Children's Home run by Able Health Care Ltd in Suffolk

Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 1 SC408714 Registered provider: Able Health Care Limited

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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 privately run children’s home is registered to look after up to six children who cannot currently live in a family environment. The experienced registered manager has been leading the team since 2015.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 to 29 November 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 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: 12 September 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2017 Full Good 23/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/11/2016 Full Good 18/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 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 registered person must ensure that all employees— have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 31/01/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19) This is in particular regard to placement plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful pre-placement planning by the registered manager ensures that the children are well matched. This significantly increases the likelihood of the children getting along well together. The children learn to trust, and to accept the range of support and encouragement on offer. The children build close and meaningful relationships with the staff, which helps the staff to monitor the significant and positive progress that the children make. Children feel safe and they learn how to explore their world and to express their individuality. This improves their self-esteem. Children consistently receive very good support, advice and guidance. The children benefit because their care is very well organised and coordinated. Children’s confidence grows and they experience acceptance. Many children flourish. Children make progress in education. All of the children attend school. Some of the children go to the school run by the provider and which is in the same building as this

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

home. Increased school attendance represents significant and positive progress for many of the children. Communication between staff working at the school and the staff Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 4 working at the children’s home is good. When necessary, staff from the children’s home sit with children in the classroom to help them to learn. This provides additional personalised support and continuity for these children. All of the children receive additional help with homework. Some children make academic progress from their starting point. This is an excellent achievement for those children. A psychiatrist employed by the provider makes regular indirect contributions to the children’s care, for example by routinely attending staff team meetings. This arrangement helps the staff to think as a collective about the children’s needs and ensures a firm focus on children’s emotional well-being. Children’s social skills and

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

willingness to interact positively with others improve significantly. This reduces isolation and helps to promote positive mental health. The children have generous space at the home to relax and to be comfortable. Bedrooms are highly personalised and reflect the children’s individual interests. Conversations with children are firmly embedded in the daily structure and routine. This ensures that staff understand children’s views and that every child has their say about the running of the home. Children benefit from fun activity holidays with the staff, and the children go out regularly into the community. The children have regular and frequent opportunities to see and spend time with their families. This helps them to maintain their identify. The staff frequently go above and beyond to ensure that parents and extended family are welcome when they come to visit. Parents speak very positively about the staff and about the positive changes that

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

they see in their child. A parent said, ‘The change in my child is incredible. The staff are brilliant.’

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

Staff have excellent working partnerships with other agencies such as local authority social workers and the police. The effectiveness of these relationships helps children to be safe. The home’s successful approach to working with the police is worthy of wider dissemination. This is because communication is excellent. Incidents of children going missing have reduced significantly. When children do go missing, they return home quickly. In the last four months, incidents of children going missing have reduced to zero, which represents significant progress for the few children involved. Physical intervention is reducing significantly for the few children who require this approach. Records sampled show that, when physical intervention is used, this is to keep children safe and to reduce the likelihood of others coming to harm. Staff proactively engage with children. The staff anticipate difficulties and are very

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

responsive to managing behaviour. Continuous use of praise, rewards and incentives successfully encourages children to make better decisions. Staff take a proportionate and skilled approach to helping the children to manage and understand risk. Daily group and one-to-one chats and ongoing discussions help every child to make important connections about the effect of their behaviour on themselves and others. As a result, incidents of concern are reducing significantly and behaviour is improving. Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The experienced, skilled, intuitive and nurturing registered manager has been leading the home for four years. The registered manager is held in high regard by the staff team. The staff describe the manager as approachable and child centred. A member of staff said, ‘He is the best manager I have ever had.’ The registered manager is supported by an efficient administrator, a creative deputy and dedicated team leaders who model effective leadership of the home. The staff work well together. Since the last inspection, there has been minimal change to the team. Staff receive regular supervision that encourages reflection and helpful discussion about the children’s social histories. This approach ensures that every staff member is mindful of and sensitive to children’s previous life experiences. Sampled annual appraisals have not been completed in time. This does not demonstrate how the manager maintains a coherent overview of individual performance. This

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

regulatory shortfall has no direct impact on the children. The requirement and quality standards from the last inspection are met. The system for writing children’s records has been overhauled and improved significantly. Further work is necessary to demonstrate how the children see their plan as a living document. The registered manager knows the service’s strengths and areas for development. He routinely seeks feedback from other professionals about the quality of children’s experiences at the home. He has good oversight of internal quality assurance systems that help to highlight when improvements in practice are necessary. External monitoring is effective. The registered manager works efficiently to ensure that every child experiences consistency and continuity in the day-to-day arrangements. This ensures that all of the staff are continually striving to ensure that children have good experiences and that the

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 6 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: SC408714 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Able Health Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 45 Wolsey Road, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2ER

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Inspector

Rosie Davie: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC408714 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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