Children's home run by North Yorkshire Council

Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 1 Registered provider: North Yorkshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home offers pre-planned and emergency short breaks in a residential setting to children and young people who have profound learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorders, complex health needs, technology dependant, palliative care, moving and transfer issues and challenging behaviours. At times, the home also offers extended and bespoke packages of care. The manager has been registered since June 2017 when the home became owned and managed by a local authority.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected outstanding

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 21 November 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 3

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outstanding

The children and young people thoroughly enjoy their short-break stays at this homely, brightly coloured and well-equipped home. They are welcomed by the friendly and exuberant staff who make sure that children and young people have fun from the minute they arrive until they leave. The children and young people benefit from spending time with their peers and are excited to see each other, with lots of smiles and laughter. Friendships are made, resulting in improved social skills. One child arriving at the home said, ‘I love it here.’

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outstanding

Each newly referred child or young person has careful individualised planning and preparation before they have overnight stays. The manager is tenacious in making sure that professionals provide full information about the child or young person. Staff receive specialist training and are highly competent in meeting individual complex health and care needs. Staff visit the new child or young person at home and school, which helps them to settle quickly for their short breaks. Thoughtful staff use a soft toy with photographs and personal recorded messages from family for those who may need this extra reassurance during their stay.

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outstanding

The newly designed child-friendly paperwork and review reports identify the exceptional progress made by children and young people. This includes improved personal care skills, healthier eating and better sleep patterns. The creative staff team members make and use personalised toys so that children and young people develop new skills alongside having fun. These developments have a positive impact on children and young people in all areas of their lives.

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outstanding

The staff support and encourage children and young people to expand their interests and to engage in different activities with their peers. They have new experiences which build their confidence and self-esteem. The photographs of their residential weekend trip show the new opportunities, skills mastered and friendships made. Staff have developed a Time to Try project. Children and young people try things that they could not do elsewhere, such as riding on a steam locomotive footplate or becoming a zookeeper for the day. The staff team is ambitious for the children and young people. These trips require a lot of preparation and risk assessment. All staff are keen to help.

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outstanding

Staff empower the children and young people to make decisions about their care and the running of the home. Staff have received Makaton training to remove barriers to communication. There are improvements in this area across the home, with new and different communication aids used. This includes the innovative use of photograph coins to help children and young people to make choices. Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 4

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outstanding

The staff team has excellent insight into the different risks and vulnerabilities that the children and young people face. These are highlighted in the highly individualised and extremely detailed risk management plans. The staff carefully plan the shift before the children and young people arrive to look at managing every eventuality. This level of contingency planning is crucial, particularly for the children and young people staying at the home.

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outstanding

Staff are nurturing, caring and have well-established relationships with the children and young people. Some have been coming to the home for many years. Families speak of the trust and confidence that they have in the staff to care for their children. This includes some who have life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. One parent said, ‘We trust the team implicitly and would not send [child’s name] if this were not the case.’

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outstanding

Behaviour management plans provide staff with clear instructions on what approach and measures to take if a child or young person presents with self-injurious or negative behaviours. Children benefit greatly from the consistent routines and boundaries. Staff’s early intervention and excellent de-escalation skills help to restore calm when situations arise. The monitoring by the manager of any incidents, together with regular discussions in team meetings, provides staff with the opportunity to reflect on their intervention. Staff refine their strategies and there is a reduction in outbursts. Restraints are rarely used.

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outstanding

The staff team is passionate about keeping children and young people safe. New and ongoing training has developed staff’s safeguarding knowledge, particularly in respect of children who have disabilities. Staff use improved body map forms to carefully record and monitor any unexplained injuries or bruising. They are robust in reporting any concerns to social care colleagues, who spoke of excellent communication and sharing of information. Staff participate in core groups and child protection meetings. This provides important multi-disciplinary working.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager and deputy, who both have social work qualifications, are highly experienced and work well as a management team. This provides excellent and effective leadership and oversight. Managers are committed and passionate and have made many positive changes over the past year.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff talk of feeling empowered and motivated, which brings new and creative ideas to the care provided to children and young people. They feel listened to and supported by managers. Staff take on responsibilities linked with their own interests, acting as champions. This leads to developments and improvements such as staff creating multi-sensory story books. Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 5 Managers and staff are professional, competent, warm, empathic and skilled. There is a great level of expertise in the team. The dedicated staff, who comprise longstanding and newer members, work closely with a range of professionals, such as from health, education and social care. This provides a consistent care approach across different settings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The staff team is open and honest and staff team members have regular discussions about the children and young people. This promotes consistency of practice among the staff. The staff team works cohesively to ensure positive outcomes for children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff benefit from regular supervision, training and support, enabling their personal and professional development. A multitude of resources and research is available to help inform staff’s practice. Staff implement learning from their training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The requirement from the last inspection has been met in that there is far greater consultation with parents, professionals, staff and the children and young people. Links have been developed with families and the community, with regular coffee mornings and an informative newsletter. This feedback helps to inform the quality of care reviews and future developments of the home.

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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: 1256500 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: North Yorkshire County Council, County Hall, Northallerton DL7 8AD

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Inspector(s)

Tina Ruffles: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1256500 7 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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