Children's home run by Kent County Council in Ashford

Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 1 SC439282 Registered provider: Kent County Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This short-break service is run by the local authority. The service also provides a day- care service during some school holidays. It offers a service for children who have a physical and/or learning disability. The maximum number of children who can stay at the home at any time is four.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted on 2 May 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 to 11 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: SC439282 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2017 Full Outstanding 24/05/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/12/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 22/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that— the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This refers to having clear and organised safeguarding chronologies that would aid the monitoring and oversight by the registered manager. 31/05/2019

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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 six months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— any action the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, develop the report so that it includes clear detail of the home’s areas for development. 31/09/2019

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Recommendations

 Children with disabilities or illnesses may have physical or emotional difficulties which mean that participation in leisure or cultural activities in the community is difficult to achieve. The registered person, in conjunction with any relevant person (such as a parent or school) should assess what would be safe, achievable and reasonable for each child, in line with their relevant plans, and ensure that appropriate opportunities are available for each child to have fun, form friendships and enjoy life, relative to their stage of development and individual needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 4 standards’, page 32, paragraph 6.10) This relates to providing garden play equipment that provides an enhanced sensory experience. This will add to the children’s experience of having fun and provide the children with further opportunities to develop, using their senses.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8) This relates to bringing together all information required into one document, known as a workforce plan. This will assist in the planning of current and future staffing arrangements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

This short-break service provides a good standard of care for children. The local authority’s model of in-house support works very well and is being considered by other local authorities as good practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children benefit from spending time in an environment that is suitably resourced and staffed to meet their individual needs. The staff develop strong relationships with the parents, families and carers. The children’s needs, often complex, are thoroughly assessed prior to their stays to ensure correct placement and the safe delivery of care. Plans for short-break stays are organised six months in advance, giving the staff and the parents time to plan. Each child has a dependency level assessment undertaken so that staffing levels can be set according to the needs of each child, and to ensure that the staff have the skills to meet those needs. This is important as dependency levels can vary, taking the children’s complex health needs into account.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children receive a good standard of healthcare. In line with the local authority model, the service benefits from having a designated on-site practice educator, who is a qualified nurse. The practice educator assesses the health needs of children and supports staff when they are delivering care. In addition, she provides on-site training for the staff, so they can safely deliver delegated healthcare tasks and medication. There is a clear distinction between healthcare tasks staff can deliver and those they cannot. Having the on-site practice educator means that training can be bespoke to individual needs. The staff find this a highly beneficial resource.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

As a result of detailed assessments, care plans are written that provide the staff with a wide range of information about each individual child. The ‘About Me’ document is a colourful snapshot of the children’s needs, written in a positive and meaningful way, summarising the child’s likes, dislikes and information needed to care for them safely. Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 5 The children enjoy the time they spend at the home; they play and have fun. Their body language shows that they feel comfortable in the presence of the staff. The staff team invests in the children and uses many different forms of communication to ensure that each child can communicate their wishes and opinions. The staff know the children’s likes and dislikes well and can arrange activities to suit, or at the request of the child. Externally, the grounds are limited. However, easy access to a newly refurbished community playground, located directly next to the home, means that children have

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

access to an extensive play area and can play with children from the local community. However, there is a lack of sensory garden equipment for the children to enjoy.

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

Staff work in accordance with the local safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures. The priority safeguarding is given ensures that all children are safe, and their well-being is promoted.

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

All the staff undertake appropriate safeguarding training to ensure safe practice, robust safeguarding management and the swift referral of any child protection concerns. Any concerns are efficiently managed and referred to the correct safeguarding agency. The staff have good links with the designated officer and other safeguarding agencies. Records of safeguarding concerns are kept; however, better use of chronologies would aid monitoring and oversight by the registered manager.

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

The staff are keenly aware of each child’s vulnerabilities and provide close and sensitive support, which helps to keep children safe. The staff know the children’s individual triggers and skilfully de-escalate potentially challenging situations. The children show that they feel safe in the home, through verbal and non-verbal communication.

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

The children’s emotional well-being is a priority to the staff. Physical interventions are rare. Low-level, soft interventions are used, mainly to guide or refocus a child. A good standard of debriefing takes place following an incident, and sessions include reflective discussions. Risk assessments inform the staff about how to reduce known risks and respond to emergencies. Team meetings held each week enable the staff to discuss the children’s stays and review care plans and risk assessments.

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

Since the last inspection, no child has been absent or missing. High staffing levels and clear shift plans ensure that the staff know the whereabouts of the children at all times. Restrictive measures, such as door codes and monitoring equipment, are very well advertised and agreed with parents, carers and involved professionals. This practice is routinely reviewed to achieve the necessary balance of safety and freedom of movement.

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

The home is well maintained and provides a safe and secure physical environment. All required health and safety checks and procedures, including the routine servicing of equipment, are up to date. Fire safety precautions are robust. Works carried out in 2018 have ensured that all fire doors continue to be fully compliant and up to date with current legislation. Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 6 Careful recruitment and monitoring of staff help prevent unsuitable people from working with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the manager has registered with Ofsted. He is due to complete the level 5 diploma in leadership for health and social care shortly. He has settled in well and is supported by senior leaders and other managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The last year has seen staffing challenges that have been out of the manager’s control. However, arrangements for staff cover have been suitable, with agency staff used only when necessary. Recent months have seen an improvement in staffing levels. There has always been a core team of stable staff who know the service and children very well. The staff team is mainly female and lacks diversity. Senior leaders are aware of this and are looking at their recruitment procedures to try to change this. Overall, the registered manager has a good oversight of staffing. However, he does not have a dedicated workforce development plan to assist. In addition to this, the registered manager’s six- monthly report of the review of care and practices is insufficiently detailed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff benefit from access to a thorough and wide-ranging training programme. Two weeks a year are dedicated to staff training. All staff receive sensitive and detailed supervision that allows time for in-depth discussions about the children. The regularity of supervisions has improved since the last inspection. This remains an area that the registered manager is closely monitoring.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s plans are compressive and identify their needs. The home’s care plans take into account the local authority’s education and healthcare plans. The registered manager and staff work proactively with other agencies and professionals. They seek to build effective working relationships with parents to secure positive outcomes for children. The staff team works collaboratively to provide consistency and stability. There are clear responsibilities and accountabilities, and the staff team has a sense of shared ownership of its practice. Staff say that they are proud to work at this service. Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 7

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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: SC439282 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kent County Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sessions House, County Road, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1XQ

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Inspector

Liz Driver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC439282 9 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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