Children's home run by Cambian Childcare Limited in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 1 Registered provider: Cambian Childcare 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

A private company operates this home to provide care and accommodation for up to two children or young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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: 20 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/02/2018 Full Good 24/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 2

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Recommendations

 In accordance with regulation 14(1)(a) and 14(2)(b)(2) (care planning), children’s care plans should form the basis of their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.1) In particular, documents recording daily activity should measure the children’s progress against planned outcomes, so that it is demonstrable and well understood, including by inductees.  In accordance with regulation 38 (electronic records) records may be kept electronically by the home provided they are sufficiently secure. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.1) In particular, the registered provider should enable the home to have full access to new starters’ recruitment records so that it can demonstrate compliance with regulations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children living in this children’s home receive a consistently good standard of care and this is contributing positively to their progress. The home is currently going through a relatively settled period and the children are responding very positively to this stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has several key strengths when delivering quality care to the children who live there. One asset is its ethos of teamwork. Significant turnover in the staff group since the period of the last review means that care practice might potentially have become disjointed, but the culture of teamworking within the home is strong and this means that consistency of care has been maintained for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s staffing complement has been further strengthened by the opportunity that turnover has brought to build a better balance of gender and age among the staff group. The children generally relate well to this change and it enhances their familiarity with a wider range of carers who can look after them reliably and well. This promotes the children’s sense of security while setting appropriate boundaries that are consistently applied on their more extreme behaviours.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home would benefit from the introduction of a more formal induction process. New members of staff should be enabled to provide evidence, other than anecdotal evidence, of their increasing competence in looking after the children who live in the home in line with plans for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s teamwork ethos is further enriched by its capacity to call on the support of the registered provider’s formal therapeutic arrangements delivered by specialist Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 3 therapists, either as direct work with children or as a resource to staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children who live at the home are very good attenders at school and they are doing well in the classroom from their respective starting points. The headteacher of the specialist provision they attend, which is operated by the registered provider, says that the home works in close partnership with school and as a result, the children have established a pattern of regular attendance and their educational attainment is consequently improving.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are fully involved where appropriate in running the home through a weekly meeting in which they choose their own menus and leisure activities for the coming week. Daily personalised logs demonstrate that the children enjoy a wide range of leisure pursuits. This includes use of a well-stocked games room.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leisure activities are suitably varied. For instance, at the time of the inspection, the children were looking forward to making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. A realistic balance is maintained between leisure pastimes that cost, such as cinema trips or horse riding, and others such as swimming in the sea, or country walks and this extends the range of interests and hobbies the children can pursue when they are no longer in care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home’s approach to the provision of quality care leads to an environment in which children can feel safe and at home, and can therefore make significant progress in their lives.

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

Effective matching of the home’s current residents means that the need for formal safeguarding measures has significantly reduced over the period since the last inspection.

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

Records, such as those of children who go missing from the home and are potentially at risk of sexual exploitation, demonstrate that staff can deliver safeguarding processes effectively, but they relate to children who no longer live at the home. There have been no recent incidents of children going missing from this home.

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

A small number of restraints have been necessary to help children with behavioural issues to calm down and prevent them harming themselves or others. Such incidents have been effectively recorded and debriefed, but recent examples with children who currently live at the home are evidently significantly fewer in number.

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

For one child who has lived in the home for a lengthy period, the decline in formal safeguarding measures is evidence of significant personal progress in their outlook and demeanour. This has had a highly positive impact on delivery of their care plan.

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

A high ratio of staff who are well known to the children results in an offer of individualised attention and support. This means that there have been no recent incidences of bullying, as the children’s behaviour is closely managed. Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 4 The designated officer from the local authority has been involved where appropriate in managing instances where persons might potentially pose a risk to children, of which there have been no recent examples. The home can demonstrate good learning from previous experience, such as their approach to lone working.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home benefits from management oversight by highly experienced residential care professionals. The registered manager is due to complete relevant qualifications soon.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Notwithstanding the provision for the registered manager to work across two of the registered provider’s homes in the locality, strong management systems are in place, including arrangements for deputising, and this means that the home is well managed. A current priority of managers’ development plan for the home is refurbishment of some of the communal areas, such as the games room in which the decor is tired and showing the effects of damage by previous residents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A significant strength of the home lies in the quality of its record-keeping. Documents such as the home’s statement of purpose and any risk assessments are kept up to date. Young people’s individual files are also well kept, and any information gaps are rigorously followed up with the children’s social workers. Of note are the children’s individualised daily journals and the children’s guide to the home, both of which are up to date and presented in a colourful and vibrant way that is attractive to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The format for the daily activity log is particularly clear and provides an accurate picture of the home’s day-to-day routine. The children express a desire for routine in their lives, and such stability contributes positively to their feelings of safety and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective communication with partners is another key attribute of the home. Those working in partnership with the home, such as parents and headteachers spoken to, say that they keep them in touch with children’s progress regularly and in detail. The registered provider contracts with a national charity to provide independent visiting and advocacy services, such as support with complaints, of which there have been none recently. Reports provided by the independent visitor under regulation 44 are suitably detailed and provide insight to the home’s management on the functioning of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are offered regular supervision and training opportunities to support their ability to deal with sometimes challenging circumstances. The home could be better supported by the registered provider holding a file at the home with information regarding the recruitment of new starters, so the home can evidence compliance with statutory requirements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Overall, the home’s competent staff group is working effectively as a team and finding imaginative and creative ways to record activity, but they would benefit from mapping children’s progress against their care and placement plans. Progress can be intuited, for instance by an absence of formal safeguarding measures, or an increase in educational Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 5 attendance and attainment, but this could be better expressed by staff in their well-kept, child-friendly journals and logs, so that achievement can be measured against planned outcomes and across time.

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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: 1226978 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cambian Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 4th Floor, Waterfront, Manbre Wharf, Manbre Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9RH

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Susan Fitzsimmons

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Inspector

Ian Young, HMI Inspection report children’s home: 1226978 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 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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