Children's home run by Bristol City Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 1 SC067151 Registered provider: Bristol City Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority. The home provides accommodation and personal care for up to five children and young people at any one time. The home is registered to provide short breaks for children who may have physical and/or learning disabilities. The manager was registered by Ofsted in April 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: 11 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 14/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/08/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 3

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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

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home, the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, consult with the local fire and rescue service to ensure that effective fire safety measures are in place. Ensure that fire safety checks, including fire drills and fire alarm tests, are carried out at the intervals recommended by the fire and rescue service. 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (2)(a)(3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff receive regularly updated training in first aid. 31/08/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate, provided in an accessible format and explained to each child to make sure they understand it. The children’s guide should help children to understand: – the day-to-day routines of the home; Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 4 – the care they can expect to receive while living there; – how to make a complaint; – how they can access advocacy support or independent advocacy if eligible; and – how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraphs 4.21 and 4.22)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 14.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The outcomes for children are very positive. In particular, the quality of the children’s environment has improved considerably since the interim inspection. The children’s bedrooms and communal areas have been decorated in bright, attractive colours. Children bring in a box with treasured items from their homes. These are kept in the home and placed in their rooms before each night’s stay.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The kitchen has been refurbished and sensory equipment has been placed in all the communal spaces to provide children with colour, sounds and textures. The sensory, herb and vegetable gardens have now been completed. There is now a wheelchair swing. Inclusive play equipment and good-quality planning have brought the garden to life in a way that has instant appeal for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who visit this home are making very good progress. Some are learning how to regulate their own behaviour. This means that they no longer feel the need to express their feelings of frustration in negative ways.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Other children, who were previously very anxious when out in the community, have been helped to manage their anxieties. This means that they can visit a wider range of places when they go out with their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has continued to work on how children are consulted. There have been three consultation exercises with children since the previous inspection. These have resulted in the children choosing decorations for their rooms. Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 5

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improvement to be good

A number of fire alarm tests have been missed. Fire alarm and smoke detector tests were not carried out in February 2018. The registered manager identified this shortfall. In May and June, these tests were conducted at the intervals recommended by the fire and rescue service.

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improvement to be good

Fire drills are not regular, so there is the potential to miss one. Although there have been sufficient over a 12-month period, there has been a four-month gap in drills since the interim inspection. A requirement has been made.

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improvement to be good

Fire safety generally has improved. The registered manager has taken action to respond to all the recommendations of the local authority’s own risk assessor. This exercise has confirmed that the institutional fire shutter into the kitchen is necessary for safety. Fire doors have also been fitted in one location along the internal corridor of the home, to comply with fire regulations.

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improvement to be good

The manager confirms that 11 out of 14 staff are out of date with their first aid training. These staff have all been trained in the past, so they still know how to respond in an emergency. There is always a qualified nurse on duty who has first aid skills. This means that the impact of this lack of training on children is reduced to some extent.

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improvement to be good

Senior leaders said that the local authority’s first aid training provider had not offered sufficient places to guarantee that all residential staff could attend. In response, senior leaders have said that they now intend to commission some training specifically for this home. A requirement has been made.

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improvement to be good

The home does have a small number of restrictive safety measures. These are proportionate. For example, only two out of the five bedrooms now have boxed-in televisions. This is an improvement, and will be kept under review as the children who need this precaution eventually move on. A child who has a ‘safe sleeper’ tent in their room is never restricted within the tent. The registered manager is well aware that this is not permitted in a children’s home.

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improvement to be good

Previous problems with the home’s dual system of safeguarding procedures, one for health staff and one for social care employees, have been resolved. The home now only uses the Local Safeguarding Children Board child protection procedures. This reduces the risk of the home inadvertently not following the correct child protection procedure, which has happened in the past.

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improvement to be good

There have been no new child protection concerns since the last inspection. The home has now met the previous recommendation regarding recording and storage of safeguarding information. The only complaint occurred when one parent raised a communication matter with the home. This was investigated well and has been resolved.

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improvement to be good

There has been only one brief restraint, when a child needed support to move from the Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 6 minibus into the home. This successful hold lasted only a few seconds. This was necessary at the time to reassure and support the child.

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improvement to be good

The manager has carried out a full file audit of the staff files in the home. These now meet regulatory requirements.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments are much improved and contain good strategies. However, risk assessments and care planning documents are not always written in a consistent format. The staff now follow risk assessments safely and there have been no further incidents of unauthorised lone working.

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improvement to be good

The home uses the local authority’s standard health and safety reporting forms to record incidents. These are useful for certain purposes, such as reporting accidents. However, they are not child-focused. There is insufficient space to record incidents in detail. There is no space to record debriefings, nor any management comments. A recommendation to deal with these shortfalls has been included in the repeated recommendation about recording.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the interim inspection on 10 January 2018, the home had been without a registered manager for 56 weeks. The new registered manager started in post on 30 October 2017 and was registered in April 2018.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The lack of a registered manager for more than a year had a detrimental effect on the home’s progress. As a result, six requirements and four recommendations were made at the interim inspection. The home was judged to have declined in effectiveness.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has made considerable improvements to the home. As part of this process, she has visited another good short-breaks service in the region.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Five requirements have been fully actioned. One, on fire safety, has been partially actioned and has been repeated. Three out of the four recommendations are met, with some further work required on the children’s files.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Management monitoring is good. The home benefits from a well-qualified, experienced registered manager. She leads her team with confidence and vision. Staff are no longer encumbered by management tasks. They now feel free to focus on their daily work with the children. As a result, there is a new enthusiasm in the home, with a desire to move forward after a long and difficult period.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is well aware of the home’s strengths and areas for development. She sees the staff team members as highly child-centred and supportive of each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision takes place every month. Staff praised the quality of their supervision and training, which helps them to improve practice and further their professional Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 7 development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff meet regularly as a team. These meetings always include a practice component; for example, a discussion on safeguarding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home still has two vacant posts. There are no gaps in the rota, because casual staff work in the home to meet operational requirements. It has proved difficult to recruit substantive staff, because of pay grade problems. The registered manager has challenged this appropriately. She put forward a successful business case for regrading. As a result, the home can now recruit staff to these substantive posts and this is under way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home was asked to obtain an assessment of the home’s facilities by an occupational therapist. The registered manager has tried to achieve this, but has been advised that it is outside that profession’s remit. The home’s senior managers undertook to resolve this with another department within the local authority before the next inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s care planning records have improved considerably. There is sufficient detail in their care plans to guide staff practice and safeguard children who have complex health needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has updated the statement of purpose and has sent it to Ofsted. This means that the regulator is aware of any changes. The previous requirement is now met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The children’s guide is in picture symbols, but the content is far too complicated for the children who come to visit this home. The inspector and registered manager reviewed this document during the inspection and the manager undertook to amend it. A recommendation has been made.

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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: SC067151 8 Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Director of Legal Services, City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR.

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Inspector

Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 10 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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