents are also reassured by their observations and discussions that staff have the necessary skills and experience to care for their children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The committed staff put the best interests of the children and young people at the heart of everything that they do. Activities in the home and out in the community help children and young people to enjoy new experiences and engage in activities they would not usually engage in, and help them to develop confidence. Children and young people have access to different types of sensory stimulation. They have the opportunity to spend time with their peers or playing in isolation, whichever they prefer. These fun times are captured in photographs which show their happiness and delight at new experiences such as going to the theatre.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide children and young people with high levels of individualised care and support. They have a good understanding of their complex medical and behavioural needs. This is due to the excellent information-sharing between the home, professional stakeholders and parents. These relationships ensure that consistency of care is offered to children and young people who need clear routines and don‟t manage change well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children and young people have established relationships, and have enjoyed having short breaks for many years. They benefit from strong, trusting relationships with staff who are effective in communicating with children and young people. Despite this, staff do not always record how they have sought and obtained children and young people‟s views about their care and running of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people move on from the home, there are effective transitional Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 5 arrangements which provide valuable support to those who need it. Parents speak of valuing the support provided by staff throughout the years and at the time of transition to their child‟s adult provision. One commented, „We feel [name of young person] is ready to take her next steps in her journey and the hard work put in has paid off and enabled her to be ready for this transition.‟

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

Children and young people are cared for by an experienced and long-standing staff team. Staff have the knowledge and skills to meet the complex needs associated with the physical disabilities and emotional and behavioural difficulties of the children and young people. Parents trust staff to care for their children and are reassured that they are kept safe during their short-break stays.

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

Staff have good insight into the children and young people‟s vulnerabilities. Children and young people have a high level of supervision. They do not go missing from the home and there is no one known to be at risk of child sexual exploitation. Staff plan the day- to-day care in detail, so each child and young person has the level of individual care and support that they need to stay safe.

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

Staff respond swiftly to children and young people‟s self-injurious behaviours or aggressive outbursts. Staff learn how to defuse situations because of effective de- escalation strategies. They often predict an increase in behaviours due to their knowledge of the children and young people, who they get to know well. When physical interventions are needed, these are only low-level holds to keep children and young people safe. Staff work with children and young people to improve behaviours and do not use sanctions.

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

A comprehensive range of behaviour and medical plans and protocols contribute to the protection of children and young people. They each have a detailed healthcare plan which outlines how staff can best promote their health and well-being to keep them safe. Staff work closely with the on-site nurse, who has good working relationships with external medical professionals. Staff receive bespoke training. They are competent to use the medical equipment and their practice is up to date and current. This ensures that they can meet the complex health needs of each child and young person.

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

The on-site nurse provides rigorous scrutiny of the medication procedures. This alerts her to any errors made in the administration of medication. Despite competency training, some staff are still making mistakes. When shortfalls are identified, staff are challenged, and all staff are to receive further competency testing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since 2017. She has over 13 years‟ residential care experience and the necessary qualifications to fulfil her role. The manager provides Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 6 effective leadership and oversight for the stable and consistent staff team. She leads an experienced team and runs a service in which children and young people are safe, make progress and have fun.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is thoughtful and considered in her approach to managing staff. She understands the challenges that staff face and offers praise, encouragement and support. She encourages a learning culture. Staff benefit from regular supervision, training and support, enabling their personal and professional development. This provides a transparent working environment and helps staff to perform to the best of their abilities. Staff speak of having more autonomy through the manager‟s recognition of their skills and experience. This resulted in the team‟s nomination for, and success in winning, two local staff awards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The requirement and recommendations raised at the last inspection have been met. The young people‟s care and outcomes have improved. The manager has also implemented new systems and working practices, such as the new incident-recording form which prompts staff to enter more detailed information. This has led to an improvement in the staff‟s ability to collate information in order to track changes in behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The team is effective in its partnership working with other professionals. This ensures that they are working together to offer consistent care to children and young people. There are good relationships with education, health and social care professionals. Feedback from stakeholders is positive and concurs that staff‟s communication is excellent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children and young people celebrate small and realistic achievements, yet staff do not always record this information, or link it to children and young people‟s individual placement plans. This makes it difficult to map their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides a quality of care review, but, although feedback is obtained from stakeholders and parents, there is no system for collating this information. The views of staff and resident children and young people are also not sought. The report therefore lacks detail about the progress and outcomes for children and young people.

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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. Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC034940 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City of York Council, West Offices, Station Rise, York YO1 6GA

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Inspector

Tina Ruffles: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC034940 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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