Children's Home run by South West Childcare Services in Somerset

Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 1 Registered provider: South West Childcare Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children‟s home is operated by a local company and provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who require emotional and/or behavioural support.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

p.1

inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

inadequate

There are widespread failures that mean young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

p.1

inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

p.1

inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the home‟s first inspection. Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who-

p.3

Requirement Due date

understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

p.3

Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to-

p.3

Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child‟s welfare;

p.3

Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans, taking account of the child‟s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(b)(ii)(iv))

p.3

Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that daily logs and journals clearly document where the young people can be found and what they are doing each day, and that care plans are up to date and contain the aims and targets of the placement of the young people in the home and documents progress. 29/07/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

10: The health and well-being standard is that-

p.3

Requirement Due date

the health and well-being of children are met;

p.3

Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

p.3

Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure- 29/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 4 that staff help each child to-

p.3

Requirement Due date

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child‟s relevant plans;

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child‟s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv))

p.4

Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to supporting children to stop smoking and ensuring that children learn to regularly undertake necessary personal hygiene tasks.

p.4

Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 (1)(2))

p.4

Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to the use of positive and negative sanctions. Staff must be consistent and proportionate when issuing a sanction to a young person. 29/07/2019

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which-

p.4

Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 29/07/2019

p.4

Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that-

p.4

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.4

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to-

p.4

Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home and ensure that there are always suitably experienced and skilled staff on each shift. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)) 29/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 5 This particularly refers to ensuring that there is a system in place to monitor the quality of care and that the registered manager undertakes an appropriate amount of management time in the home.

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees-

p.5

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

p.5

Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to ensuring that staff receive regular formal supervision that is recorded, and that any issues raised by a member of staff during supervision are acted on by managers. 29/07/2019

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received in to the children‟s home. In particular, the registered person must ensure that-

p.5

Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(b)) 29/07/2019

p.5

Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

p.5

Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record which includes-

p.5

Requirement Due date

details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

p.5

Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

p.5

Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 29/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 6 the effectiveness and consequences of the use of the measure;

p.5

Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person or authorised person-

p.6

Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate: and

p.6

Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(1)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

p.6

Recommendations

 Ensure that the home should seek, as far as possible, to maintain a domestic rather than „institutional‟ impression; in particular that fire signage is kept to a minimum and padlocks are not used to secure cupboards. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to provide staff with the direction and guidance they need to effectively support the young people in their care. Care plans and records are not kept up to date and do not detail what the staff are hoping to achieve for the young person during their time at the home or the progress that each young person has made. Consequently, the staff are not always consistent or clear in their approach to caring for the young people.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people are not effectively supported by the staff to undertake personal care tasks such as showering and brushing their teeth. Young people are not showering for sometimes up to 10 days. Strategies that the staff should be using to support them with these tasks are not contained in care plans. Individual staff members are inconsistently devising their own strategies, such as offering money to the young people as an incentive to try to encourage them to undertake personal care tasks.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that the young people are effectively supported to stop smoking. There is a failure to employ well-thought-out, creative smoking cessation strategies and education that involves relevant healthcare professionals and that are implemented consistently by the staff. Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 7 Medication is not always safely administered to the young people by the staff. On too many occasions, the staff have administered an incorrect dose of prescribed medication. Young people have attended hospital because of these errors. In one case, the visit to the hospital due to the error caused a young person to become distressed and hurt himself.

p.6

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff team fails to communicate effectively with professionals and other people who are involved in the children‟s lives. This shortfall results in professionals sometimes visiting the home for arranged appointments to find that the young person is not aware of the appointment and is not there. Other professionals reported poor communication and not being kept up-to-date about key incidents.

p.7

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A young person who was recently admitted to the home caused major disruption to the existing young people, assaults on staff and damage to the home. This young person has now left the home, as the staff were unable to manage the young person‟s behaviour. On one occasion when a serious incident occurred, the three members of staff on duty were all newly appointed and still on probation. The manager failed to recognise that they did not have the skills or knowledge to implement the therapeutic parenting approach needed to effectively and safely support the young people, without the support and guidance of a more experienced and skilled staff member on duty with them.

p.7

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people living at the home regularly attend school. The manager is actively supporting one young person to obtain an education, health and care (EHC) plan so that they will be able to move to a school that is able to fully meet their education needs. One young person is currently excluded from school and is undertaking educational activities provided by the staff.

