Children's home run by Bristol City Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 1 SC067151 Registered provider: Bristol City Council Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

 The home is operated by a local authority.  The home provides accommodation and personal care for up to five children and young people at any one time.  The home is registered to provide short breaks for children who may have physical and/or learning disabilities.  The manager was registered by Ofsted in April 2018.

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Judgement at last inspection: good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At the interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has sustained effectiveness.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Children continue to be safe in this home and enjoy supportive, nurturing relationships with the staff. Feedback from children and parents is extremely positive and the service is highly valued by the families that use it.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The quality of the environment has substantially improved over the past year. The lounge and sensory room are comfortable and well equipped. The home is decorated with recent photographs of the children’s visits to local attractions, such as zoos and farm parks. Children’s bedrooms are bright, colourful and personalised with their own choice of bed linen, furniture and toys. This provides a welcoming, bright and positive Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 2 experience for the children who visit the home.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

In two of the five bedrooms, the TVs are still behind polycarbonate panels, which detracts from a homely environment. This is because there are a small number of children who require these protective measures. This is under continual review, as those children are making good progress.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home’s behaviour management is safe and fair. Staff work to the child’s care plan to de-escalate any behaviour which is likely to lead to an incident. For example, the staff sing to some of the children to help them to calm. There have been three restraints since the last inspection.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

One of the restraints was inappropriate, because it was used to gain compliance. The registered manager identified that this was not a lawful use of restraint. She used team meetings and supervision to suggest alternative strategies for the staff to use in future. A requirement has been made.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager has now been in her role for over a year. She has brought the staff team together, despite the challenges of different staff in the home working for the local authority and the local National Health Service Trust. The registered manager has created an atmosphere where staff feel valued and enthusiastic about their work. Her leadership has enabled numerous developments to take place in the home.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager monitors all matters within the home. Regular team meetings and supervision sessions provide forums for staff discussion, to communicate policy and to generate ideas for the home’s development plan.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager and her team have made substantial improvements to the garden. The water feature is now complete and enhances the sensory area. The climbing frame has been assessed by a qualified occupational therapist and has been adapted to suit children with a wide range of mobility needs. This helps to achieve a relaxing, attractive and inclusive garden, which benefits all the children who use it.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered manager has worked well with local schools to develop consistent use of a symbol-based communication system. She is aware that there is still some work to be done to improve the staff’s use of this method of communication. To this end, the manager has arranged further staff training. This will help children to use the same system of communication in both the home and their schools.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Another development for the team is that the manager is considering offering placements to social work students, as well as to the nursing students who currently come for supervised practice. This will further enhance the home’s work by bringing in enthusiastic young people to the staff team, who have new ideas and the capacity for undertaking individual projects to support the children.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

At the last inspection, two requirements and two recommendations were made. One requirement and one recommendation have been met in full. The other requirement and Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 3 recommendation are partially met, so they have been repeated.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

A requirement was made regarding the timeliness of fire safety checks. The home now carries out sufficient fire drills. The times of the last three fire drills have not been recorded. This makes it difficult for the registered manager to monitor that drills take place during the night as well as during the day.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

There is still a regulatory shortfall, because one third of fire alarm tests have been carried out later than the recommended interval. This is the third time that this requirement has been repeated.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The second recommendation has also been made at other homes within the local authority. This concerns the inappropriate use of the authority’s corporate health and safety reporting form to record behavioural incidents.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The local authority should review their incident reporting system across all the homes to record and monitor behavioural incidents. This would provide clarity for staff and managers and opportunities for reflection and practice improvement. This recommendation has been repeated.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/07/2018 Full Good 11/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 14/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/01/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 4

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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

20: Restraint and deprivation of liberty

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing injury to any person (including the child); or serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). (Regulation 20 (1)(a) and (b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the staff use only positive behaviour strategies to manage children’s behaviour and do not restrain children to gain compliance. 15/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home, the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that fire safety checks, including fire alarm tests, are carried out at the intervals recommended by the fire and rescue service. 15/04/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, ensure that work continues to improve the quality and consistency of risk assessments and children’s plans and review the present system for recording incidents, so that there is provision for more detailed information and management monitoring. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, April 2015, page 15, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 5

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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

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Director of Legal Services, City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR

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Inspector

Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC067151 6 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

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Inspector

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