Children's Home, Residential special school run by The Hesley Group Limited in Doncaster

Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 1 SC008015 Registered provider: Hesley Services 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 is a residential special school owned by a private company. It is registered as a children‟s home and offers care and accommodation for up to 32 children and young people who have a learning disability and/or learning difficulties, together with complex needs, including behaviour that may challenge. There is a manager in post, but she is not yet registered.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 12 to 13 December 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: 10 January 2018

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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: SC008015 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/01/2018 Full Good 01/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/06/2016 Full Good 22/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; and ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(d)(e)) 28/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) In particular, to monitor the quality of the supervision that staff receive. 01/01/2019

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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. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— 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; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review 31/01/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 4 report”).

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b))

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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. 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 to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 22, paragraph 4.11) In particular, to feed back to children and young people the outcome of the investigation when a complaint has been raised about the quality of their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have made good progress since moving to the home. This includes increased attendance at school, enjoying activities in the community and improved daily living skills. The in-house multidisciplinary clinical team provides staff with a holistic picture of each child or young person. Members of this team meet regularly with staff to monitor children and young people‟s development and progress. Staff, as well as the children and young people, benefit from the ongoing advice and guidance that the clinicians provide.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have good attendance at the on-site school. Their bespoke education package helps them to reach their full potential. Some young people also enjoy weekly work experience placements, such as helping at a city farm. Others undertake the Duke of Edinburgh and/or other recognised awards. They develop new skills to prepare them for adult living as well as improved employment opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children and young people become more independent with their personal care. This gives them control in their lives, preserves their dignity and leads to an improvement in their confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

With staff‟s support, children and young people become increasingly more able to communicate their needs. Those that feel able to, attend their multidisciplinary team Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 5 meetings to show photographs of the things they have achieved. Staff help them to express their choices and make complaints. A young person said, „I am so much better now. I used to get angry and hit staff but now I can walk away.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people become more tolerant of their surroundings and less damage is caused in the homes than previously reported. Bedrooms are personalised to reflect the children and young people‟s interests. An increase in soft furnishings, pictures and photographs creates a homelier feel. The children and young people‟s improved tolerance levels result in more positive contact visits with family members. Some also enjoy more frequent trips home for weekends and holidays, such as spending Christmas with their families.

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

Children and young people live in a safe environment. They have high levels of supervision due to their complex needs. Staff are aware of their needs through the detailed and individualised risk assessments and behaviour management plans. They have clear guidance regarding how staff should respond to negative or self-injurious behaviours. Consequently, staff develop good de-escalation skills and techniques to keep children safe from harm.

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

Incidents, including those that result in a restraint, are monitored in the multidisciplinary team meetings. This helps the staff team to reflect on potential triggers and trends in children and young people‟s behaviours and to look at how staff respond. This results in effective behaviour management. For most children and young people, there has been a reduction in negative behaviour. Several children and young people have had no outbursts for many months; this is progress given their starting points.

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

Since the last inspection, there has been one incident of a child climbing a fence and going missing. He was found shortly afterwards. The manager‟s investigation identified that the search of the grounds was not well coordinated. Managers were quick to implement new safeguarding measures to avoid a repeat of similar incidents.

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

Staff are confident and do raise practice and conduct concerns with managers. The manager responds through in-depth fact-finding enquiries, and when necessary, disciplinary action. There are good links with the designated officer, who reports that managers act appropriately and follow the advice given. On some occasions, children and young people are not told about the outcome of the investigation. This would promote children and young people‟s confidence in the management investigation and enhance relationships.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The new manager started in post in October 2018, after the previous manager left. She is still to be registered with Ofsted but has made her application. Since starting, the manager has familiarised herself with the home‟s procedures. Her focus has also been on getting to know staff and the children and young people. Staff speak positively about Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 6 the new manager and appreciate how approachable she is.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use a range of monitoring and auditing systems to check that staff are undertaking their roles effectively. The practice lead has been instrumental in auditing medication administration. This has resulted in a reduction in errors. There has been an improvement in the quality and frequency of staff‟s supervisions. Although a system tracks when supervisions have taken place, there is no system for ensuring that records are maintained on staff files. Inspectors found two files without the minutes. Managers are therefore unable to have oversight of the quality of these sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, staff turnover has been high, with several staff leaving, while an equal number have been recruited. This has resulted in staff shortages and a lack of continuity of care for children and young people. Children and young people do engage in activities but these, at times, have been restricted due to a lack of staff who can drive. A new recruitment process is helping the leadership team to find and appoint the right staff for the role. They have taken steps to improve pay and conditions and transport links to the home‟s location. It is too early to see the impact of these management improvements on staff recruitment and retention figures. The requirement from the last inspection therefore remains in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The last quality of care review took place in March 2018. The regulation 45 review due in October was never completed. Feedback from stakeholders does address the previous requirement, but the new manager does not have an action plan to follow. A requirement is raised to address this gap in practice.

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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: SC008015 7

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hesley Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hesley Hall Coach House, Hesley, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN11 9HH

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Inspectors

Tina Ruffles, social care inspector Matt Reed, Her Majesty‟s inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC008015 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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