p.7

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Relationships between the young people and their families are effectively and sensitively promoted by the staff. The young people are supported to visit their families, who are welcome to visit the home and, as a result, the young people are re-establishing positive relationships with their families.

p.7

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

The staff are not always able to safely manage the behaviour of the young people and de-escalate incidents. Following the admission of a fourth young person, the existing young people were encouraged to engage in anti-social behaviour, causing damage to the home and cars in the community, and assaulting staff. One young person was assaulted by another, which caused injuries. Another young person was subject to racist bullying that was not comprehensively dealt with by the staff, causing the young person distress and to shut themselves away in their bedroom.

p.7

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

During one incident when the young people were out of control of the staff, requiring the police to calm the situation, the manager made the decision to move one young Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 8 person out of the home with one member of staff. They went to a holiday chalet and then to an empty house owned by the company. No assessment of how staff should manage the risk was undertaken prior to this move. In addition, no detailed behaviour management plan was available to offer the member of staff effective strategies to use, should the behaviour of the young person escalate.

p.7

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

Behaviour management is not consistent, and the approach to behaviour management by the manager is confusing for the staff and the young people. The home‟s behaviour management policy states that sanctions can be given for negative behaviour, but the manager states that a restorative approach is preferred and that sanctions are not given. The staff give the young people rewards and sanctions for positive and negative behaviour, but these are not recorded and lack consistency. Boundaries and routines in the home are unclear, and behaviour management strategies are not documented to offer the largely inexperienced staff team guidance and direction.

p.8

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

The staff do not always know where the young people are or what they are doing. Daily logs and journals do not detail the movements of the young people. Staff do not, therefore, have a clear picture of a young person‟s movements in or out of the home and what time they went out or came back. One young person who has now left the home was regularly staying overnight with friends, but no details of these friends, or whether the social worker had given permission for the young person to stay with these friends, were documented in care plans. Staff did not, therefore, know that these were suitable people for the young person to stay with.

p.8

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

Comprehensive recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that only suitable people are employed at the home. Extensive checks and documents are obtained prior to a person coming to work at the home.

p.8

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

Safeguarding incidents are promptly reported to the relevant safeguarding professionals, and the manager has a positive working relationship with the police, youth offending team and social workers, should a safeguarding concern about a young person arise.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This inspection is the home‟s first inspection since it was registered with Ofsted in January 2019. The core staff team, two of the young people and the manager moved to the home from a previous house that was damaged in a fire. The registered manager is experienced and holds a relevant management qualification.

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of management oversight in the home. Supervision notes, daily logs and the monitoring of trends and patterns of safeguarding and the behaviour of the young people in the home are not undertaken by the manager to monitor the quality of care and inform staff practice and care planning. The manager has recently been undertaking shifts in the home and therefore has not had sufficient management time. Records are chaotic and not up to date and do not contain all the important information that staff need to care for the young people. Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 9 There has been considerable staff turnover since the home opened. Only three of the nine full-time members of staff have a level 3 childcare qualification and four of the nine members of staff are newly appointed and on probation. The inexperience of the staff team was not taken in to account when the manager made the decision to admit a

p.8

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

fourth young person to the home, causing major disruption and distress to the other young people.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff do not always benefit from regular supervision to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to support and care for the young people. The roles and responsibilities of the staff team are not clear, and there is no clear delegation of care tasks to the staff team. This shortfall results in the team not always working in a collaborative manner when caring for the young people.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most of the home is well decorated, comfortable and homely. The young people living in the home reported they really like the house, can choose the colour of their bedroom and are consulted about any proposed decoration in the home. Some unnecessary fire signage is evident in the home, and one cupboard has a padlock in place to keep it locked, detracting from the otherwise homely environment.

p.9

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home‟s development plan does not clearly identify the home‟s strengths and weaknesses and ways in which managers will build on the strengths and plan improvements to address the weaknesses.

p.9

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.

p.9

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: 2509684 10

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider: South West Childcare Services Limited

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor Flat, 46 Durnford Street, Plymouth, Devon PL1 3QN

p.10

Inspector

Tina Maddison, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 2509684 11 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.

p.10

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.11

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.11

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.11