Children's home run by Milton Keynes City Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 1 SC463692 Registered provider: Milton Keynes 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

This is a council-run children’s home. It is registered to accommodate up to eight children. It provides long-stay residential care for children who have learning difficulties and may have concurrent physical disabilities. The home is currently operating at an occupancy of five.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home has been registered with Ofsted since October 2015.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 15 to 16 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/03/2018 Full Good 02/02/2017 Full Good 15/07/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/03/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children living in this home receive a high standard of care, delivered by able and well- trained staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have a wide range of needs, ranging from profound multiple learning disabilities to autism spectrum disorder. Staff ensure that they know and understand children’s needs well, and they help them to make progress in all areas of their lives. For example, in the past year two children have been admitted to the home who had different, but serious, health needs. In both instances, the combination of the close liaison with health professionals and the structured and well-supported daily life have resulted in significant improvements. For one child, this has been a huge reduction in seizures and for the other, a more comfortable and medically supported night-time routine.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported to attend and benefit from their education, for example by using bespoke transport arrangements which ensure that the child concerned arrives at school in as little discomfort as possible so that she may be alert and attentive in school.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a clear voice in the home, and this has been particularly promoted through the involvement of the council’s participation worker. She has taken significant time to get to know the children and to consider how to involve them in decisions about the home and their care. This culminated in a recent awards ceremony in which children’s achievements were recognised authority-wide and included a presentation by the local mayor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff explore many communication methods in order to maximise the extent to which children may express themselves. The children’s guide to the home has been imaginatively produced as a DVD.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported to lead active lives. The staffing levels, availability of adapted transport and can-do attitude of the staff ensure that opportunities to go out in the community, including attending social groups, are utilised if children wish. Children’s friends are encouraged to visit the home. Staff also play with, and engage, children in the home, on whatever level children may enjoy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children understand that this is their home, and they also have a family home they visit when practical. Family members are welcome in the home and positive relationships between staff and children’s families are thoughtfully maintained. Parents report good communication from the home. A parent said, ‘I can’t fault them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to make progress using daily targets. These are mostly to learn greater independence, such as personal hygiene. Staff are imaginative in their practice, for example role modelling brushing teeth for one child, to encourage him to mimic staff’s own behaviour and to understand the importance of the activity. Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 4 The home has a very good standard of accommodation and facilities, all bedrooms are en suite and hoists and other adaptions help ensure that children’s needs can be sensitively met. Young people’s rooms are individualised, according to their personal taste. The home is well maintained and has a good standard of cleanliness.

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

Children are kept safe in the home. They are closely supervised by able and knowledgeable staff.

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

Staff are trained to safeguard children and think this through carefully to ensure that they understand the risks that may be specific to each child. They are also trained in wider safeguarding matters such as exploitation in all its forms and female genital mutilation, so they would know how to respond should any of these matters arise.

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

Managers work closely with safeguarding professionals to handle and, if necessary, investigate, allegations. In this inspection period, there has been only one such allegation; the investigation into this was comprehensive and no criticism of staff practice arose from it.

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

Children in the home may behave in ways that pose some risk to themselves or others. The close supervision given by staff is vigilant but not oppressive. For example, one child likes spending significant time alone in his room and this is respected, while others who may be less able to regulate themselves through waking hours may have staff attending in or just outside their rooms. All staff are trained in the use of physical intervention, to ensure that they could safely handle children if required. However, the culture in the home is that this should be used as a last resort. No restraints have occurred during this inspection period.

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

There have been no incidents of children going missing from the home; the close supervision given makes this highly improbable, although a clear procedure for staff to follow is in place should this occur.

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

Health and safety in the home is well managed. The records demonstrated that all servicing of equipment, including many specialist devices, is up to date. Similarly, it was noted that staff training is rigorous, and managers have thought carefully how to ensure that it is as meaningful as possible. For example, fire training has included mock evacuations in which staff must make decisions based on a scenario previously unknown to them.

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

There have been no new staff recruited to this home during this inspection period. The council follows safer recruitment and, as an additional safeguard and positive inclusion practice, involves children in the recruitment process. Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

At the time of this inspection, the management of the council’s specialist residential services is undergoing some change. This home has benefited greatly from stable and inspiring leadership over this period and it has maintained a high standard of service throughout.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager of the home is very experienced and qualified to level 5. She has wider responsibilities, including currently being the manager of a sister home. The designated manager (who will register in this role in the coming months) is also highly experienced and qualified to level 5. The home has given a great deal of thought to succession planning and have made some excellent arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The council has partly integrated the management of the two residential care homes. For example, all staff work one shift a fortnight in the opposite home and supervisory staff have responsibility for staff in both homes. This is an unusual and successful arrangement, which promotes good development in staff. It is also noted that prospective residents of this home tend to come from the cohort using the sister home for short breaks, and this familiarity helps transitions into the home enormously.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers work closely and effectively with external professionals. Social workers spoken to were entirely positive about the service, and there were clear examples of managers proactively securing additional resources for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality supervision at the monthly frequency the council prescribes. Staff have all attended mandatory training and all staff have also benefited from a range of other training opportunities. Managers oversee this diligently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The monitoring of the home through both regulation 44 and 45 processes occurs as planned and information is used well. This is further enhanced by the daily reports of the duty senior (who visits the three specialist services of the council each day). This audit trail leaves no stone unturned and contributes to the very secure overview that managers form of the service provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Complaints about the home are all given close attention by managers. Minor grumbles are responded to formally to ensure that opportunities for improvement are utilised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The previous requirement, to send Ofsted the details of the current responsible individual, has been complied with and her name is now on the registration certificate. The recommendation to put greater detail into the annual review of premises has been done to a good standard. A further recommendation regarding the quality of recording is also now met. There are no requirements or recommendations arising from this inspection. Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 6

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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: SC463692 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Milton Keynes Council, Saxon Court, 502 Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3HS

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Inspector

Kenneth Smith, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC463692 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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