Children's Home run by Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 1 SC425786 Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children’s home provides care and accommodation for seven young people and adults who live in the home, and for a further three children who stay under short-break arrangements. Facilities are in place to meet the needs of children and young people who have learning and/or physical disabilities. The children’s home is operated by a local charitable foundation. The children’s home is also registered with the Care Quality Commission. The registered manager has a level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/01/2018 Full Good 09/11/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 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

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, complete risk assessments prior to children going on holiday and review personal emergency evacuation plans. 21/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (2)(h)) 21/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(d)) 21/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with 21/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 4 appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c))

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Recommendations

 Children’s homes should be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. They will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) This is with particular reference to the kitchen flooring and the maintenance and decoration of some bathrooms.

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Recommendations

 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. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.11) In particular, ensure that all young people benefit from regular key-work sessions.

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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. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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improvement to be good

Children mostly make good progress in this home. Children’s achievements are celebrated, and staff ensure that they work to realistic targets. For example, one child has said his first word, and another is now able to recognise the day of the week when she visits her family. Staff were observed to interact positively with children. They ensure that children access a range of activities in the home and the community.

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improvement to be good

Staff equip children to learn basic skills and increase their independence. One child is working towards moving to supported living. She has been successfully supported to learn to make her own drinks and snacks.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers consider the impact of children moving into the home, or staying Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 5 at the home, on those already present, but this is not recorded. Staff are not given the necessary guidance about the matching process and how to manage the children’s and adults’ differing needs.

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improvement to be good

Not all children are given the opportunity to have an input into the running of the home, or to have one-to-one meetings with staff to give their views about the home. There are some good examples of effective engagement with children; however, this is not consistent.

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improvement to be good

On the day of the inspection the home was short-staffed. One staff member was left to care for three children despite the children requiring one-to-one staff supervision. Although this was only for a short amount of time, it occurred on two occasions. This has had an impact on the quality of care for these children.

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improvement to be good

The home has had some redecoration and refurbishment. Some areas identified for repair at the last inspection, such as the kitchen flooring, have not been addressed. In addition, some bathrooms need new floors and to be made homelier.

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improvement to be good

Staff facilitate family contact well and encourage positive relationships. Children’s families are welcomed to the home. A child’s parent said, ‘We are one big family.’

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding matters are not identified separately to incidents. The registered manager responds to safeguarding matters; however, the recording of the actions taken cannot be easily reviewed. This compromises external professionals’ ability to analyse actions taken.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection, children were left unsupervised with the inspector for a short time despite their care plan stating that they should be supervised. The children were not harmed because of this shortfall; however, this was not in line with their care plans or the organisation’s policy.

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improvement to be good

A risk assessment was not in place prior to two children going on holiday with staff. This was addressed during the inspection. In addition, a serious incident had not been recorded despite having occurred four days earlier. Staff were aware of the incident, but accurate recording was compromised.

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improvement to be good

Some personal evacuation plans are generic, and one plan was inconsistent with another plan held. Night-time fire drills have not been carried out and not all the children have taken part in fire drills, particularly those children who have short stays.

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improvement to be good

Staff reinforce children’s positive behaviour through praise and rewards. They help children to manage their behaviours. There are thorough behaviour management plans with strategies to reduce any challenging incidents. Staff are trained in the home’s preferred behaviour management approach. The use of physical intervention is rare. Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 6 Managers ensure that there is a swift approach to children’s health issues. Staff call emergency services if children become ill, in line with their healthcare plans. They support children in hospital and manage complex health needs well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has managed the home without the support of a deputy manager or team leaders since the last inspection. The additional responsibilities have had an impact on her ability to adequately oversee and review all incidents. This has affected her ability to monitor the home effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Supervisions do not occur regularly for all staff, including the registered manager. This means that ongoing issues, such as staff morale, are not addressed sufficiently. Not all staff have had annual appraisals. Staff do not have the opportunity to review their practice in line with the home’s stated policy. However, when they do occur, supervisions are evaluative, and children’s outcomes are central to discussions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Complaints are rare. When they do occur, they are dealt with appropriately and outcomes reported to the complainant. However, records of complaints are not kept separately to those of other incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Care plans are thorough and are updated in response to any changes in circumstances. Staff are informed of the changes to the plans and read them prior to working with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Stringent recruitment processes are in place to safeguard children from the potential of unsuitable adults caring for them. All checks on prospective employees are undertaken before the employee starts work. Newly employed staff participate in training and shadowing opportunities prior to working with the children to ensure that they can communicate with the children and meet their complex health needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Social workers and parents value the service. One social worker said, ‘I am extremely happy with the care provided, the communication is excellent.’ Parents spoken to were very positive about the service. One parent said, ‘My daughter is coming on, a credit to them, they are doing a fantastic job.’ Another parent said, ‘He’s always happy there, there are no issues with him going or leaving.’

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 7 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: SC425786 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Strode Park Foundation for People with Disabilities

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Strode Park Foundation, Strode Park House, Lower Herne Road, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7NE

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Inspector

Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC425786 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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